19 Mineral Deposits of the Western United States I: A View from the States and Industry

Thursday, 16 May 2024
8:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Birch Ballroom

HERCULES SILVER, MODERN METHODS LEAD TO DISCOVERY IN A HISTORIC DISTRICT IN IDAHO

Paper number: 19-6
Program: Theme Sessions
Time: 9:25 AM – 9:45 AM

Authors

Abstract

The Hercules Silver Project, located near Cambridge, ID in the historic Heath Mining District on Cuddy Mountain, is a silver-rich deposit with associated zinc, lead, and manganese. The area is underexplored and was last mined in 1920 with minimal exploration through the 1980’s. Ag-Zn-Pb veins sit in manganese-rich matrix in an oxidized Jurassic rhyolite sitting above Triassic Seven-Devils volcanics. In addition to the Ag-Zn-Pb-Mn veins, the property has had some historic copper mining, anecdotal reports of gold mineralization, and there is evidence of skarn mineralization, as well.

Hercules Silver acquired the project in 2021 and conducted initial field programs through 2022 including mapping, geochemical work (soils and rock sampling), and geophysical (IP) surveys culminating in a first phase drilling campaign late that year. The IP survey identified a significant chargeability anomaly at depth. In 2023 the company launched a 6,000m drilling program to explore for silver-zinc-lead-manganese near surface and to test the deeper chargeability anomaly proposed to be associated with possible porphyry-style mineralization. The results to date have shown heretofore undiscovered mineralization.

In early 2023 drill hole porphyry-style copper-molybdenum mineralization was intersected in the first deep hole drilled on the property. Further drilling has now successfully tested this mineralization along strike and to a significant depth. Historical work did not test below the limit of known silver mineralization and this represents a previously unknown deposit type on the property. The team was able to utilize modern methodology, through geophysics, geochemical sampling, and drilling to uncover a potentially significant find.

This presentation will serve as an introduction to Hercules Silver, will describe the mineralization and exploration methods employed, have a discussion of results to date, and look to the future of the project.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 56, No. 4

doi: 10.1130/abs/2024CD-399325

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