Mr. John Carter reports
SILVER BULLET MINES PROVIDES UPDATE ON WASHINGTON SILVER MINE, A NEW DIRECTOR, AND A LEAD ORDER FOR FINANCING
Silver Bullet Mines Corp. is continuing preparations for mining at its Washington mine property in Idaho, including adding mining strength to its board of directors. The Washington mine, a historical past-producing high-grade gold/silver mine, is 100 per cent privately owned by Silver Bullet on patented lands. It is near Idaho City and Boise, proximate to infrastructure.
As previously disclosed by Silver Bullet, the Washington mine first saw production in the late 1800s with an average gold grade of one ounce per tonne. It again produced gold in the 1930s during which time the then owner lacked the process capability needed to produce silver, so a decision was made to block out the silver mineralization with the intention of returning at a future date to extract it. To the best of Silver Bullet's knowledge, the blocked-out volume remains in situ. A historical report indicates the blocked-out volume contains an estimated three million ounces of silver with a grade of 30 to 90 ounces per tonne and 15,000 ounces of gold at 0.3 ounce per tonne.
Stoker also indicated the underground location of the Berger vein, described as a gold ore shoot 25 feet wide, 135 feet long and unknown depth. Average grades were given as 0.3 oz/tonne gold with unknown silver content. Additional notes in Stoker suggest that the Berger vein had been intersected in drifting at the 400-foot level.
In the 1980s, a previous owner of the Washington mine reopened the underground to produce a bulk sample claimed to be representative of the mineralized body. The bulk sample was sent to Hecla Smelting for processing with the head grade reported to be 44 ounces silver per tonne.
Silver Bullet took its own bulk sample in 2021 which averaged 55.5 oz/t silver (news release of Jan. 18, 2022), which equates to over 1,902 grams per tonne (g/t) silver at a conversion rate of 34.285.
As part of its preparations for mining at the Washington mine, the company completed the mine identification process and contracted a Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) consultant to assist Silver Bullet in meeting MSHA standards.
It is anticipated that production at the Washington mine will start at 50 tonnes per day sometime over the next few months, in a zone that reportedly produced smelter receipts of 44 ounces per tonne silver in the 1980s. Access to the material will be through a new adit approximately 80 feet from where the high-grade mineralization is reasonably believed to be. As Silver Bullet is starting a new adit, Silver Bullet will rockbolt there immediately as the adit is begun and then lengthened.
The initial plan is to extract roughly 2,500 tonnes of high-grade material to be stockpiled at the mine site until sufficient quantities are available for economic shipping to a mill.
The company is evaluating several mills to determine their capabilities of processing the material from the Washington mine on an economic basis. Relevant metallurgical test work was completed by Montana Technical Institute (CAMP) in 2022.
Assuming regular mining from the Washington mine is stabilized, further plans include mine development to access the areas of the underground workings where high-grade gold was mined in the past, including the Berger vein, and surface exploration to delineate the possible parallel vein that was reported during Silver Bullet's 2021 summer exploration program (news release of Dec. 9, 2021).
To support the company's mining plans, both at the Washington mine in Idaho and the Buckeye silver mine in Arizona, the company is pleased to announce Kerem Usenmez, MSc, PEng, has been appointed to the board. Mr. Usenmez is a geological engineer and a mining entrepreneur with 25 years of global experience, focused in underground and open-pit mining and ground support with Inco (MB) and Wood (formerly Amec) Engineering.
He is currently the chief executive officer of Volta Metals Ltd., a lithium explorer, based in Ontario, Canada. Before Volta Metals, he was the CEO of Metallum Resources Inc. where he acquired and advanced Canada's highest-grade zinc deposit, the Superior Lake zinc project.
Mr. Usenmez has 25 years of mining and exploration experience in various fields from exploration geology and drilling supervision to rock mechanics. He has in-depth technical experience in geotechnical and geological site investigation, rock mass characterization, and engineering stability analysis for mining and infrastructure projects, underground and open-pit mine design, slope stability analyses, including geotechnical mapping, material strength testing, empirical analysis and numerical modelling, and has extensive experience with the design and quality control/quality assurance for the implementation of ground support systems underground, conducting detailed rock mechanics mining scoping, prefeasibility studies and detailed design/evaluation/review/monitoring of underground excavations at existing operations. He also has extensive experience in diverse geotechnical projects world-wide, including dam constructions, tunnel constructions and mines.
Mr. Usenmez is a director of the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada where he chairs the Securities and Public Affairs committees. Mr. Usenmez earned his bachelor and master's degrees from Dokuz Eylul University in Turkey and earned equivalency through master's courses from Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ont. He is a registered professional engineer in Manitoba and Ontario.
Readers should be cautioned that the company's decision to move forward with the construction of and production at the Washington mine is not based on the results of any prefeasibility study or feasibility study of mineral resources demonstrating economic or technical viability. The company has undertaken exploration and development activities; and, after taking into consideration various factors, including but not limited to, historical data, the exploration and development results to date, technical information developed internally, the availability of financing and the starting costs as estimated internally by the company's management, the company is of the view that the establishment of mineral reserves by way of a prefeasibility or feasibility study at this stage is not necessary and would be unduly costly and that the most responsible utilization of the company's resources is to proceed with the development of the Washington mine. Readers are cautioned that, due to the lack of prefeasibility or feasibility study, there is increased uncertainty and higher risk of economic and/or technical failure associated with the company's decision. In particular, there is additional risk that mineral grades may be lower than expected and the risk that construction or continuing mining operations may be more difficult or more expensive than management expected. Production and economic variables may vary considerably due to the absence of a detailed economic and technical analysis in accordance with National Instrument 43-101. Failure at the Washington mine may materially adversely impact the company's overall ability to continue as a going concern.
The references in this release to data and observations derived from work not carried out by Silver Bullet are of historical nature only and cannot be relied upon at this time. Silver Bullet does not know the methods by which such work was carried out, or whether all or part of it was under the supervision of a qualified person, as that term is defined in NI 43-101. Silver Bullet refers to such data and observations to inform its knowledge of the area and to support its thesis for exploration and mining.
With respect to the third party stockpile initially announced May 2, 2024, and updated June 13, 2024, Silver Bullet announces all such material has been processed through Silver Bullet's mill. The company continues to discuss acquiring the remaining 30,000 tonnes of mineralized material at surface from an arm's-length third party. The company is evaluating the results of the test run to determine what changes to the mill or additional equipment if any will be needed to process the remaining 30,000 tonnes on a cost-effective basis, which will impact the terms of the agreement if any with the third party. It is likely some capital expenditures will need to be incurred to enable the mill to maximize its recovery of all valuable minerals in the material.
To finance the further work at the Washington mine and for working capital, Silver Bullet intends to issue a convertible debenture in an amount up to $1-million to willing investors, issuable in tranches of $1,000 with each tranche having 10,000 detachable warrants. Each warrant has a term of three years and is exercisable at 16 cents, 18 cents and 20 cents for years 1, 2 and 3 respectively following the issuance of the debenture. The debenture will have a three-year term and interest will run at a rate of 12 per cent per annum, payable semi-annually in arrears during year 1 and quarterly in arrears during years 2 and 3. Interest will be paid to investors in cash or in common shares of the company, at Silver Bullet's option.
Each investor at any time can convert its portion of the debenture, in whole or in part, into common shares of the company. The conversion price shall be 10 cents during the first 12 months following issuance of the debenture, 12 cents during the next 12 months of the term of the debenture and 14 cents during the final 12 months of the term of the debenture.
Silver Bullet can force conversion of the debenture, in whole or in part, if Silver Bullet's closing price for its common shares exceeds 25 cents for a period of 10 days. The debenture can be prepaid by Silver Bullet any time after 12 months from the issuance of the debenture.
The company has a lead order from existing shareholders for $300,000.
Closing on the debenture in whole or in part and Mr. Usenmez's appointment are subject to regulatory approval.
We seek Safe Harbor.
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