Vancouver, B.C., January 10, 2022 – Ximen Mining Corp. (TSX.v: XIM) (FRA: 1XMA) (OTCQB: XXMMF) (the “Company” or “Ximen”) is pleased to announce results from drilling conducted last year at its newly acquired Wild Horse Gold property, located 15 kilometers northeast of Cranbrook in the Fort Steele Mining Division in southern British Columbia.
Property map showing Wild Horse Gold Property near Fort Steele, B.C.
The drilling was done to extend previous drill results from 2016 that tested a gold-breccia zone where previous surface grab sample results ranged up to 8.0 grams per tonne gold. High gold values were intersected in the 2016 drill hole LF16-01, which was drilled at an inclination of 60 degrees and intersected stockwork quartz veinlets and breccia in altered sedimentary rocks. Previous reports indicate a drill intercept of 0.76 grams per tonne gold over 14.4 meters was obtained between depths of 60.0 meters and the end of the hole at 74.4 meters. The hole ended in the mineralized zone.
Photo of core from hole GM21-01 showing typical quartz veinlet stockwork in sericite and iron-carbonate altered sedimentary rocksand associated pyrite mineralization (partially oxidized)
In 2021 Ximen completed 2 holes for 373.7 meters cored at its Wild Horse Gold property. The first hole (GM21-01) was an extension of the 2016 hole; the hole was deepened from 74 to 217.6 meters. The extension intersected a continuation of the quartz veinlet stockwork and breccia-style mineralization seen in LF16-01, with consistently elevated gold values obtained between 75 and 84 meters, and local elevated gold values further down the hole. The interval from 74 to 84 meters (10.0 meters) returned values ranging between 0.10 and 1.21 grams per tonne gold and averaged 0.42 grams per tonne gold. From 74 to 146 meters (72.0 meters) an average grade of 0.28 grams per tonne gold was obtained.
Combining the mineralized interval from the bottom of hole LF16-01 with the upper part of hole GM21-01, the interval from 60.0 to 84.0 meters (24.0 meters) has an average grade of 0.60 grams per tonne gold and a lower interval between 84 and 146 (62.0 meters) meters has an average grade of 0.26 grams per tonne gold. The entire interval from 60 to 146 meters (86 meters) has an average grade of 0.36 grams per tonne gold. The combined results from 2016 and 2021 indicate significant gold values over a large interval. The following table summarizes the results.
The second hole drilled in 2021 (GM21-02) was drilled to a depth of 230.1 meters from the same collar location as the previous hole but at a steeper inclination of 71 degrees. This hole did not intersect the quartz stockwork-breccia intersected in the first hole. It encountered a strong fault zone at a depth of 19.2 meters and passed into thick-bedded, calcareous quartzite and quartz grit, interbedded with hematitic quartz grit and quartzite of the Cranbrook Formation. Below 93 meters depth, local centimeter-scale bands of auriferous pyrite mineralization were intersected. The pyrite bands are closely associated with quartz-carbonate veinlets and sericitic alteration, although in places pyrite occurs without any vein quartz. Selected intervals with abundant pyrite were assayed, with elevated results shown in the following table.
Although GM21-02 did not intersect the mineralized quartz breccia/stockwork zone that was intersected in hole GM21-01, it intersected localized mineralization of similar character containing significant gold values. The gold consistently correlates with pyrite, which occurs by itself or is associated with quartz-carbonate veinlets. This mineralization may be the periphery of the main zone. Our interpretation is that the target zone breccia was offset by the strong fault intersected near the top of hole GM21-02.
Re-analysis by the metallic screen method was done for a suite of 31 selected samples with results between 0.30 and 5.43 grams per tonne gold. The metallics screen assays were not significantly different, indicating that coarse gold is not likely present in the selected samples.
Ximen’s Wild Horse Gold Property covers potential source areas for the famous Wild Horse Creek placer gold deposits, where gold was first discovered in 1864. More than 10 million ounces of gold is estimated to have been recovered from the streams in the East Kootenay’s around Cranbrook and placer gold mining continues to this day. The area is part of the Kimberley Gold Trend, a zone that extends southwestward from the Rocky Mountains into the western part of the Purcell Mountains (Seabrook and Hoy, 2015 Geoscience BC Roundup Poster).
Analyses reported for the 2021 drill core were completed by Activation Laboratories Ltd. (Actlabs) at Kamloops, B.C. Act-Labs is an independent commercial laboratory that is ISO 9001 certified and ISO 17025 accredited. Analyses for gold were by the fire assay method using 30-gram samples with inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) finish. Silver and other elements were analyzed by ICP-OES using an aqua regia digestion. Quality control was monitored using reference standards and blank samples inserted into the sample sequence at intervals. Check analyses were performed on selected samples.
Readers are cautioned that historical information including assay results referred to in this News Release have been examined but not verified by a Qualified Person. Further work is required to verify that historical records referred to in this News Release are accurate.
Dr. Mathew Ball, P.Geo., VP Exploration for Ximen Mining Corp. and a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101, approved the technical information contained in this News Release.
On behalf of the Board of Directors,
Christopher R. Anderson,
President, CEO and Director
604 488-3900
Investor Relations: Sophy Cesar, 604-488-3900, ir@XimenMiningCorp.com
