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% Cu1 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.
- 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.
- 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 (CuFeS2) and bornite (Cu5FeS4). Host rocks high in iron can therefore accommodate significantly more copper.
- 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 property4, 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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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
3D IP was carried out in 2023, which, in addition to chargeability, mapped direct current resistivity. Conductivity, the inverse of resistivity, has been used historically to explore for seafloor massive sulfide deposits such as VMS and SEDEX. Recent insights however present a strong use case in porphyry exploration, as shallow phyllic and argillic alteration often contain moderately conductive clays such as illite. This will typically contrast strongly with the resistive propylitic and potassic zones.
Figure 8 presents a 3D screenshot showing phyllic alteration intensity (yellow to pink around hole traces) and an isosurface (purple) of <120 ohm-m resistivity (conductivity anomaly). In the drilled area, phyllic alteration correlates strongly with conductivity. Downplunge to the southeast, the anomaly swells where porphyry intrusions are inferred to trend into a zone of prospective host rock. Note the anomaly also remains open at depth and to the southeast.
Figure 8 - 3D screenshot displaying phyllic alteration intensity on drill hole traces (yellow to pink representing increasing intensity) and <120 ohm-m resistivity as a purple isosurface.
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Planning is underway to extend the 2023 survey in all directions, using a significantly deeper-seeking method to image the porphyry system to several kilometers of depth. The aim of surveying below the limit of drilling is to:
Reduce the influence of high frequency noise from the shallow epithermal system.
Model the complete Leviathan system, down do its deep roots, to more precisely image its geometry and degree of tilting.
Explore the roots of the younger <187 Ma. epithermal silver system, and hypogene enrichment, which may be sourced from younger, overprinting porphyry systems at depth.
Explore the Company's newly staked claims for additional porphyry centers under the Jurassic and Tertiary cover.
Map important regional controlling structures to depth, providing better interpretation on their potential orientations and kinematics.
The Company has received expressions of interest from several neighbouring companies, interested in potentially participating in the survey. This would allow for a bigger picture view of the regional geology as well as increase the depth to which the data can be modelled.
Table 2: Reported Drill Hole Locations
| Hole ID | Easting | Northing | Elevation | Depth (m) | Azimuth | Dip |
| HER-24-21 | 511579.4 | 4956350.6 | 1430.8 | 705.61 | 135.0 | -50.1 |
| HER-24-22 | 510984.9 | 4956507.1 | 1321.0 | 502.92 | 75.2 | -55.1 |
Drill Hole Summaries
Both HER-24-21 and HER-24-22 were drilled entirely with RC. Therefore, core photos are not available on the Company website. Both holes deviated significantly downwards and toward the right. HER-24-21 intersected strongly mineralized volcanic host rock over 171 meters, immediately below the Jurassic cover, before deviating into a late porphyry intrusion, which was also encountered at the bottom of HER-24-19. A strong overall intercept of 0.47% CuEq over 354m was returned. HER-24-22 deviated directly down a shallow late mineral dyke structure, returning 88m of 0.28% CuEq.
2025 Drill Contract
The Company has secured a very attractive all-in core drilling contract with a premiere drilling contractor and RC will only be utilized for pre-collaring deep targets moving forward. The 2025 drill contract also includes a hole completion guarantee, to prevent lost holes costing the Company money. Planning is underway for the fully funded 2025 program, including finalization of 3D geological modeling, and preparation of a drill plan to test the numerous targets outlined above and in previous releases.
Sample Analysis and QAQC
All drill core samples were prepped and analyzed at MSA Labs in Langley, British Columbia, an ISO 17025 and ISO 9001 certified laboratory. Samples were dried and crushed to 2mm, from which a 250g sub-sample split was then pulverized to 85% passing a 75 micron sieve. Following preparation, assays were determined by the IMS-230 method. A 0.25g aliquot of the prepared pulp was digested in a 4-acid solution consisting of hydrochloric, nitric, perchloric and hydrofluoric acids. 4-acid is a near total digest and only the most highly resistant minerals are not dissolved. The resulting solution was analyzed via ICP-MS and ICP-ES for 48 elements and was corrected for inter-element spectral interferences. Lower detection limits for this procedure are 0.01 ppm for silver, 0.5 ppm for lead, 2 ppm for zinc, and 0.2 ppm for copper. Mercury is not reported due to volatilization in reaction with hydrofluoric acid and gold is not reported due to the small, 0.25g aliquot size being insufficient to overcome the nugget effect.
Gold was analyzed by FAS-111, a 30-gram fire assay fusion with AAS finish. No significant results were reported.
Samples with initial results beyond the upper detection limit of the IMS-230 method were analyzed by procedures ICF-6Ag, ICF-6Cu, ICF-6Pb and ICF-6Zn. The thresholds are 100 ppm for silver, and >1% for copper, lead and zinc.
MSA Labs employs internal quality control standards, duplicates and blank samples at set frequencies.
Blind certified reference materials (CRMs) and blank samples were systematically inserted by the Company into the sample stream and analyzed as part of the Company's quality assurance/quality control protocol.
Qualified Person
The scientific and technical information in this news release has been reviewed and approved for disclosure by Iain Campbell, P.Geo. Iain Campbell is an independent "Qualified Person" within the meaning of National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.
About Hercules Metals Corp.
Hercules Metals Corp. (TSXV: BIG) (OTCQB: BADEF) (FSE: C0X) is an exploration Company focused on developing Idaho's newest copper and silver district.
The 100% owned Hercules Project located northwest of Cambridge, hosts the newly discovered Leviathan porphyry copper system, one of the most important discoveries in the region to date. The Company is well positioned for growth through continued drilling, supported by extensive historical and current exploration and a strategic investment by Barrick Gold.
With the potential for significant scale, the Company's management and board of directors aims to build on its proven track record which includes the discovery and development of numerous precious metals projects worldwide.
For further information please contact:
| Nisha Hasan Investor Relations Telephone +1 (604) 425-1408 Email: nisha@herculesmetals.com | |
| Chris Paul CEO & Director Telephone +1 (604) 670-5527 Email: chris@herculesmetals.com |
This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities in the United States. Any securities referred to herein have not and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act") or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to U.S. Persons unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws of an exemption from such registration is available.
Disclaimer for Forward-Looking Information
This news release contains certain information that may be deemed "forward-looking information" with respect to the Company within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Such forward-looking information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the Company's actual results, performance or achievements, or developments in the industry to differ materially from the anticipated results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Forward-looking information includes statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "believes," "intends," "estimates," "projects," "potential" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will," "would," "may," "could" or "should" occur. Forward-looking information contained in this press release may include, without limitation, the expected execution of future exploration programs on the Property; assay results of future drill holes; results of operations, and the expected financial performance of the Company.
Although the Company believes the forward-looking information contained in this news release is reasonable based on information available on the date hereof, by its nature, forward-looking information involves assumptions and known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause our actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements, or other future events, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking information.
Examples of such assumptions, risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, assumptions, risks and uncertainties associated with general economic conditions; the Covid-19 pandemic; adverse industry events; the receipt of required regulatory approvals and the timing of such approvals; that the Company maintains good relationships with the communities in which it operates or proposes to operate, future legislative and regulatory developments in the mining sector; the Company's ability to access sufficient capital from internal and external sources, and/or inability to access sufficient capital on favorable terms; mining industry and markets in Canada and generally; the ability of the Company to implement its business strategies; competition; the risk that any of the assumptions prove not to be valid or reliable, which could result in delays, or cessation in planned work, risks associated with the interpretation of data, the geology, grade and continuity of mineral deposits, the possibility that results will not be consistent with the Company's expectations, as well as other assumptions risks and uncertainties applicable to mineral exploration and development activities and to the Company, including as set forth in the Company's public disclosure documents filed on the SEDAR+ website at www.sedarplus.ca.
THE FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS PRESS RELEASE REPRESENTS THE EXPECTATIONS OF HERCULES METALS AS OF THE DATE OF THIS PRESS RELEASE AND, ACCORDINGLY, IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE AFTER SUCH DATE. READERS SHOULD NOT PLACE UNDUE IMPORTANCE ON FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION AND SHOULD NOT RELY UPON THIS INFORMATION AS OF ANY OTHER DATE. WHILE HERCULES METALS MAY ELECT TO, IT DOES NOT UNDERTAKE TO UPDATE THIS INFORMATION AT ANY PARTICULAR TIME EXCEPT AS REQUIRED IN ACCORDANCE WITH APPLICABLE LAWS.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release.
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1 The reader is cautioned that rock grab samples are selective by nature and do not represent the grade or style of mineralization across the Property.
2 The intervals reported represent drill intercepts and insufficient data are available at this time to state the true thickness of the mineralized intervals.
3 Copper equivalent (CuEq) is calculated using US$3/lb Cu, US$20/oz Ag, and US$25/lb Mo with 80% metallurgical recoveries assumed for all metals. The formula is: CuEq % = Cu % + (0.00778 * Ag g/t) + (0.000667 * Mo ppm)
4 This news release contains information about adjacent properties on which Hercules has no right to explore or mine. Readers are cautioned that mineral deposits on adjacent properties are not indicative of mineral deposits on the Company's properties.
5 Halley, S., Dilles, J., Tosdal, R., 2015. Footprints: Hydrothermal alteration and geochemical dispersion around porphyry copper deposits. SEG Discovery.
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SOURCE: Hercules Metals Corp.
