Hercules Intersects 171m of 0.64% CuEq within 354m of 0.47% CuEq and Reveals Upcoming Drill Targets
Hercules Intersects 171m of 0.64% CuEq
within 354m of 0.47% CuEq and Reveals
Upcoming Drill Targets
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - February 20, 2025) -
Hercules Metals Corp.
(TSXV: BIG)
(OTCQB: BADEF) (FSE: C0X)
("
Hercules Metals
" or the "
Company
") is pleased to announce drill
hole
HER-24-21
intersected 354m of 0.47% CuEq, including 171m of 0.64% CuEq, and a higher grade
44m interval of 0.89% CuEq at its Hercules Property in western Idaho ("
Hercules
" or the "
Property
").
The hole was designed to test below 2023 drill hole 23-14, interpreted to be drilled along the periphery
of the system.
The reverse circulation ("RC") hole encountered strongly mineralized volcanic wall rock over 171 meters
below the Jurassic cover, before deviating 60 degrees southwest, into a late-mineral porphyry. Despite
the deviation, the hole ended with a strong overall intercept of 0.47% CuEq over 354m.
Modelling shows the late porphyry to plunge southeast, giving way to thick sequences of prospective
host rock in the Eastern Block and Southern Flats zones. 2024 mapping and sampling reveal a transition
to iron-rich volcanics and strongly reactive limestones, both of which are capable of generating
significantly higher grades than the low-iron felsic volcanics drilled thus far in the northwestern portion of
the Property.
Highlights
HER-24-21 intersects 171m of 0.64% CuEq in volcanic host rock, within a broader
intercept of 354m of 0.47% CuEq ending in a late porphyry.
Highest grades occur in volcanic host rocks.
New mapping and sampling demonstrate the host rocks transition to iron-rich volcanics
and limestone in the Eastern Block and Southern Flats zones, conducive to significantly
higher-grades.
The Big Cut showing, a skarn altered limestone in the Eastern Block Zone, demonstrates
this with upwards of 10% Cu
1
in select grab samples at surface (Photos 1 and 2).
Alteration patterns suggest porphyry centers emplaced along a 7 km NW-SE trend.
Prospective geology and alteration reinforced by multi-kilometer copper and
molybdenum soil and rock chip anomaly in the Eastern Block (Figures 1 and 2).
Phyllic alteration, in correlation with anomalous conductivity, extends southeast under
cover into a stronger host rock environment in the Southern Flats.
The Company has re-negotiated new contracts for its 2025 drilling season, cutting costs
by over 50%, and doubling the amount of meters that are anticipated to be drilled per unit
cost. The Company is fully financed for the 2025 drilling campaign, the details of which
will be announced in a coming news release.
Chris Paul, CEO and Director of the Company, noted: "The importance of host rock cannot be
understated. Leviathan has already undergone hypogene enrichment, a rare event resulting from a
younger epithermal event overprinting and upgrading the top of the porphyry system. Drilling will now
move southeast into thicker, more strongly reactive host rocks, where modeling shows potential for
longer and higher-grade intercepts.
Recent drilling in HER-24-20 has also discovered hypogene enrichment within 70 meters of surface,
immediately adjacent to the Eastern Block Zone, where the system is daylighting at surface.
The 2025 drill campaign will also focus on potentially higher-grade potassic alteration at depth around
drill hole HER-24-12, including a large untested anomaly at the Grade Creek zone. This spring, a new
and enhanced type of geophysical survey will expand coverage across the Company's expanded land
package."
Table 1: Highlight Intercepts
Hole ID
From (m)
To (m)
Interval (m)
[2]
Cu (%)
Ag (g/t)
Mo (ppm)
CuEq (%)
3
HER-24-21
193.55
547.12
353.57
0.40
1
91
0.47
including
193.55
364.24
170.69
0.54
2
131
0.64
including
193.55
237.74
44.19
0.81
2
97
0.89
HER-24-22
310.9
399.29
88.39
0.24
1
48
0.28
including
310.9
352.04
41.14
0.28
1
49
0.32
Figure 1: Copper in soil and rock chip samples.
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Figure 2: Molybdenum in soil and rock chip samples.
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2024 Mapping/Sampling Results
A large mapping and geochemical sampling campaign was carried out across the Company's newly
expanded land package, which includes claim staking that followed the 2023 discovery. The mapping
focused on porphyry alteration and mineralization exposed in the Eastern Block. Lithogeochemical
subcrop and float sampling also enhanced mapping of areas with poor outcrop exposure.
The geology is interpreted as a series of mineralized Triassic porphyry intrusions ("porphyries"),
emplaced vertically into volcanic and sedimentary rock layers ("host rock"), which were subsequently
tilted to the northwest. Present-day geometry is characterized by northwest dipping volcanic and
sedimentary host rocks, intruded and mineralized by southeast plunging porphyry stocks and dykes/sills.
Host Rock Stratigraphy
The host rocks can be divided into three broad groups, separated by white dashed lines on Figures 3-6.
The divisions are based on the host rock chemistry presented on Figures 5 and 6, as well as lithological
and alteration mapping presented on Figures 3 and 4. More precise revising of the boundaries are
underway.
1
.
Upper Package - Exposed in the northwest and dominated by low iron felsic volcanics (shown in
yellow on Figure 3). Generally, these are the least reactive with porphyry fluids and have the lowest
capacity for copper grade. As indicated by the dashed line boundaries, almost all drilling has been
within the dominantly low iron volcanics so far.
2
.
Middle Package - Stratigraphically below the Upper Package, the volcanics transition to an iron
rich, andesitic composition. Figure 5 shows a plot of scandium (ppm) / aluminum (%) in samples
collected for rock characterization. Scandium provides a proxy for the original (silicate) iron content
of the host rocks, before they were altered by the porphyries. The porphyry fluids provide copper
(Cu) and sulfur (S), but still require iron (Fe) from the host rock to form chalcopyrite (CuFeS
2
) and
bornite (Cu
5
FeS4). Host rocks high in iron can therefore accommodate significantly more copper.
3
.
Lower Package - Stratigraphically below the Middle Package, the iron rich volcanics are
interbedded with calcareous (calcium carbonate bearing) rocks, such as limestone and limey
siltstone. Acidic porphyry fluids react strongly with limestone, resulting in "calc-silicate" or "skarn"
alteration. Closer to a porphyry intrusion, the strong heat and fluids are able to replace entire
lenses of limestone with massive chalcopyrite. An example of this occurs at the Big Cut Skarn in
the Eastern Block Zone. Photos 1 and 2 show a complete replacement of the host rock with
chalcopyrite. Note that surface weathering has subsequently leached some of the copper at
surface, partially replacing it with a hematitic leached cap in places.
Figure 6 plots calcium (%) / aluminum (%) as a proxy for calcareous host rock. Figure 4 shows where
skarn (calc-silicate) alteration is mapped at surface, indicating reaction with a nearby porphyry intrusion.
A new zone of skarn was identified southeast of Big Cut, which trends directly southwest under the
Southern Flats Zone. An alteration map published by Scout Discoveries shows the same skarn horizon
extending northeast to the Railroad showing on the adjacent Cuddy Mountain property
4
, for a total
combined strike length of 3.7km. This represents the thickest package of skarn yet identified at
Hercules, with apparent thicknesses upwards of 500m as illustrated on Figure 4. The Company now
aims to vector closer toward the concealed source of the skarn alteration. Strong copper-gold
mineralization at the proximal Big Cut skarn suggests the source porphyry intrusion lies downdip to the
northwest.
Photo 1: Select sample of moderately weathered massive chalcopyrite within the Big Cut
Skarn grading 21% copper, 93 g/t silver
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To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:
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Photo 2: Select sample of heavily weathered and leached massive chalcopyrite within the Big
Cut Skarn, resulting in a >50% reduction in copper to 10%, and a silver grade of 109 g/t after
the resulting weight reduction.
Figure 3 - 2024 Lithology and Structure Map. White dashed lines represent boundaries of
varying host rock prospectivity.
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Figure 4 - Alteration map. Triassic porphyry alteration is exposed in the Eastern Block Zone on
the east side of the map, while Jurassic epithermal alteration is largely restricted to the gently
folded Hercules Rhyolite unit on the west side of the map. Porphyry alteration is largely
influenced by host rock geometry.
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Figure 5 - Scandium (ppm) /Aluminum (%) as a proxy for silicate iron concentration in host
rock.
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Figure 6 - Calcium% / Aluminum % as proxy for calcareous (limey) nature of host rock.
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Alteration
Triassic porphyry alteration is shown east of the red unconformity line on Figure 4, while Jurassic
epithermal alteration is shown west of the unconformity, largely confined to the Hercules Rhyolite unit.
Hydrothermal alteration tends to follow the trend of host rocks, and the property-scale pattern suggests
zonation around southeast plunging porphyry stocks at depth.
A typical porphyry system is cored by a central zone of potassic alteration, which can often be
accompanied with bornite mineralization. The potassic center is surrounded by propylitic alteration on its
sides and overprinted by sulfide-rich phyllic alteration on top. In the epithermal environment above a
porphyry, very shallow advanced argillic alteration can sometimes extend deeply down steep vertical root
structures into the top of the porphyry.
The alteration mapped at Hercules is consistent with this classic porphyry model tilted to the northwest.
Figure 7 presents a cartoon illustration of alteration zonation by Halley et al. (2015)
5
, rotated to exemplify
northwest tilting. Potential therefore exists for bornite-rich potassic alteration below propylitic alteration
mapped at surface in the Eastern Block and Southern Flats zones.
Figure 7 - Classic porphyry alteration model rotated 90 degrees for exaggeration to illustrate
the expected surface alteration pattern at Leviathan.
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Conductivity