Athena Reports Results From 2024 Prospecting Program at Excelsior Springs, Outlines New Targets, and Expands Land Package Samples up to 27.1 g/t Au at new Rhino Zone WHITE ROCK, BRITISH COLUMBIA / ACCESS Newswire /
Athena Reports Results From 2024 Prospecting Program
at Excelsior Springs, Outlines New Targets, and Expands
Land Package
Samples up to 27.1 g/t Au at new Rhino Zone
WHITE ROCK, BRITISH COLUMBIA / ACCESS Newswire / May 14, 2025 / Athena Gold
Corporation (CSE:ATHA)(OTCQB:AHNRF) ("Athena" or the "Company") is pleased to report
additional results from its 2024 regional prospecting and sampling program at the 100%-
owned Excelsior Springs project in Nevada's Walker Lane Trend. The program proved
successful in providing new geologic interpretations and defining new, untested zones of
prospective mineralization. On the back of this program, the Company expanded its
landholdings by approximately 68 hectares.
"One of the drivers behind the Fall 2024 program was to confirm whether prospective
ground exists outside the Buster Trend, which to date, has been the main target of focus at
Excelsior Springs. We are happy to report the identification of the new Rhino Zone, in
addition to the high-grade silver and antimony potential revealed at the Blue Dick Trend.
Importantly, both these targets remain untested by the drill bit. We believe a larger-scale
program is warranted in order to adequately explore such a target-rich project, " stated Koby
Kushner, President & CEO of Athena Gold.
Highlights:
• The newly defined Rhino Zone, located to the northeast of the project area, returned
high-grade gold on surface, with grab sample assays returning up to 27.1 g/t Au, 49
g/t Ag, and 1.4% Pb (see Figure 2).
• Results from Blue Dick, as previously reported, returned up to 6,630 g/t Ag (Sample
K024547; refer to the Company's press release dated January 23, 2025). In addition,
the remaining analytical results from this sample returned high-grade antimony of
1.53% Sb.
o Antimony is designated as a critical metal by both the United States and
Canada due to its essential role in national security, energy infrastructure,
and industrial manufacturing.
• On the back of the successful 2024 exploration program, the Company recently
expanded its land position through staking, increasing the project footprint by 68
hectares to better capture the Rhino and Blue Dick Trends (see Figure 1).
• The Company continues to receive third-party interest regarding potential joint
venture partnerships and earn-in agreements across its Nevada portfolio.
Figure 1: Map of the Excelsior Springs project highlighting the various mineralized trends,
historic drilling, additional staking, and recent sampling completed by Athena Gold
Corporation in November 2024.
1. Athena Gold Intercepts Shallow High-Grade Gold with 15.3 g/t Over 35 Feet at its
Excelsior Springs Project, Nevada
2. Athena Reports High-Grade Silver, up to 6,630 g/t, from Newly Completed
Prospecting Program at Excelsior Springs, Nevada
3. Athena Gold Drills 1.02 g/t Gold Over 51.8 Meters and Extends its Shallow Oxide
Gold Discovery at Excelsior Springs Project, Nevada
Figure 2: Map of the Rhino Zone showing recent sampling, the approximate outline of the
Rhino Zone, and the area of newly acquired ground.
A total of 95 surface grab samples were collected during the recent mapping and
prospecting program, conducted by Big Rock Exploration in November. Results from the
program have highlighted that the Excelsior Springs project is host to various styles of
mineralization, lending itself to varying exploration targets ranging from narrow vein, high-
grade targets to low-grade, bulk-tonnage targets.
Buster Trend: This target area is host to the vast majority of the historical exploration work
at Excelsior Springs to date, with most activity focused on the historic underground Buster
Mine, which averaged >40 g/t Au of past production. Drilling at the easternmost extension
of this trend returned 5.35 g/t Au over 33.5 m from hole DB-23 in the Western Slope Zone,
approximately 400 m east of the historic workings at Buster (refer to the Company's press
release dated June 29, 2022).
Ridge Trend: Mineralization in this region has a distinct intrusion-related signature with
elevated As-Bi-Mo-Cu-Hg-Te. The Ridge Trend represents a potential low-grade, high-
tonnage target. Historic drilling has returned up to 24.4 m at 1.09 g/t Au (GE-14) starting at
only 7.6 m below surface (refer to the Company's press release dated Sept 14, 2023).
Rhino Trend: This newly recognized trend has similar characteristics to the Ridge Trend in
that it is a low-grade, high-tonnage target with potential for high-grade Au values within the
broader target area. No known drilling has been completed in this area, and additional
staking has been completed in 2025 to secure the zone.
Blue Dick Trend: The Blue Dick area represents a series of Au-Ag-Cu-Pb-Sb-Zn epithermal
vein systems. Several historic workings are documented in the area including the Blue Dick
Mine, however no known drilling has been conducted in the area. In November of 2024,
Athena returned samples of up to 6,630 g/t Ag, 2.28% Cu, 2.4% Pb, and 1.53% Sb along
with 5.1 g/t Au, 212 g/t Ag, 2.4% Pb, and 2.84% Zn (refer to the Company's press release
dated January 23, 2025). Recent staking expanded the Blue Dick Trend to capture historical
high-grade samples.
QA/QC
Analytical work for rock samples was completed by ALS Laboratories, and sample
preparation and geochemical analyses were completed in Elko, Nevada. Samples were
crushed before a 250-gram split was pulverized to better than 85%, passing 75 microns.
Rock samples were analyzed for gold by fire assay using a 50-gram charge with an atomic
absorption spectroscopy finish. If assay results exceed 10.0 g/t gold, the sample rejects are
analyzed by 50-gram fire assay with a gravimetric finish. Sampling and analytical
procedures are subject to a Quality Assurance and Quality Control program that includes
duplicate samples and analytical standards.
Qualified Person
Technical information in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Benjamin
Kuzmich, P .Geo., a geoscientist and qualified person for the purposes of National
Instrument 43-101.
About Athena Gold Corporation
Athena is engaged in the business of mineral exploration and the acquisition of mineral
property assets. Its objective is to locate and develop economic precious and base metal
properties of merit and to conduct additional exploration drilling and studies on its projects
across North America. Athena's Laird Lake project is situated in the Red Lake Gold District
of Ontario, covering over 4,000 hectares along more than 10 km of the Balmer-
Confederation Assemblage contact, where recent surface sampling results returned up to
373 g/t Au. This underexplored area is road-accessible, located about 10 km west of West
Red Lake Gold's Madsen mine and 34 km northwest of Kinross Gold's Great Bear project.
Meanwhile, its Excelsior Springs Au-Ag project is located in the prolific Walker Lane Trend
in Nevada. Excelsior Springs spans over 1,500 hectares and covers at least three historic
mines along the Palmetto Mountain trend, where the Company is following up on a recent
shallow oxide gold discovery, with drill results including 5.35 g/t Au over 33.5 m.
For further information about Athena Gold Corporation, please
visit www.athenagoldcorp.com.
On Behalf of the Board of Directors
Koby Kushner
President and Chief Executive Officer
For further information, please contact:
Athena Gold Corporation
Koby Kushner, President and Chief Executive Officer
Phone: 416-846-6164
Email: [email protected]
CHF Capital Markets
Cathy Hume, Chief Executive Officer
Phone: 416-868-1079 x 251
Email: [email protected]
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information
(collectively, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian and
U.S. securities laws. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included
herein, including, without limitation, statements regarding future exploration plans, future
results from exploration, and the anticipated business plans and timing of future activities
of the Company, are forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes that such
statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be
correct. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words such as: "believes" ,
"will" , "expects" , "anticipates" , "intends" , "estimates" , ''plans" , "may" , "should" , ''potential" ,
"scheduled" , or variations of such words and phrases and similar expressions, which, by
their nature, refer to future events or results that may, could, would, might or will occur or
be taken or achieved. In making the forward-looking statements in this press release, the
Company has applied several material assumptions, including without limitation, that there
will be investor interest in future financings, market fundamentals will result in sustained
precious metals demand and prices, the receipt of any necessary permits, licenses and
regulatory approvals in connection with the future exploration and development of the
Company's projects in a timely manner.
The Company cautions investors that any forward-looking statements by the Company are
not guarantees of future results or performance, and that actual results may differ
materially from those in forward-looking statements as a result of various risk factors as
disclosed in the final long form prospectus of the Company dated August 31, 2021.
Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The
Company undertakes no obligation to update any of the forward-looking statements in this
press release or incorporated by reference herein, except as otherwise stated.
SOURCE: Athena Gold Corp