EXCELSIOR MINING CORP. Excelsior Mining Corp. announce assay results at the Johnson Camp Mine from the Stage 1 drilling with Nuton LLC, a Rio Tinto venture. The program consists of drilling approximately 6,000 feet of PQ core, primarily for the purposes of further metallurgical evaluation.
The samples from the drill program will be processed for mineralogy and tested using the NutonTM process. The program is being funded by Nuton and carried out by Excelsior in connection with the previously announced Option to JV Agreement. A total of 11 of the 13 planned holes have been drilled using diamond drill rigs to generate PQ sized core, with 5 of the drilled holes still awaiting assays.
The program is divided into two phases. Phase 1 holes were drilled from the bottom of the Burro open pit towards the east and northeast and were declined at about 35 degrees. These holes were designed to drill approximately parallel to the dip of the easterly dipping mineralized horizon.
The purpose of this drilling is to collect a relatively large volume of representative material for metallurgical testing. The PH1 series holes were drilled down the dip or at a low angle to the dip of the mineralized horizons and as such a true width is difficult to determine. The mineralized horizon in this area is typically 60 to 160 feet in true width, however the grades in these holes may not be applicable to that entire true width.
This mineralization is exposed in the bottom of the Burro pit and is one of the main targets for the potential re-start of the Burro pit. The Phase one holes started in high-grade mineralization and all holes finished in mineralization indicating the mineralization continues down dip. Unlike the Phase 1 holes, the Phase 2 holes were drilled from high on the eastern wall of the open pit and were designed to intersect the mineralized horizons below at a high angle to bedding.
No phase 2 assay results are available yet. All samples are prepared from manually split or sawn PQ core sections on site in Arizona. Split drill core samples are then sent to independent laboratory Skyline Assayers & Laboratories in Tucson, Arizona for Total Copper and Sequential Copper analyses.
Standards, blanks, and duplicate assays are included at regular intervals in each sample batch submitted from the field as part of an ongoing Quality Assurance/Quality Control Program. Pulps and sample rejects are stored by Excelsior for future reference.
