White Rock Minerals Ltd. Aug. 6 reported that drilling has tapped massive sulfide mineralization at the recently discovered Hunter prospect on the company's Red Mountain project about 60 miles south of Fairbanks, Alaska.

Hunter was discovered during a reconnaissance exploration program that has already identified several new volcanogenic massive sulfide prospects across White Rock's 35,300-acre Red Mountain property. While mapping and sampling of this area about 5,200 meters southeast of the Dry Creek deposit, crews identified a two-foot massive sulfide outcrop rich in sphalerite (zinc mineralization) and galena (lead mineralization).

Further prospecting at Hunter mapped massive sulfide mineralization for about 500 meters along strike that is associated with carbonaceous phyllite that can be traced more than 1,000 meters.

Rock chip sampling of the massive sulfide from the discovery outcrop, as well as trenching along strike to define the position of the mineralization, returned assays of up to 18.6 percent zinc, 5.4 percent lead, 2.3 percent copper, 147 grams per metric ton silver and 0.7g/t gold.

The first two holes drilled at Hunter – HR18-01 and HR18-02 – cut the massive sulfide mineralization up to 80 meters down-dip from the outcrop.

The first hole, HR18-01, was located up-slope to the north of the outcrop and drilled vertically so as to intersect the massive sulfide at a shallow position and confirm the dip of the VMS horizon. This discovery hole tapped massive sulfide about 50 meters from the outcrop and confirmed the horizon dips about 45 degrees to the north.

The second hole, drilled from the location and angled north, cut the VMS horizon a further 30 meters down-dip.

Both drill intersections contain abundant visual zinc with minor chalcopyrite (copper) mineralization, similar to what was observed in the Hunter discovery outcrop.

"We are excited with the success of the first two drill holes at the newly discovered Hunter prospect. These high-grade zinc results from the discovery outcrop are extremely encouraging," said White Rock Minerals CEO Matt Gill. "Grades in excess of 20 percent combined zinc-lead with significant silver grades, as well as copper credits greater than 2 percent, mark the potential for a significant deposit to emerge at Hunter."

This would add to the two deposits already identified at Red Mountain – Dry Creek and West Tundra Flats.

Based on 167 holes historically drilled at these deposits, an Australian Joint Ore Reserves Committee- (JORC) compliant calculation outlined 16.7 million metric tons of inferred resource averaging 4.1 percent (1.49 billion pounds) zinc; 1.7 percent (630 million lb) lead; 0.2 percent (57.3 million lb) copper; 99 grams per metric ton (53.5 million oz) silver; and 0.7 g/t (352,000 oz) gold.

Drilling completed this year by White Rock has continued to cut high-grade VMS mineralization at both deposits, such as 3.45 meters averaging 15.1 percent zinc, 6.7 percent lead, 518 g/t silver, 2.1 g/t gold and 0.2 percent copper, or 35.2 percent zinc-equivalent in hole WT18-28 at WTF; and 4.8 percent zinc, 2.3 percent lead, 1,435 g/t (46.1 oz/t) silver, 2.2 g/t gold and 0.5 percent copper, or 43.2 percent zinc-equivalent in hole DC18-77 at Dry Creek.

"(S)uch high-grade mineralization at the three main prospects defined to date bodes well for future high-grade discoveries, with the Red Mountain project shaping up to be a high-grade zinc VMS camp of the future," said Gill.

While drills were turning at the known deposits, the on-ground geological reconnaissance crew identified several new prospects along a 10,000-meter east-west trend south of Dry Creek – Megan's Draw, Ram, Dry Creek South, South Platypus, Redback and Hunter.

"What is exciting is that our on-ground recon crew has to date covered just 20 percent of our strategic tenement package of 143 square kilometers (35,300 acres) and already identified some seven areas of interest. That leaves a lot of upside for further discoveries," said the White Rock Minerals CEO.

The drill is now targeting Redback, a prospect turned up by the recon crew about 1,000 meters east of Hunter.

The first hole drilled at the Hunter prospect at Red Mountain cut VMS mineralization about 50 meters down-dip from a massive sulfide outcrop that returned assays as high as 18.6 percent zinc, 5.4 percent lead, 2.3 percent copper, 147 grams per metric ton silver and 0.7g/t gold.

–SHANE LASLEY