Prismo Metals Inc. reports new exploration results from the Silver King project in Arizona and specifies the planning for a two-phase drilling program. The focus recently was on mapping, sampling and geophysical work in the Black Diamond area, a target area with copper-gold mineralisation. At the same time, Prismo Metals is making progress in the permitting process for the planned drilling and, according to its own statement, sees the first phases of work financially secured.
The Silver King project is located in a historic mining area of Arizona with previous silver mining. Prismo Metals is currently focusing on the further development of several target zones, including the Black Diamond area and a heavily altered felsic intrusion with stockwork mineralisation. The new data will be used to derive concrete drilling targets for the next work steps.
In the most recent field program, Prismo Metals carried out detailed geological mapping and sampling in the Black Diamond area. Among other things, the known Black Diamond copper replacement deposit and a felsic intrusion, which is traversed by a network of quartz stockwork veins, were investigated. To supplement classical sampling, the team used a portable XRF (X-ray fluorescence) device to measure a close-meshed soil grid and qualitatively analyse selected rock samples.
The soil geochemistry shows a distinct copper anomaly over the Black Diamond replacement deposit, accompanied by elevated gold values. This pattern is consistent with previous rock samples, which had already indicated a close link between copper and gold mineralisation in the replacement structures.
Elevated levels of zinc, lead, silver and antimony were found in the soil around the felsic intrusion. The intrusion itself is strongly sericitically altered and traversed by moderate to strong quartz stockwork veins, in which iron oxides occur locally after pyrite – an indication of hydrothermal processes that are often associated with ore formation.
The rocks analysed on site with XRF do not provide recognised laboratory analyses, but give important indications of the metal distribution. According to this, individual quartz veins in the stockwork within the intrusion show silver, lead and zinc signals as well as antimony. Overall, the Prismo Metals team took 34 rock chip samples, which have now been sent to a laboratory. Analysis results are still pending and are intended to underpin the interpreted metal zoning in detail.
Chief Exploration Officer Craig Gibson sees the image of the Black Diamond area sharpened by the new data. The copper-gold replacement deposit is confirmed as a clearly defined target for drilling, while the felsic intrusion is now also considered mineralised – an aspect that was structurally, but not yet geochemically, documented in older work from the 1980s.
Prismo Metals has also recently launched an IP (Induced Polarisation) measurement campaign across the entire Silver King area. The geophysical method is designed to identify conductive zones in the subsurface that are associated with sulfide mineralisation – and thus potentially with metal-bearing structures. The first evaluations of the IP data are expected towards the beginning of December and should help to further refine the drilling targets.
The classification of the current results against the background of historical work is interesting. As early as 1980, the consulting company Fischer Watt explored the Silver King area and described the felsic intrusion as a structurally attractive target – at that time primarily based on alteration mineralogy and fluid inclusions. However, there was no concrete evidence of metal content.
With today’s measurement methods and the combination of soil and rock geochemistry, XRF indications and ongoing IP geophysics, Prismo Metals is now condensing the model of polymetallic, structurally bound mineralisation in which copper, gold, silver, zinc, lead and antimony play a role. The Black Diamond replacement deposit occupies a central position as a copper-gold target, while the intrusion and other veins in the surrounding area provide additional starting points for drilling.
In parallel with exploration, Prismo Metals is working to create the regulatory requirements for a drilling program on Silver King. For the project area, the US Forest Service is responsible as the responsible federal authority for surface management. According to the company, the Forest Service has now confirmed that the submitted drilling plan is formally complete and meets the requirements of the regulations (36 CFR 228.4(c)).
In the next step, the authority will carry out an environmental assessment in accordance with US environmental law (NEPA). This takes place within the framework of a so-called “Categorical Exclusion” – the lowest level of environmental assessments, which is applied to projects from which no significant impact on the environment is expected. In this context, Prismo Metals also refers to the US government shutdown, which has now been overcome and which temporarily led to delays in administrative procedures.
The company believes it is in a good financial position: According to the company, a recently completed, oversubscribed financing secures the funds for two drilling phases. In Phase 1, Prismo Metals is planning a program of around 1,000 meters of drilling in the area of the historic Silver King Mine. The aim is to test the upper half of a steeply dipping, tubular mineralisation body that was historically mined. In addition, potential ore veins in the vicinity of the dense stockwork that was at the center of previous mining are to be investigated.
Based on the new target definitions, the work program was expanded to include a second phase. Phase 2 envisages a further 1,000 meters of drilling, this time on newly identified targets outside the historical mining area. These include a polymetallic vein and a copper vein that were delineated as part of the recent field program.
Another focus of the planned drilling is the large-scale replacement deposit on the patented Black Diamond Claims. This area is located on private land and is accessible via existing roads, which makes the logistical implementation of a drilling program easier.
With the combination of refined drilling targets, ongoing environmental assessment and secured financing, Prismo Metals is positioning itself on Silver King for the transition from target definition to the actual drilling phase. The pending laboratory analyses and IP results should play an important role when it comes to defining the final drilling approaches and further concretising the geological model of the project.
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