Hycroft is a low-sulfidation, epithermal system with numerous banded quartz veins similar to Midas-style mineralization. Exploration has been conducted on the property since the 1980s yet there has been no prior focus on understanding these veins and what they may mean to potential feeder systems.
Hycroft has conducted extensive drilling, hyperspectral imaging, geophysical surveys, soil and rock chip sampling programs, field mapping, historical data compilation, and regional reconnaissance around the mine area. These efforts are designed to improve the understanding of the known mineralization, as well as provide data for further exploration of the greater property position.
2022-2023 Exploration Drill Program
Most significant drilling program in nearly a decade
In July 2022 the Company began the largest exploration program at the Hycroft Mine in nearly a decade. The Company is focusing on the higher-grade opportunities identified in the 2021 and 2022 drill program and for the first time at Hycroft, a systematic approach to understanding the genesis of this world-class scale deposit, including potential feeder systems.
The 2022-2023 exploration drill program was designed to:
- Improve understanding of the higher-grade intercepts.
- Better understand mineralization controls.
- Test exploration targets outside the currently known resource.
The goal of this work is to develop opportunities to mine higher-grade ore early in the mine plan, enhancing the project's economics.
The 2022-2023 exploration drill program comprised ~30,000 meters of RC drilling and ~7,500 meters of core drilling. The deposit remains open in all directions and at depth.
New High-Grade Silver Discoveries
Significant New Value Driver for the Hycroft Mine
Throughout 2023 Hycroft announced numerous high-grade silver discoveries in the Brimstone and Vortex zones below the known resource. Drill results returned high-grade silver intercepts from >100 g/t Ag to >2000 g/t Ag, and included the best hole ever drilled at Hycroft: hole H23R-5753 returning 85.3 meters of 534 g/t Ag. See news release dated November 16, 2023.
Highlights from the drilling include:
- Confirmation of well-developed veins with very high-grade silver.
- The new Brimstone silver system is strong in continuity, extending more than 800 meters in strike and remains open.
- Evaluation of results from the Drill Program reveals two new trends with continuous high-grade silver greater than 137 g/t (see Figure 1):
- A northwest trend extending from Vortex to Camel (> 600 meters strike).
- A northeast trend extending from Vortex to Brimstone (> 800 meters strike).
- Both trends are open along strike and additional drilling is expected to demonstrate that these trends intersect.
Figure 1
Northwest trend and northeast trend, open along strike as indicated by the arrows
Brimstone Drilling Result Highlights
News release dated November 16, 2023:
- H23R-5753: 85.3 meters of 534 g/t Ag and 0.23 g/t Au
- Including 39.6 meters of 1,019 g/t Ag and 0.26 g/t Au
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Including 4.6 meters of 4,974 g/t Ag and 0.56 g/t Au
- H23R-5760: 131.1 meters of 213 g/t Ag and 0.34 g/t Au
- Including 41.1 meters of 636 g/t Ag and 0.47 g/t Au
- Including 12.2 meters of 1,554 g/t Ag and 0.48 g/t Au
- H23R-5771: 152.9 meters of 143 g/t Ag and 0.32 g/t Au
- Including 57.7 meters of 357 g/t Ag and 0.29 g/t Au
- Including 4.2 meters of 3,807 g/t Ag and 0.58 g/t Au
News release dated January 9, 2024:
- H23C-5790: 20 meters of 869.9 g/t Ag and 0.40 g/t Au
- Including 7 meters of 2,427.03 g/t Ag and 0.39 g/t Au
- H23R-5782: 52 meters of 74.49 g/t Ag and 0.40 g/t Au
- Including 13 meters of 211.60 g/t Ag and 0.59 g/t Au
- H23C-5795: 85 meters of 75.23 g/t Ag and 0.25 g/t Au
- Including 10 meters of 373.86 g/t Ag and 0.31 g/t Au
- H23R-5761: 6.1 meters of 451.85 g/t Ag and 0.18 g/t Au
- H23R-5775: 64 meters of 24.84 g/t Ag and 0.45 g/t Au
- Including 9 meters of 107.72 g/t Ag and 0.57 g/t Au
For full details on the above drill results, visit https://hycroftmining.com/news/.