Golden Metal Resources #GMET – Pilot Mountain: Significant Exploration Targets

Golden Metal Resources plc (LON:GMET), a mineral exploration company focused on tungsten, gold, copper and silver within Nevada, USA, is pleased to announce a significant outcome from the interpretation of results from the high-resolution induced polarisation (“IP”) geophysics survey completed over its 100% owned flagship Pilot Mountain Project (“Pilot Mountain” or the “Project”) located within the prolific Walker Lake Mineral Belt in Nevada, USA.

Highlights:

–      Detailed analysis of the IP geophysics results have highlighted the presence of three significant undrilled exploration targets (1- Desert Scheelite Parallel West Zone; 2- Porphyry Depths Zone; and 3- Desert Scheelite East Extension Zone; collectively the “Targets”) which are highly prospective for further tungsten (“W”)-copper(“Cu”)-silver(“Ag”)-zinc(“Zn”) mineralisation.

–      The Company considers that Pilot Mountain hosts the largest known undeveloped tungsten resource in the USA (with the US currently without any domestic primary tungsten production), and these newly identified targets indicate the potential for a significantly greater in-ground resource than currently known marking a significant uplift in Project potential.

–      Any increase in potential mineralisation will further bolster the inherent value of the Project and its attractiveness as a target for non-dilutive grant funding for Project exploration and development, which the Company is actively working on at present.

Oliver Friesen, CEO of Golden Metal, commented: 

“While it was the criticality and in-situ value of the W-Cu-Ag-Zn mineral resource that originally attracted us to Pilot Mountain, our due diligence highlighted considerable untapped exploration upside which is what ultimately led us to acquire 100% of the Project back in November 2021.

“Review of all historical data available highlighted several conceptual exploration targets, all of which lay under thin sand cover. As a result, we set out to complete IP geophysics over these targets and the results now received and presented herein have exceeded  our expectations with three significant high-priority untested zones now successfully identified on our flagship Project.

“The scale of the opportunity presented to us as 100% owners of this advanced tungsten Project is large, and with these three new exploration targets now identified the opportunity has grown significantly.”

Detailed Overview:

1)    Desert Scheelite Parallel West Zone (Figure 1)

o  Mineralisation at Desert Scheelite (“DS”; Total Resource 10.7Mt @ 0.26% WO₃, see Table 1) is hosted within a very well-defined resistivity low (conductivity high) geophysical feature that is mapped for approx. 500m in a generally east-west direction (see dark blue feature on Figure 1).

o  The 2023 IP geophysical results have led to the discovery of the Desert Scheelite Parallel West Zone (“DSPW Zone”) which is defined by a resistivity low (conductivity high) with nearly identical geophysical characteristics to DS. The DSPW Zone is located approx. 200m to the north/north-west of DS and have never been drill tested. The 2023 IP results show that the DSPW Zone is larger than the DS Zone, and if drilling successfully proves that the DSPW Zone contains skarn-style W-Cu-Ag-Zn mineralisation, it would represent a highly significant discovery at Pilot Mountain.

2)    Porphyry Depths Zone (Figure 2)

o  The Good Hope (“GH”) and Desert Scheelite (“DS”) Zones are located approximately 1,400m apart. The area in between these two zones is blanketed by a thin layer of post-mineral sedimentary and basaltic cover which historically precluded effective exploration between these two zones (despite both zones displaying very similar skarn-type alteration and mineralisation).

o  The 2023 IP geophysical results have successfully highlighted a significant geophysical feature which appears to broadly connect the DS and GH zones at depth. This feature is defined by a resistivity and chargeability high and as a result it is postulated that it is related to a porphyry intrusion at depth. Skarn-type systems are ultimately spatially related to porphyry mineral deposits at depth, and this newly identified geophysical zone may represent the ultimate source of W-Cu-Ag-Zn mineralisation found across the entire Pilot Mountain Project. As a result, the discovery of the Porphyry Depths Zone (“PDZ”)may represent a significant development at Pilot Mountain.

3)    Desert Scheelite East Extension Zone (Figure 3)

o  One of the furthest east historical drillholes completed at Desert Scheelite returned some of the strongest copper and tungsten mineralisation ever found at Pilot Mountain which includes 17.5m @ 1.8% Cu (incl. sub-interval of 13.9m @ 0.89% W0₃). Because of this, the previous operator in 2013 completed a two dimensional IP survey across and to the east of Desert Scheelite. The goal of this survey was to profile the eastern extension of mineralisation from the main Desert Scheelite Zone.

o  Re-interpretation of these 2013 results by Golden Metal have clearly shown that the mineralisation at Desert Scheelite (Total Resource 10.7Mt @ 0.26% WO₃) is strongly coincident with a resistivity low (conductivity high) signature which corroborates with the 2023 IP results (see DSPW Zone writeup). Review of the historical results highlight that the DS resistivity low signature extends for an additional  circa 500m towards the southeast (dipping under cover) where it remains untested by drilling. This similarly represents a very high-priority exploration target for Golden Metal going forward.

Further Project Information

Overview

The Pilot Mountain tungsten-copper-silver-zinc Project is located approximately 200km southeast of Reno, in Nevada. Nevada ranked first in overall mining investment attractiveness in the Fraser Institute 2022 annual survey ¹. The Project is located entirely on United States Bureau of Land Management (“BLM”) land – allowing for efficient and cost-effective permitting.

The 3,656-acre Project is centred around four existing mineral deposits including Garnet, Good Hope, Gunmetal and Desert Scheelite all which possess significant skarn-style W-Cu-Ag-Zn mineralisation.

The Desert Scheelite and Garnet deposits host a combined Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) of 12.53Mt at 0.27% tungsten trioxide (“WO₃“) with significant Cu-Ag-Zn credits (see Table 1). This in-ground resource is believed to be the largest and most advanced undeveloped tungsten resource located in the USA.

Table 1: Pilot Mountain Project Updated Mineral Resource Estimate, dated 13 December 2018 ²

Notes:         All figures are rounded to reflect appropriate levels of confidence. Apparent differences may occur due to rounding.

·           Cut-off grade 0.15% WO₃

·           Garnet deposit resource reported 22 May 2017. Thor Mining stated it is not aware of any information or data which would materially affect this previously announced resource estimate, and all assumptions and technical parameters relevant to the estimate remain unchanged.

·           The estimates are considered by SRK Exploration Services Limited to be non-compliant with the JORC Code (2012) reporting standard due to insufficient disclosure of the technical and economic support for the cut-off assumptions applied and are therefore viewed as historical.

Development Potential

There is currently no known domestic United States primary tungsten production, and tungsten is classified as a strategic mineral by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) ³. Set against this backdrop, the Pilot Mountain Project is key strategic and defense metal deposit located on American soil.

Potential production viability was reinforced with a scoping study ⁴ commissioned by Thor Mining plc and completed in 2018 on the Project which indicated the potential for an initial 12-year operational life based on processing ore from an open pit at Desert Scheelite supplemented by potential production from Garnet.

Furthermore, previous independent metallurgical testwork on 694kg of mineralised rock from Pilot Mountain ⁵ highlighted strong metallurgical results including the successful production of two saleable concentrates (scheelite, and copper/silver) from a coarse grind treated by floatation or by flotation and wet high-intensity magnetic separators (“WHIMS”).

Shallow mineral resources at the Desert Scheelite and Garnet deposits may be amenable to shallow open-cut mining methods (as modelled in the 2018 scoping study) which would allow for rapid low-cost start-up costs.

Exploration Upside

The previous operator, Thor Mining plc, conducted a study which looked into exploration potential at Pilot Mountain. Thor Mining’s exploration targets were broken into Tier 1 and Tier 2 targets for which a total Exploration Target of 11.0 – 23.0Mt with an expected average grade of 0.3-0.5% WO₃ was published ⁶ (see Table 2).

Table 2: Pilot Mountain Exploration Targets (stated by Thor Mining plc) ⁶

*Exploration Targets are conceptual in nature and there has been insufficient exploration to define a Mineral Resource. It is uncertain if further exploration will result in the determine of a Mineral Resource.

Considering the current Mineral Resource tonnage equates to 12.53Mt ², should the exploration targets postulated be converted to Resources they could deliver a significant increase to the potential Pilot Mountain project value. The IP geophysics results presented today have further corroborated and supported the likelihood of proving up some of the Tier 1 and Tier 2 targets published historically.

Media

High-resolution versions of the below three figures can be found at the link below:

https://www.goldenmetalresources.com/pmgeophysical-survey/

Figure 1 – Desert Scheelite Parallel West (DSPW) Zone Resistivity Map. Eastern resistivity low (conductivity high) or dark blue feature is strongly coincident to W-Cu-Ag-Zn mineralisation found at the Desert Scheelite Zone which hosts the majority of the in-ground resource at Pilot Mountain (10.7Mt at 0.26% WO3). The sub-parallel, larger, dark blue zone (resistivity low/conductivity high) represents the undrilled DSPW Zone.

Figure 2 – Resistivity and Chargeability Cross-Sections across Porphyry Depths (PD) Zone. PD Zone is characterised by a slightly concave up resistivity and chargeability high which broadly connects the Good Hope (GH) and Desert Scheelite (DS) zones at depth.

Figure 3 – Desert Scheelite (East Extension) Target Zone. White lines represent resistivity low (conductivity high) that extends from known mineralisation at Desert Scheelite towards the east under cover where it has never been drill tested.

Property Ownership

Golden Metal holds a 100% interest in the Pilot Mountain Project through its wholly-owned Nevada-based operating companies BFM Resources Inc and Pilot Metals Inc.

Reference Notes:

1:            Fraser Institute Annual Survey of Mining Companies, 2022, published 4 May 2023

                (https://www.fraserinstitute.org/studies/annual-survey-of-mining-companies-2022 )

2:            Thor Mining PLC, regulatory news announcement, ‘Increased Mineral Resource Estimate – Pilot Mountain Nevada USA’, dated 13 December 2018

                ( https://wcsecure.weblink.com.au/LSE_news/2018/12/13/Thormining_14158543.pdf )

2:            News announcement: ‘The United States Geological Survey has released a new list of 50 mineral commodities critical to the U.S. economy and national security after an extensive multi-agency assessment’, 22 February 2022
( https://www.usgs.gov/news/national-news-release/us-geological-survey-releases-2022-list-critical-minerals )

4:            Thor Mining PLC, regulatory news announcement, ‘Twelve Year Open Pit Life for Desert Scheelite

Pilot Mountain Scoping Study’, dated 7 September 2018

                ( https://wcsecure.weblink.com.au/LSE_news/2018/09/07/Thormining_14049369.pdf )

5:            Unpublished metallurgical testwork report by Guangzhou Research Institute of Nonferrous Metals commissioned by Black Fire Minerals Ltd: ‘The Development of Separation Technology from the Pilot, Mountain Tungsten Project, Nevada, USA: Process Mineralogy Mineral processing Preliminary Testing’, dated 31 August 2013.

6:            Thor Mining PLC, regulatory news announcement, ‘Development Plan Pilot Mountain Tungsten Project – Nevada USA’, dated 1 December 2014
( https://wcsecure.weblink.com.au/LSE_news/2014/12/01/Thormining_13057433.pdf )

COMPETENT PERSON STATEMENT

The technical information contained in this disclosure has been read and approved by Mr Nick O’Reilly (MSc, DIC, MIMMM, MAusIMM, FGS), who is a qualified geologist and acts as the Competent Person under the AIM Rules – Note for Mining and Oil & Gas Companies. Mr O’Reilly is a Principal consultant working for Mining Analyst Consulting Ltd which has been retained by Golden Metal Resources plc to provide technical support.

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of EU Regulation 596/2014 (which forms part of domestic UK law pursuant to the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018).

Forward Looking Statements

This announcement contains forward-looking statements relating to expected or anticipated future events and anticipated results that are forward-looking in nature and, as a result, are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, such as general economic, market and business conditions, competition for qualified staff, the regulatory process and actions, technical issues, new legislation, uncertainties resulting from potential delays or changes in plans, uncertainties resulting from working in a new political jurisdiction, uncertainties regarding the results of exploration, uncertainties regarding the timing and granting of prospecting rights, uncertainties regarding the timing and granting of regulatory and other third party consents and approvals, uncertainties regarding the Company’s or any third party’s ability to execute and implement future plans, and the occurrence of unexpected events. 

Actual results achieved may vary from the information provided herein as a result of numerous known and unknown risks and uncertainties and other factors.

For further information visit www.goldenmetalresources.com or contact the following:

The Projects:

Pilot Mountain Project

The Pilot Mountain project is an advanced exploration and mineral resource definition stage project located in Mineral County in western Nevada. The project covers an area of 14.80 km² (3,656.1 acres) and is located 200km southeast of Reno and 18km east of Mina, Nevada. It is well situated for the supply of power, water and skilled labour and proximity to transport infrastructure in Mineral County and is centred around four existing mineral deposits: Garnet; Good Hope; Gunmetal and Desert Scheelite, all of which possess significant skarn-style tungsten-copper-silver-zinc mineralisation. The Pilot Mountain project consists of 176 active lode mining claims and 4 filed mill site claims. The four mill site claims filed at the former Dunham mill site have secure access to groundwater supply sufficient for the proposed project.

Golconda Summit Project

Golden Metal is the operator of the Golconda Summit project, which is held under an earn-in right to acquire up to 100 per cent. of the project from the mineral claim owner pursuant to an option agreement. The Golconda Summit project is an exploration stage gold and silver project located in Humboldt County and situated at the confluence of the Getchell and Battle Mountain – Eureka metallogenic trends, and consists of 44 lode mining claims, covering a total area of approximately 3.22 km² (795.4 acres) located approximately 27km east of Winnemucca.

Garfield Project

The Garfield project is an early exploration stage copper, gold and silver property consisting of 39 lode mining claims covering 3.23 km² (797.9 acres) located in Mineral County, Nevada, approximately 14km due east of the town of Hawthorne and 120km due west-northwest of Tonopah.

Stonewall Project

The Stonewall project is an exploration stage gold-silver property prospective for epithermal gold-silver mineralisation. The property consists of 19 lode mining claims covering 1.59 km² (392.5 acres) located on the northern flank of Stonewall Mountain, on the western edge of the Nellis Airforce Range Restricted Access Area, in Nye County, Nevada, approximately 24km south-east of the historic gold mining town of Goldfield and 60km due south of Tonopah.