Hycroft Drills Higher Grades in Vortex Zone Highlighted by 51.8 Meters of 2.47 g/t Gold and 25.5 g/t Silver
DENVER, Sept. 8, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Hycroft Mining Holding Corporation ( Nasdaq: HYMC) ("Hycroft" or the "Company"), is pleased to report on recent drill results from its wholly owned Hycroft Mine, a gold and silver producing operation located in the prolific mining region of Northern Nevada.
As previously announced, a planned drill program commenced at Hycroft in March 2021 to obtain representative mineralized material across the deposit for metallurgical and mineralogical testing. The program consists of approximately 21,300 meters of drilling, including 13 exploration holes planned to fill in areas of less dense drilling and investigate potential higher grade and oxide targets identified by the exploration team. The program is being performed by National EWP, Inc. and First Drilling, LLC utilizing three drill rigs: a reverse circulation rig for pre-collar[1] drilling; and two core rigs for drilling the targeted zones for metallurgical samples.
Recent exploration drilling in the Vortex Zone has encountered significant intercepts including 51.8 meters (170 feet) grading 2.47 grams per tonne ("g/t") (0.072 ounces per ton ("opt")) gold and 25.5 g/t (0.744 opt) silver (H21R-5592) and an additional intercept of 30.5 meters (100 feet) grading 0.71 g/t (0.021 opt) gold and 17.5 g/t (0.528 opt) silver in drill hole H21R-5591 (see Table 1 below for additional information). This drilling has identified gold grades that are five times higher than the average mineral reserve grades at Hycroft of 0.34 g/t (0.011 opt). In addition, pre-collar drilling of the metallurgical holes has identified oxide material in various areas of the ore body which could enhance the run-of-mine ("ROM") plan. The results of drilling and metallurgical work from this drill campaign will be included in our next mineral resource update and planned feasibility study, expected by the end of the first quarter 2022.
Diane R. Garrett, President & Chief Executive Officer, said, "These are some of the highest gold grades that we have encountered at Hycroft. Our exploration team has identified several target areas of potential higher gold equivalent grades within and near our existing mineral resource as demonstrated by these results as well as from prior drill campaigns. As we build our long-term operational strategy identifying these higher-grade gold equivalent zones is important information for our mine planning to continue to enhance the value of this substantial mineral endowment. We look forward to reporting future exploration results and sharing our development plans as they come together in the first half of 2022."
The currently defined Hycroft mineral resource spans an area of approximately 3 miles long (north to south) and 1.5 miles wide (east to west) within a land package of approximately 12 miles long by 8 miles wide. This drill campaign is designed to be a multi-purpose program where, in some cases, certain areas where less dense drilling had been conducted in previous campaigns were targeted to not only obtain representative samples for testing, but to also potentially improve the mineral classification for those blocks. There has been no exploration drilling at Hycroft since 2013. Part of our review work has identified numerous opportunities for expansion including historical high-grade intercepts that were not followed up on given the focus at the time was around near surface oxide heap leach material. Our 2021 geometallurgical drill program will also include some exploration drilling to follow up on high priority target areas. The Vortex Zone, discovered in 2008 and drilled from 2008 to 2012, represents a significant portion of the sulfide mineral reserve and mineral resource and has yielded high-grade silver in past drilling (see Table 2 below for historical drill results). Understanding the mineralogical properties of Vortex was identified early on as a critical component to developing the long-term mine plan.
Table 1: 2021 Drilling Program – Selected Intercepts
| Hole ID | FROM | TO | INTERVAL | GRADE | |||
| (meters) | (meters) | (meters) | Au (g/t) | Ag (g/t) | Au (opt) | Ag (opt) | |
| H21R-5591 | 365.8 | 396.2 | 30.5 | 0.71 | 17.54 | 0.021 | 0.528 |
| H21R-5591 | 408.4 | 435.9 | 27.4 | 0.63 | 18.11 | 0.018 | 0.528 |
| H21R-5591 | 443.5 | 455.7 | 12.2 | 0.59 | 28.94 | 0.017 | 0.844 |
| H21R-5592 | 192 | 198.1 | 6.1 | 0.58 | 4.68 | 0.017 | 0.136 |
| H21R-5592 | 320 | 371.9 | 51.8 | 2.47 | 25.50 | 0.072 | 0.744 |
| H21R-5592 | 414.5 | 429.8 | 15.2 | 1.07 | 7.61 | 0.033 | 0.222 |
| H12R-5593 | 335.3 | 382.5 | 47.2 | 0.54 | 18.53 | 0.016 | 0.541 |
Full results can be found on our website at www.hycroftmining.com.
Table 2: Historical Vortex Drill Results
| Hole ID | FROM | TO | INTERVAL | GRADE | |||
| (meters) | (meters) | (meters) | Au (g/t) | Ag (g/t) | Au (opt) | Ag (opt) | |
| HD08-3632 | 400 | 445 | 45 | 0.28 | 822.00 | 0.009 | 26.304 |
| 460 | 465 | 5 | 0.13 | 1,120.00 | 0.004 | 35.84 | |
| 475 | 480 | 5 | 0.46 | 1,355.00 | 0.015 | 43.36 | |
| H09D-3768 | 1020 | 1035 | 16 | 0.34 | 2,285.00 | 0.011 | 73.12 |
| including | 1031 | 1035 | 4 | 0.88 | 6,535.22 | 0.028 | 209.127 |
| H10D-3382 | 554 | 2051 | 1496 | 0.75 | 47.00 | 0.024 | 1.504 |
| including | 1490 | 1719 | 230 | 1.47 | 182.00 | 0.047 | 5.824 |
| H10R-3288 | 1234 | 2070 | 837 | 0.70 | 93.00 | 0.022 | 2.976 |
| including | 1631 | 1706 | 75 | 0.75 | 543.00 | 0.024 | 17.376 |
| H10D-3286 | 515 | 1096 | 581 | 0.66 | 51.22 | 0.021 | 1.639 |
| including | 597 | 604 | 7 | 0.40 | 472.00 | 0.013 | 15.104 |
| H10R-3833/3353 | 1273 | 1375 | 102 | 0.25 | 249.62 | 0.008 | 7.988 |
| including | 1335 | 1355 | 20 | 0.30 | 756.28 | 0.01 | 24.201 |
| H10D-3843 | 1424 | 1545 | 121 | 0.83 | 162.79 | 0.027 | 5.209 |
| including | 1463 | 1490 | 26 | 1.28 | 321.39 | 0.041 | 10.284 |
| including | 1522 | 1545 | 23 | 0.91 | 244.95 | 0.029 | 7.838 |
All 2021 drilling and sampling has been conducted under the supervision of Mr. James Berry, Vice President Exploration & Geology for Hycroft, who is a Qualified Person as defined under the United States Securities and Exchange Commission's Modernization Rules under subpart 1300 and item 601 (96)(B)(iii) of Regulation S-K. He has reviewed and approved the contents of this press release.
About Hycroft Mining Holding Corporation
Hycroft is a US-based, gold and silver producer operating the Hycroft Mine located in the world-class mining region of Northern Nevada. The Hycroft Mine ranks among the top 20 largest primary gold deposits in the world and is the second largest in the United States.
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1 A pre-collar is the top end of a drill hole that is established using a reverse circulation drill above the target zone in order to reduce the overall drill costs.