Niblack extends drill campaign at Alaskan VMS project

Vancouver – New drill results, including high-grade intercepts from the Lookout zone, have prompted Niblack Mining (NIB-V) to expand its 6,500-metre first-phase program by another 2,000 metres at the Niblack volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) project on Prince of Wales Island, southeast Alaska.

A recent hole at the Lookout zone returned 53.19 metres grading 3.85 grams gold and 59 grams silver per tonne, 0.8% copper and 3.56% zinc, which includes 8.29 metres of 16.3 grams gold, 151 grams silver, 1.07% copper and 16.26% zinc.

Another hole drilled 30.4 metres up-dip of the aforementioned hole returned 3.96 metres of 2.86 grams gold, 71 grams silver, 0.63% copper and 15.05% zinc.

A new zone of base metal massive sulphides was intersected at the Mammoth target area, returning 18.65 metres grading 0.47% copper, including 4.33 metres of 1.01% copper. The Mammoth target area is situated near the entrance of a proposed underground adit designed to access the depth extensions of the Lookout zone.

The Lookout zone is most advanced of several known zones at the Niblack property, which was previously explored by several major companies from the 1970s through late 1990s. The project hosts a historic resource that is not yet compliant with new regulatory disclosure standards, and the past-producing Niblack mine, which produced about 50,000 tons grading 5% copper in the early 1900s.

Recent drilling at the Niblack mine has confirmed the presence of high-grade copper mineralization 60 metres below underground workings, with one hole returning 1.62 metres of 5.66 grams gold, 99 grams silver, 11.64% copper, and 2.61% zinc.

A near-surface gold oxide zone at Lookout was also tested, with one hole returning 27 metres grading 3.12 grams gold and 89 grams silver, along with 4.6 metres of 11.99 grams gold and 125 grams silver. The oxide zone is the base-metal leached, near-surface expression of sulphide zones found at depth.

Niblack intends to continue drilling its namesake property into the fall. An underground exploration program has been designed to access depth extensions of Lookout zone’s favorable stratigraphy and to test other targets.