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Tower Resources Ltd. (TSXV: TWR) ("Tower" or the "Company") is pleased to announce completion of the till sampling and gold grain testing component of the Company's current 2000 m diamond drilling program (see press release from February 2, 2023) on the Company's Rabbit North property near Kamloops, British Columbia, between New Gold's New Afton underground Cu-Au mine and Teck's Highland Valley open pit Cu-Mo mine (see Fig. 1). The gold grain results obtained from the till samples will be used to guide diamond drill testing of the large Dominic Lake gold grain dispersal train as soon as drilling is completed at the source of the smaller but higher-grade Central Train.
Gold Grain Results
As explained in Tower's December 21, 2022 press release the Lightning Zone that Tower discovered in December, 2021, 300 m glacially up-ice from the Dominic Lake Train, has been yielding attractive gold Au grades of up to 1.55 g/t over 132 m but its glaciated footprint appears to be too small to account for such a large gold grain dispersal train. Additionally, Tower's diamond drilling has shown that the untested 300 m gap between the Lightning Zone and the previously sampled segment of the dispersal train is underlain by a plug of unprospective (pre-mineralization) Durand diorite (see Fig. 2) rather than the gold-prospective Nicola tuff that hosts the Lightning Zone.
In the current program, 11 till samples were collected in the gap. The samples were obtained beneath 1 m of snow using an excavator and were collected at the same depth as the original hand-dug samples that identified the Dominic Lake Train.
As anticipated, the gold grain content of most of the till samples from the gap, including those directly down-ice from the Lightning Zone, is significantly lower than that of the samples from the Dominic Lake Train (generally less than 150 grains per sample versus 200-600 grains per sample), confirming that the main gold source is probably on the south rather than north side of the diorite plug.
Two till samples collected further north over the northeastern part of the diorite plug did contain more than 200 gold grains. However, this anomaly is probably related to an underlying zone of the earlier, low-grade, Durand-type porphyry Cu-Au mineralization that Tower intersected in Hole 035 in December, 2021 (0.09% Cu and 0.31 g/t Au over 79.8 m; see March 10, 2022 press release.
Three till samples were collected to verify an isolated 609-grain gold anomaly that was identified 200 m northeast of the Lightning Zone in the initial May, 2021 till survey. These samples yielded much lower gold grain values, indicating that the original anomaly was spurious rather than indicative of a systematic dispersal train like the initial till sample from the Central Train, see October 5, 2022 press release. Such anomalies are generally produced post-glacially by weathering of gold inclusions from auriferous sulphide grains in a mineralized till pebble.
One till sample was collected over the band of young basalt flows at the head of the Central Train. It yielded only 43 gold grains, confirming that the Central Train is sourced entirely from the Nicola volcanics on the south side of the basalt.
Central Train Drilling Corroborates Interpretation of Dominic Lake Train
While the till samples at the head of the Dominic Lake Train were being collected and evaluated, diamond drilling commenced at the head of the Central Train to locate its source. The anomalous till samples from this dispersal train contain only half as many gold grains as those from the Dominic Lake Train but three times more gold by weight because the gold grains are larger. This suggests a source Au grade three times higher than the grade of the Lightning Zone.
The drilling has been progressing rapidly, with approximately 1400 m completed in four holes. It has revealed that the Nicola volcanics at the Central Train are less disrupted by faults than those at the Lightning Zone, facilitating determination of the orientation of other structures. Importantly, the mineralized shear zone responsible for the Central Train has been determined to strike roughly parallel to the south-southeast ice flow trend and to directly underlie the dispersal train, reinforcing the probability that the main source of the Dominic Lake Train also trends south-southeast and underlies the train.
While more drilling is needed on the Central Train, the drill is now being moved to the Dominic Lake Train where at least two holes will be drilled to assess the gold potential of the rocks beneath the train.
Methods and Qualified Person
Overburden Drilling Management Ltd. (ODM) collected the till samples and processed them at the company's heavy indicator mineral laboratory in Ottawa, Ontario.
The samples were collected by Michael D.J. Michaud from small pits dug with a tracked excavator. They were obtained from compact subglacial till within the C-horizon of the post-glacial soil profile at a depth of 0.5 to 1 m to match the samples that were collected previously from hand-dug pits.
The till from each pit was sieved at 8 mm to obtain approximately 12 kg of -8 mm material which, when further screened in the laboratory, typically yields approximately 10 kg of -2 mm fine sandy silt, the particle size fraction in which most gold grains reside.
Prior to extracting the heavy mineral fraction from the samples, ODM removed a representative 500 g split and further sieved it at 0.063 mm to separate the fine silt + clay fraction. This fraction will be analyzed geochemically in Kamloops by Actlabs Ltd., a laboratory certified as ISO/IEC 17025 Accredited (Lab 790) by the Standards Council of Canada. The samples are digested in aqua regia, then analyzed by FA/AA for Au and 34 other elements by ICP/OES. ODM normally includes in each submitted sample batch one or more splits of a blind (visually indistinguishable) quality assurance sample from a natural till section that contains consistently elevated levels of Au, Cu, Mo and other key elements.
Heavy mineral concentration was effected on the bulk of each sample using a shaking table modified by ODM to recover the fine, silt-sized gold particles that normally comprise 95% of the gold grains in till. The dimensions of each recovered gold grain were measured and the grain was classified as being still pristine, partially modified (physically deformed) or completely reshaped to gauge its relative distance of glacial transport.
The technical content of this news release has been reviewed and approved by Stuart Averill, P.Geo., a Director of the Company, and a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101.
About Tower Resources
Tower is a Canadian based mineral exploration company focused on the discovery and advancement of economic mineral projects in the Americas. The Company's key exploration assets, both in B.C., are the Rabbit North copper-gold porphyry project located between the New Afton copper-gold and Highland Valley copper mines in the Kamloops mining district and the Nechako gold-silver project near Artemis' Blackwater project.
On behalf of the Board of Directors
Tower Resources Ltd.
Joe Dhami, President and CEO
(778) 996-4730
www.towerresources.ca
Reader Advisory
This news release may contain statements which constitute "forward-looking information", including statements regarding the plans, intentions, beliefs and current expectations of the Company, its directors, or its officers with respect to the future business activities of the Company. The words "may", "would", "could", "will", "intend", "plan", "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect" and similar expressions, as they relate to the Company, or its management, are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future business activities and involve risks and uncertainties, and that the Company's future business activities may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, including, but not limited to, fluctuations in market prices, successes of the operations of the Company, continued availability of capital and financing and general economic, market or business conditions. There can be no assurances that such information will prove accurate and, therefore, readers are advised to rely on their own evaluation of such uncertainties. The Company does not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking information except as required under the applicable securities laws.
Figure 1 – Location of Tower's Rabbit North property relative to the active mines of the Kamloops district.
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Figure 2 – Gold grain content per 10 kg sample of the till southwest of the Durand Stock. Gold grain counts greater than 200 are shown individually.
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To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/155843
