American Pacific Mining's High-Grade Step-Out Points to a Larger System at Madison

Trevor Hall (0:14)

American Pacific Mining just put out its best hole yet at Madison.

M26C-02 hit 30.8 meters of massive sulfide, including 20.1 meters of 11.15 grams per ton gold, 14.3 grams per ton silver and 0.42% copper.

Standard internal section 7.92 meters at 25.33 grams per ton gold. It's a vertical step out aimed at connecting the historic Madison and Broadway workings. And the company says the zone is thickening and staying open to the southwest with follow-up holes already added to the program. Madison is American Pacific's 100% own past producing copper-gold project in Montana, hosting the historic Madison and Broadway mines which previously produced high-grade copper and gold. Warwick Smith, he is CEO and Director. Eric Saderholm is Managing Director of Exploration and a Director-Gentleman. Welcome to Mining Stock Daily.

Warwick Smith (1:10)

Thanks for having us, Michael.

Eric Saderholm (1:12)

Thank you.

Trevor Hall (1:14)

Eric, I want to start with you and talk about that M26C-02 hit. You said this whole area to the southwest has not been tested. It's a new idea. The area was interested because another company drilled into it and just nicked what you're calling a structural cell.

Eric Saderholm (1:35)

Yes, well, the interpretations in the past have been along structures that are east-west or they're dipping. You can see faults that do dip that way, but their bias has been to drill against those structures to try to define them.

What we have found from drilling this hole and it being sulfide versus the oxide that's been historically mined is really the true nature of the ore. It hasn't been moved around, it hasn't been oxidized, it hasn't been violated by oxidation. So what that does is gives us a true thickness of it as it sat when it was deposited.

So what we've done with our modeling and our mapping is indicated that we do have a plunge of this particular unit, which is a very favorable unit. So the classic CRD, the near-porphyry type ore body that's been found throughout the world is plunging off to the southwest. Well, all of the holes were drilled north of us and drilled parallel with this zone and away from it into the oxidized portion. So I understand the bias that people had in the past of drilling, but we have used their data and our own data to come up with what we think is a pretty airtight interpretation of what this rock is and where it goes. So it does plunge off to the southwest, but since it is a replacement deposit, it can be found probably throughout this entire area. It just hasn't been tested. It will get deeper, obviously, but it should be preserved and it should be something that's relatively flat as deposited and it's just been slightly folded since. So our follow-up holes and our exploration holes in the area have just gained a lot more clarity.

Trevor Hall (3:19)

Now, Eric, I want to follow up on the geology in a minute, but Warwick, to you, let's just talk about the structural trend where you've had a lot of holes in the north. But right now, you see a structural trend that is developing to the south and it's going to be wide open.

Warwick Smith (3:37)

Yeah, absolutely. So this is great work on behalf of the geologic team headed up by Eric.

Eric Corbin, the two Bens who do our 3D modeling, Zach who's helped us out, Henry as well. That whole team has done an excellent job over the past, call it 18 months to 24 months of targeting and putting all this 3D modeling together, a 3D geochemical model, MT survey, MAG, did the geophysics, got us to this point where we're now understanding this system better than anyone ever has before. I mean, we came into this and said it was going to be the most well-informed drill program.

And certainly as we're on the whole too, I think they're doing an excellent job of proving that right. There is no drilling off to the Southwest. It is the first time that we've shown that the structures are heading that way. And so we'll have a follow-up hole on that. We'll probably start drilling that at roughly two weeks time. We're just finishing up some other holes that are down south on the project. And then we'll move the drill rig back up towards where we drilled previously. So incredibly excited and excited to see what drilling brings us out that way.

Trevor Hall (4:49)

And now, Eric, there's going to be, as Warwick mentioned, a follow-up. There's going to be a drilled angle approach to that hole, correct?

Eric Saderholm (4:58)

Yes.

We're going to actually drop a camera down into the hole to get really, really detailed, not only the structural measurements, but we're also going to be able to pick up down hole IP and some acoustic things, which are going to be quite unique, relatively affordable information. Where we see that pointing is exactly, of course, will dictate the program. But without it, we do know that it's dipping off to the southwest and it is a mineralized cell. The way these structures work, a lot of times you've probably heard pearls on a string where you can drill and not hit and drill. And when you can hit. So we're going to avoid that. We think we understand the system relatively well. Yes, the whole will be drilled off from that same pad, through that same zone again, which will give us further definition of the mineralization.