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Integra Resources has reported high grade exploration results from both the War Eagle target as well as from the Florida Mountain deposit in Idaho, where drilling was done for metallurgical testwork.
At the War Eagle target, 11.5 km from the DeLamar deposit, drill highlights include:
Seven holes were completed over a 300 metre strike length at War Eagle and assays for four holes are pending. All of the holes intersected prospective host rock. War Eagle has a history of high grade underground mining. A soil sampling program on the area was completed last month with plans for a geophysical survey in the second quarter of next year.
At the Florida Mountain deposit, 8.5 km from the Delamar deposit, metallurgical drilling highlights include:
According to the miner, the grades from Florida Mountain are suggestive of the presence of undiscovered higher grade zones within the deposit.
Next year, exploration at Florida Mountain will focus on the connection between these shallow high grade zones and high grade veins mined previously at depth. The intercepts are being analyzed in conjunction with data from past open pit mining to identify potential locations of higher grade underlying shoots. Testing of deeper targets is planned for next year.
In September, Integra released the results of a preliminary economic assessment for DeLamar which outlined a 27,000 t/d open pit heap leach operation with a 2,000 t/d mill. Production would average 124,000 oz. of gold equivalent a year at all in sustaining costs of $619 per oz. net of byproduct credits at a preproduction capital of $161 million.
The company has commenced feasibility-level work on the project. The studies are currently scheduled for completion in the second half of 2021.
The DeLamar deposit’s measured and indicated resources total 119.6 million tonnes at 0.41 g/t gold and 25.1 g/t silver for a total of 1.5 million oz. of gold and 96.2 million oz. of silver. Additional inferred resources stand at 21.3 million tonnes at 0.39 g/t gold and 15.2 g/t silver.
Florida Mountain is host to additional measured and indicated resources of 52.7 million tonnes at 0.47 g/t gold and 12 g/t silver for a total of 804,000 oz. of gold and 20.3 million oz. of silver. Inferred resources consist of 7.0 million tonnes grading 0.34 g/t gold and 8.1 g/t silver.
(This article first appeared in the Canadian Mining Journal)
