Vancouver, Canada, February 28th, 2022 – Heliostar Metals Limited (TSX.V: HSTR, OTCQX: HSTXF, FRA: RGG1) ("Heliostar" or the "Company") announces gold mineralized intercepts in drilling at the 100% owned Cumaro Project in northern Sonora, Mexico.
Highlights
- Gold mineralization encountered in 10 of 11 drill holes from the Verde Target. Intercepts inlcude:
o VVDH22-09
§ 0.89 gram per tonne (g/t) gold equivalent (AuEq) over 8.1 metres (m). Including,
§ 1.65 g/t AuEq over 3 m
o VVDH21-02
§ 1.87 g/t AuEq over 1.15 m
o VVDH21-01
§ 1.79 g/t AuEq over 1.1 m
- Verde is the first of five prospects which will be drill tested during this campaign.
- Assays are pending for five remaining drillholes at Verde and six holes at the Dos Amigos and Palmita vein corridors.
- Drilling is ongoing on targets in the eastern half of the Cumaro property
Heliostar CEO, Charles Funk, commented: “The maiden drill program at Cumaro targeted the rock beneath high grade surface results at the Verde discovery. It is also testing for mineralization in the eastern half of the property. These first results from the Verde indicate the veins are not as robust at depth and contain lower grades. The company interprets this as principally due to a change in geology at depth which is not as favourable for vein formation. The district has significant potential, as a large veinfield with many untested targets. The company continues its drill program in the eastern half of the project, seeking better developed veins along strike from high grade mineralization on neighbouring claims.”
Drill Program
Drilling commenced in December 2021 and continued through early February 2022, with a total of 19 holes completed to date. Sixteen holes totalling 2,160 metres have been completed at the Verde Target to date. At the Dos Amigos Target, three holes totalling 642 metres were completed during early February. Drilling is currently underway at the Palmita Target. Drilling is advancing quickly and will progress to El Salto and Basaitegui in rapid succession.
Verde Drill Results
Assays have been returned for the initial 11 of 16 completed holes drilled at the Verde Target (Figure 1). Of the 11 holes, 10 returned gold values of significance (Table 1). This indicates a predictable epithermal system with quartz and gold veining encountered where expected based on the geologic model and drill targeting.
Grades encountered in drilling are generally lower than those found at surface. Company geologists believe the change from a more brittle andesite flow unit to a less brittle tuff unit beneath is the primary reason for the lower grades. Veins typically do not develop as well in softer rock units as they do in harder, more brittle rock units. Evidence of faulting, parallel with and later than the veins has broken up these veins in some locations as well.
Drilling in the Verde Corridor targeted the three principal veins: Verde, Orilla, and Shaft. Drill holes confirmed vein geometries and tested a variety of concepts such as structural intersections and vein inflections.
Current Drill Targets
The Dos Amigos Vein Corridor extends for 1.2 kilometres from northwest to southeast across the central part of the Cumaro project area. It is a structural corridor defined by silicified and clay altered outcrops within a broader colour anomaly visible in both the field and remote sensing images. Extensive channel and rock sampling over the outcrops contain elevated levels of gold and silver as well as pathfinder elements.
This trend is a continuation of, and proximal, to the drilling completed at SilverCrest’s Dos Amigos vein (Figure 2). Alteration and anomalous precious metal values on surface lead the company to believe that the Dos Amigos Vein corridor represents the upper levels of an epithermal system exposed at surface. The drill program was designed to confirm vein geometry and test deeper into the system.
The Palmita Vein Corridor stretches for 1.7 kilometres (Figure 2). It outcrops as quartz-clay altered structures within a larger colour anomaly. The best channel sample from this corridor returned 390 g/t silver over 1 metre from the Three-ninety vein. The Three-ninety vein is a 500-metre long, east-west trending vein, interpreted as a splay off the main vein corridor. The company identified the intersection of the northwest and east-west structures as a priority target. Those intersections can be conduits for transporting mineralizing fluids from depth.
Company geologists view the high-grade silver interval as a key result. Surface samples indicate that these rocks formed at a higher level in the epithermal system. Typically, this would be above the interpreted precious metals zone, with this sample result suggesting leakage from a potentially high-grade mineralized system at depth.
The El Salto Vein Corridor is a northwest striking 1.5-kilometre-long zone expressed as a series of quartz-clay altered outcrops within a broader colour anomaly, much like the Palmita corridor (Figure 2). Surface samples yielded anomalous values of pathfinder elements over the length of the corridor.
The principal drill target is beneath a vein which returned channel samples containing up to 248 g/t silver over 2 metres. The mineralized zone is a quartz-barite vein at the intersection of a northwest and east-west striking structure. Like Palmita, the company interprets this as potential leakage from a high-grade mineralized system at depth.
The Basaitegui Vein Corridor runs parallel to the Verde Vein Corridor, about 600 metres northeast (Figure 1 and 2). Vein textures indicate that the epithermal system is outcropping at a shallower level than observed at the Verde target. This may indicate that the productive part of the system remains preserved at depth. Like Verde, the Basaitegui Vein Corridor has multiple small scale historic workings and gold mineralization at surface. This supports the thesis for high grades at depth where drilling will test the vein.
Proving the concept that the veins are more favourable beneath the surface for higher grade gold and silver will be a significant development at Cumaro. Success here will open the entire eastern block to systematic exploration for new mineralized bodies.
Drill Details
About Heliostar Metals Ltd.
Heliostar is a well-financed junior exploration and development company with a portfolio of high-grade gold projects in Alaska and Mexico.
The company’s flagship asset is the 100% controlled Unga Gold Project on Unga and Popof Islands in Alaska. The project hosts an intermediate sulfidation epithermal gold deposit, located within the district-scale property that encompasses 240 km2 across the two islands. Additional targets on the property include porphyry copper-gold targets, high sulphidation targets and intermediate sulphidation epithermal veins.
On Unga Island, priority targets include: the SH-1 and Aquila, both on the Shumagin Trend, the former Apollo-Sitka mine, which was Alaska’s first underground gold mine, and the Zachary Bay porphyry gold-copper prospect.
Gold mineralization at the Centennial Zone is located on neighbouring Popof Island within four kilometres of infrastructure and services at Sand Point.
In Mexico, the company owns 100% of three early-stage epithermal projects in Sonora that are highly prospective for gold and silver. Cumaro forms part of the El Picacho district, while the Oso Negro and La Lola projects are early-stage projects considered prospective for epithermal gold-silver mineralization.
Quality Assurance / Quality Control
Rock and core samples were shipped to ALS Limited in Hermosillo, Sonora for sample preparation and for analysis at the ALS laboratories in North Vancouver and Vientane, Laos. The ALS Hermosillo, Vientane and North Vancouver facilities are ISO/IEC 17025 certified. Silver and base metals were analyzed using a four-acid digestion with an ICP finish and gold was assayed by 30-gram fire assay with atomic absorption (“AA”) spectroscopy finish and overlimits were analyzed by 50g fire assay with gravimetric finish.
Control samples comprising certified reference samples and blank samples were systematically inserted into the sample stream and analyzed as part of the Company’s quality assurance / quality control protocol.
Qualified Person
The Company’s disclosure of technical or scientific information in this press release has been reviewed and approved by Stewart Harris, P.Geo., Exploration Manager for the Company. Mr. Harris is a Qualified Person as defined under the terms of National Instrument 43-101.
For additional information please contact:
Charles Funk
Chief Executive Officer
Heliostar Metals Limited
Email: charles.funk@heliostarmetals.com
Rob Grey
Investor Relations
Heliostar Metals Limited
Email: rob.grey@heliostarmetals.com
Phone: +1 778 357 1313
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Forward-Looking Information. This release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects", "plans", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "projects", "potential" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "would", "may", "could" or "should" occur. Forward-looking statements in this press release include The district has significant potential, as evidenced from robust surface sampling . The project enjoys great access, the extensions of veins with declared resources on the adjacent property and close proximity to mills within the district. Cumaro has the potential to be a significant exploration success story for Heliostar in the short term. Although Heliostar believes that the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not a guarantee of future performance and actual results may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include market prices, exploitation and exploration successes, weather, continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions. Investors are cautioned that any such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of the Company's management on the date the statements are made. Except as required by applicable securities laws, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements in the event that management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change.
