Integra hits high-grade at Florida Mountain

The first exploration program in over 25 years at Integra Resource’s (TSXV: ITR) DeLamar project in southern Idaho is turning up some high-grade results.

The company is drilling more than 20,000 metres this year at the project’s DeLamar and Florida Mountain gold and silver deposits, which sit about 5 km apart in the historic Oowyhee County mining district, about 80 km south of Boise, the state capital.

The company completed 2,920 metres across nine holes at Florida Mountain this year, with the goal of testing low-grade disseminated mineralization and selecting high-grade veins at the deposit.

Highlights released this week include the highest grades to date at Florida Mountain.

Significantly, the high-grade intercept was about 200 metres down-dip beneath the deposit’s current inferred resource boundary.

The hole, IFM18_001A, starting from 292 metres downhole, returned a 21.33 metre interval grading 1.90 grams gold per tonne and 283.36 grams silver per tonne for a grade of 5.23 grams gold-equivalent, including 3.04 metres of 7.68 grams gold and 1085.32 grams silver for a grade of 20.44 grams gold-equivalent.

Another hole, IFM18_004, returned wider, lower grade disseminated mineralization, with a 46.78-meter intercept from 84.89 metres downhole that cut 0.34 gram gold and 19.74 grams silver.

The hole helped confirm Florida Mountain’s current resource, which was completed in February and outlined 36.61 million inferred tonnes grading 0.57 gram gold and 14.12 grams silver for a total of 675,000 ounces of gold and 16.6 million ounces of silver, or 871,000 gold-equivalent ounces at a grade of 0.74 gram gold-equivalent per oz.

Drilling is set to resume at Florida Mountain in the first half of 2019 and is fully funded.

In the meantime, further exploration work continues to the west of Florida Mountain at the project’s DeLamar deposit.

The company wants to investigate the potential for bulk mineable low-grade gold-silver mineralization, as well as historically mined bonanza-grade gold-silver mineralization beneath Delamar’s low grade cap.

One rig is currently testing a number of targets including Sullivan Gulch and Sullivan Knob.

Integra acquired 100% of DeLamar from a subsidiary of Kinross Gold (TSX: K) in November 2017. Under the transaction, Kinross retains 9.9% of Integra’s issued and outstanding common shares and the project is subject to a variable net smelter return royalty payable to Kinross.

An open pit and underground mine at DeLamar produced a total of 1.6 million ounces of gold and 100 million ounces of silver, but Kinross closed the mine in 1998 due to low metal prices.

Integra acquired Florida Mountain in January 2018.

From the 1830s to the 1910s, historic underground mining at Florida Mountain produced a total of 133,000 ounces of gold and 15.4 million ounces of silver.

In the 1990s, Kinross Gold mined Florida Mountain as an open pit, and produced an additional 124,500 ounces of gold and 2.6 million ounces of silver. Like DeLamar, the mine was put on care and maintenance in 1998 due to low metal prices.

Florida Mountain hosts a drill database of over 1,050 holes, the majority of which were drilled by Kinross Gold and NERCO Minerals to define a deposit amenable to open-pit mining.

Integra is trading at 80¢ per share within a 52-week range of 77¢ and $1.40.

Raymond James has a target price on the company of $2.25.

“Today’s drill results reinforce the high-grade nature of the Florida Mountain deposit, and most importantly demonstrate the potential to expand this high-grade mineralization well beyond the current inferred resource,” Raymond James mining analyst Tara Hassan, comments in a research note. “The results also provide confirmation of the lower grade disseminated resource.”

“We continue to view Integra to be one of our preferred development companies given that it remains undervalued and well positioned to earn a market re-rating due to the scale and optionality of its assets and experienced and proven management team.”