Tower Resources Extends Discovery Zone to Depth at Nechako and Intersects 4.0 g/t Au and 34.1 g/t Ag Across New Massive Sulphide Horizon
Tower Resources Extends Discovery Zone to Depth at Nechako and
Intersects 4.0 g/t Au and 34.1 g/t Ag Across New Massive Sulphide Horizon
Vancouver, B.C. – December 21, 2020 ‐ Tower Resources Ltd. (“Tower” or the “Company”) (TSXV: TWR;
OTCQB: TWRFF) is pleased to report assay results from the Company’s recent 7‐hole, 1244‐metre diamond
drilling program on its Nechako Gold property in south‐central British Columbia (Fig. 1). The first four
holes, APR20‐11 to 14, further tested the April Trend siltstone‐mudstone horizon (Fig. 2) that hosts this
year’s Discovery Zone (7.1 m of 2.75 g/t Au, 40.2 g/t Ag, 0.30% Zn and 0.28% Pb in Hole APR20‐10; see
Tower’s May 06, 2020 press release) while the last three, APR20‐15 to 17, targeted the equally fertile
contact between the overlying basalt flows and dacitic tuff‐breccia horizon.
Hole 11 successfully extended the Discovery Zone 25 m down dip while Hole 15 intersected a new, 0.6
m thick massive sulphide horizon (Fig. 3) that assayed 4.0 g/t Au and 34.1 g/t Ag.
The discovery of Au and Ag‐rich massive sulphides further supports the Eskay Creek volcanogenic model
that is being employed at Nechako based on (a) the same type of host strata (vent‐proximal mudstone,
sulphide‐pebble conglomerate and dacitic tuff‐breccia) as at Eskay Creek; (b) an identical Au‐Ag‐As‐Zn‐
Pb metal association; (c) a similarly high ratio of Ag to Au; and (d) most of the gold occurring within
sulphide minerals rather than as visible grains.
The newly intersected massive sulphides occur along the contact between the dacitic tuff‐breccia horizon
and underlying basalt flows in an area where the contact is offset by synvolcanic growth faults. This
contact is now thought to be the main source of the till‐hosted Nechako Au‐Ag‐As‐Zn‐Pb dispersal train,
with the April Trend making a smaller contribution. The Nechako dispersal train is equally as large as the
train from Artemis’ 8 million ounce Blackwater gold deposit (Fig. 4) and also contains three times more
gold per till sample than the Blackwater train.
Holes 11 to 14
Hole 11 was collared 30 m behind Hole 10 (Fig. 2) and drilled in the same southwest section to undercut
it by about 25 metres (Fig. 5). The hole appears to have intersected the Discovery Zone in a 6.4 m wide,
mudstone‐dominated interval between 74.9 and 81.3 m down‐hole, within a 116.2 m wide (core length),
siltstone‐dominated horizon between strongly biotite‐altered basalt flows. The mineralized zone was not
recognized initially because the core was as badly broken as in Hole 10 despite having changed to a larger‐
diameter, HQ coring system to reduce breakage. However, two short sections with minor pyrite were
analyzed and unexpectedly returned Au and Ag values similar to those in Hole 10 (0.4 m of 1.52 g/t Au
and 18.7 g/t Ag, 0.6 m of 3.57 g/t Au and 67.4 g/t Ag, respectively) along with the usual associated As
(1.3 and 2.6%), Zn (0.4 and 0.7%) and Pb (0.1 and 0.4%). Therefore the core from the rest of the 6.4 m
section is being retrieved from field storage for cutting and analysis.
The segment of the Discovery Zone intersected in Holes 10 and 11 appears to dip flatly to the northeast
at about 40꙳ (Fig. 5), possibly as a result structural displacement as significant faults were observed in
both drill holes. Therefore the 7.1 and 6.4 m drill intercepts of the zone in these holes are close to true
thickness. The host sediments, in contrast, appear to dip steeply to the southwest. Moreover, graded beds
observed in the drill core from both the April Trend and dacitic tuff‐breccia horizon consistently show the
strata to face northeast, not southwest as previously thought, and thus to be structurally overturned.
Being synvolcanic, the Au‐Ag‐As‐Zn‐Pb zones and associated biotitic hydrothermal alteration zone have
also been folded and overturned.
A matching but thicker, southwest‐facing and structurally upright dacitic tuff‐breccia horizon was
previously intersected 1 km to the northeast, indicating that the present drill area lies on the overturned
southwest limb of a synclinal fold (Fig. 2). The axis of this fold roughly coincides with the C‐Zone Cu
deposit. The biotitic alteration zone that surrounds the Au‐Ag‐As‐Zn‐Pb zones is mostly limited to the
southwest limb but does encompass the C‐Zone, indicating that the Cu and Au‐Ag‐As‐Zn‐Pb mineralization
are related, both genetically and temporally.
Hole 12 was collared on a section 50 m northwest along strike from Holes 10 and 11, as was Hole 9 of
Tower’s March drilling program. Both holes were drilled to the northeast at ‐45° and thus were subparallel
to the Discovery Zone and appear to have overshot and undershot it, respectively.
The Discovery Zone is on Line 0+00 of the cut grid (Fig. 2) and the original plan for the drilling program
was to drill systematically southeast along strike at 50 m intervals to Line 3+00E. However, four of 5
vertical reverse circulation (RC) holes drilled on Lines 1+00 and 2+00E immediately before the diamond
program intersected porphyry that is known to postdate the Au‐Ag‐As‐Zn‐Pb mineralization. Therefore
diamond drilling was limited to Line 3+00E where Holes 13 and 14 primarily targeted an inferred deep IP
anomaly and encountered only minor mineralization.
Laboratory results received from the new RC drill holes after the diamond drilling was completed show
that the till on Lines 1+00E and 2+00E is just as anomalous as that on Line 0+00, indicating that: (a) the
four intercepts of post‐mineralization porphyry must be from separate, small dykes rather than from a
single, larger intrusion; and (b) the top of the Discovery Zone beneath the till has a strike length of at
least 200 metres. This was confirmed by RC hole NRC20‐93 on Line 2+00E which intersected pyritic
siltstone rather than porphyry. A 3.6 m top‐of‐bedrock sample from the RC hole returned 1.7 g/t Au.
Holes 15 to 17
Holes 15 and 17 were drilled 100 m apart along the contact between the dacitic tuff‐breccia and
underlying basalt flows near the northwest end of April Pond (Fig. 2). Both holes were collared in basalt
and drilled northeast toward the tuff‐breccia horizon but only Hole 17 encountered tuff‐breccia. Hole 15
remained in basalt to its terminus at 191 m, indicating that the contact between the two horizons is offset
at least 100 metres.
The indicated offset is probably due to a fault that was intersected in the upper part of Hole 15. This fault
is presumed to be a synvolcanic growth fault of the type found at caldera margins, e.g. at the large
Rainy River gold mine in Ontario, because it appears to selectively offset the tuff‐breccia horizon without
affecting the underlying April Trend. As well, the tuff‐breccia in Hole 17 exhibits chaotic facies changes
from pyroclastic volcanics to epiclastic sediments and from subaerial to subaqueous deposits, features
that record high relief in the depositional basin during volcanic eruption, another characteristic of
calderas.
Being active during volcanism, growth faults tend to be the main conduits for upward flow of
hydrothermal fluid and thus to have associated high‐grade mineralized zones. The massive sulphide
horizon in Hole 15 that assayed 4.0 g/t Au and 34.1 g/t Ag (Fig. 3) lies between basalt flows and is
interpreted to have been deposited between a pair of growth faults (Fig. 2). The basalt for 30 m
stratigraphically above (structurally below) the massive sulphides is highly fractured and cut at irregular
intervals by cm‐scale quartz veinlets mineralized with coarse‐grained arsenopyrite. Sporadic anomalous
assays up to 1.5 g/t Au and 14 g/t Ag over 0.3 m intervals were obtained from this 30 m fracture zone.
Hole 16 was drilled 600 m northwest along strike from Hole 15. It was collared on the dacitic tuff‐breccia
horizon near Hole 7, which in Tower’s March drilling program intersected zones of pyrite‐arsenopyrite‐
sphalerite veining that assayed up to 3.92 g/t Au and 152 g/t Ag over 0.4 metres, but was oriented
northeast rather than southwest. It appears to have been on the opposite side of a set of growth faults
that offset the tuff‐breccia horizon approximately 100 m (Fig. 2) as it did not intersect any significant
mineralization.
A narrow, ~50 m wide, but exceptionally strong Au‐Ag‐As‐Zn‐Pb dispersal train, separate from the main
Nechako train (Fig. 4), emanates from the growth faults, suggesting that the faults were conduits for
focused hydrothermal fluid flow and enclose a zone of high‐grade Au‐Ag mineralization. Drill holes in this
area should be rotated 90° to squarely cross the fault zone rather than the strata.
Progress
At a cost of less than $300,000, the recent diamond drilling program at Nechako not only identified the
down‐dip extension of the Discovery Zone and intersected higher‐grade Au‐Ag mineralization in a new
massive sulphide horizon near April Pond but also revealed key stratigraphic and structural relationships
that are expected to further improve the efficiency and discovery rate of future drilling programs. Having
this information is critical due to a total absence of outcrops on the property.
Of particular importance now is knowing that: (a) the originally subhorizontal, sediment‐hosted, Eskay‐
Creek‐type Au‐Ag‐As‐Zn‐Pb mineralized zones and cross‐cutting, originally subvertical, biotite‐altered
hydrothermal alteration pipe have been folded upward more than 90° and thus are now overturned with
their tops to the northeast; (b) the mineralization and alteration appear to be related to caldera collapse,
with fluid flow focused up grow faults such that the highest grade Au‐Ag zones occur within or near these
faults; (c) the Discovery Zone dips flatly to the east rather than steeply to the west and is exposed beneath
the till for at least 200 m southeast along strike from Holes 10 and 11; and (d) the Au‐Ag‐As‐Zn‐Pb zones
and C‐Zone Cu deposit are enclosed by the same biotitic alteration zone and thus are related both
genetically and temporally.
Next Steps
Going forward, the exploration focus at Nechako will be entirely on diamond drilling as sufficient targets
have been developed that additional RC drilling is not required. The most immediate requirements are:
1. Systematic drilling of the Discovery Zone at 50 m intervals from Line 0+00 to Line 2+00E.
2. Drilling squarely across the growth faults at both Holes 07 and 15 in search of high‐grade Au‐Ag
zones produced by focused fluid flow up the faults.
3. Probing the lower (southwestern) contact of the dacitic tuff‐breccia horizon beneath and
southeast of April Pond for the sources of exceptionally strong Au anomalies identified in the till
in Tower’s nearby reconnaissance RC drill holes.
Methods and Qualified Person
The diamond drill holes were logged by Dane Bridge, MSc, P.Geo. Split samples of the drill core, generally
1‐2 m in length, were prepared at Tower's core logging facility at Tatelkuz Ranch near the Nechako
property. Each sample was then prepared for analysis and analyzed at Activation Laboratories (ActLabs)
in Kamloops, BC, a laboratory certified as ISO/IEC 17025 Accredited (Lab 790) by the Standards Council of
Canada. The samples were analyzed for gold by fire assay and ICP‐OES and for 37 further elements,
including Ag, As, Zn, Pb and Cu, by ICP‐OES using a four‐acid, near‐total digestion. Over‐limit (>5 g/t Au,
>100 g/t Ag, >1% As, Zn or Cu, >0.5% Pb) analyses were repeated using the same procedures but at a
higher detection range. QA/QC samples including blanks and standards were inserted regularly into the
sample sequence at a ratio of approximately 1:15.
The technical content of this news release has been reviewed and approved by Mr. Stuart Averill,
Chairman of ODM, 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
Nechako gold‐silver project near Artemis’ Blackwater project and the Rabbit North copper‐gold porphyry
project located between the New Afton and Highland Valley Copper mines.
On behalf of the Board of Directors
Tower Resources Ltd.
Joe Dhami, President and CEO
(778) 996‐4730
www.towerresources.ca
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Figure 1 – Bedrock geology map of the west‐central part of the Nechako property. The geology was
determined entirely by drilling as the bedrock is completely covered by glacial deposits. See Figure 2 for
legend.
Figure 2 – Detail of the western part of Figure 1. Note the large area over which significant drill results
are being obtained.
Figure 3 – Photograph of part of the massive sulphide section from Hole 15 that assayed 4.0 g/t Au and
34.1 g/t Ag. The sulphides consist mainly of pyrrhotite and pyrite with 2% arsenopyrite.
Figure 4 – Comparison of Tower’s Nechako Au‐Ag‐As‐Zn‐Pb dispersal train and the dispersal train from
Artemis’ 8 million ounce Au deposit. Both maps are at the same scale. The two trains are the same size
but the Au content of the till in the Nechako train is 3 times higher. The Blackwater train extends to
surface but the Nechako train occurs in an older till horizon and was gapped by erosion during the last
glaciation.