The wholly-owned, winter-road accessible Blende Property comprises 260 Quartz Mining Claims (5,346 ha) situated 63 km northeast of Keno Hill Mines, Yukon (past production of 437 M lbs of Zn, 711 M lbs of Pb and 214M oz Ag between 1913 -- 1990; R.J. Cathro et.al., 2006). The Blende Property has seen >$9.2M in past exploration work ($5.2M by Blende Silver) that includes 25,195.62m drilling in 132 holes. Zinc, lead and silver mineralization occurs along a >6 km long mineralized corridor on the Property. Billiton (1991) calculated a historical open pit resource prior to NI43-101 of 19.6Mt averaging 3.04% Zn, 2.80% Pb and 56 g/t Ag* (shallow, sulphide-only), representing 1.3B lbs of Zn, 1.2B lbs of Pb and 35.3M oz of Ag of contained metal. (*The above mentioned historic resource estimate does not conform with National Instrument 43-101 and is not treated by Blende Silver as a current resource)
Subsequent to the Billiton Historic Resource Estimate, Blende Silver drilled 8,694 metres in 45 drill holes between 2006 - 2008, earning 100% interest in the Property. In late 2017, the Company engaged Moose Mountain Technical Services (MMTS), an independent mining consulting company, to collect historic drill core samples for Specific Gravity determination, re-model the deposit geology and prepare a NI 43-101 Technical Report and maiden Mineral Resource Estimate for the Blende Project. The Company also commissioned metallurgist Frank Wright, P.Eng. to conduct a preliminary metallurgical scoping evaluation focussing on basic pre-concentration and flotation studies for all mineralization types modeled at Blende. Additional activities in 2017 included consultation with the Na-Cho Nyäk Dun First Nation, application and receipt of a 5-year Class 4 Quartz Mining Approval and 2-year Land Use Permit for the Blende Property.
On April 15th, 2018, Blende Silver announced the Maiden Blende NI 43-101 Mineral Resource Estimate, totalling 32.98Mt at 5.03% ZnEq Inferred plus 3.65MT at 5.18% ZnEq Indicated*, at a Base Case cutoff grade of 2.0% ZnEq, which is approximately equivalent to an NSR cutoff of CDN$39.35/tonne. *Moose Mountain Technical Services NI 43-101 Resource Estimate and Technical Report dated May 25th, 2018. The in situ, total-pit constrained Indicated Resource metal content totals 0.16B lbs of Zn, 0.16B lbs of Pb and 4.19M oz of Ag , with the Inferred Resource representing 1.46B lbs of Zn, 1.362B lbs of Pb and 33.98M oz of Ag. *Moose Mountain Technical Services NI 43-101 Resource Estimate and Technical Report dated May 25, 2018
The Blende Project is a potential bulk tonnage, open pit approach that offers some distinct cost advantages to other advanced lead-zinc projects in Canada, which are typically underground. Blende Resource mineralization outcrops at surface, is confined to 2 pit shapes approximately 2 km apart (view map) and remains open in areas northwest, southeast and below the “reasonable prospects of economic extraction” open pit shapes within the >6 kilometre-long mineralized corridor, including the outer Far West, Far East and Shanghai discoveries. Blende Silver is positioning to conduct a significant drill program to test potential open pit extensions, further define the outer Far West, Far East and Shanghai discoveries, conduct additional metallurgical studies and commence work on a PEA study.
Blende Silver’s second Zn-Pb project is the AB Property, an exciting Mississippi Valley-Type exploration play situated just over the NWT border 260 km west of Norman Wells. The AB Property has the potential to host a World Class Deposit along the lines of Pine Point, Nanisivik or Polaris. Blende Silver acquired the AB property in July 2017 from Eagle Plains Resources Ltd. The 20,000 hectare property overlays a Zinc-Lead exploration district that has seen more than $4.5M in previous exploration by Welcome North, Arctic Red JV, Rio Tinto, Inco, Cominco, Bethlehem and Eagle Plains Resources Ltd. (1974-2014). The property has >30 known mineralized occurrences including 2 broad, coincident geological, geochemical and I.P. anomalies (AB - 0.5km and ABC - 1.0 km long) that may represent large buried MVT mineralized systems on the property. Blende Silver is positioning to drill test the coincidental AB and ABC anomalies in 2018. Blende Silver has initiated community relations with the local First Nation community to facilitate permitting for an exploration and drill program at AB.
In summary, Blende Silver remains bullish on Zinc, focussed on advancing the Blende and AB properties and continues to source other quality potential Zn-Pb-Ag property acquisitions.