Callinex Mines Inc. (TSX-V: CNX) (OTC: CLLXF) is pleased to announce results from the remaining 12 holes completed during the 2019-2020 drilling campaign at its 100% owned Nash Creek and Superjack projects located within the Bathurst Mining District of New Brunswick (See Figure 1 and Figure 2). 

The Campaign encompassed 4,080m of drilling to test 18 regional targets at the Nash Creek Project and two targets at the Superjack Project.  The results are highlighted by drill hole NC20-313 which intersected 28.6m of 57 g/t Ag at a starting depth of 163.0m (vertical depth of 120m) including 16.5m of 94 g/t Ag (See Figure 3 and Table 1).

Max Porterfield, President and CEO, stated, “Nash Creek is quickly emerging as a potential district scale silver discovery as shown through results announced from our recently completed regional exploration campaign.” Mr. Porterfield continued, “The only two drill holes to test the 11km trend, which are located 6.8km apart, each intersected near surface silver mineralization that has the potential to be amenable to open pit mining. We are excited by these results and are eager to expand upon these discoveries as soon as possible.”

Drill hole NC20-313 is only the second hole to intersect the 11km trend to the south of the Nash Creek deposit. The drill hole was designed to test a Induced Polarization (IP) low resistivity anomaly which is interpreted to be on the same trend as the Nash Creek deposit located 2.8 kms to the North (See Figure 4). There is a strong correlation between the low resistivity anomaly and the 18km long Black Point Arleau Brook Fault (the “fault”), which appears to control the recently discovered silver mineralization. 

NC20-313 is located 6.8 kms along strike to the north of drill hole NC19-306 which intersected 19m of 36.53 g/t Ag, 0.52% Pb and 0.38% Zn at a starting depth of 34.0m including 3m of 130 g/t Ag, 0.98% Pb and 0.16% Zn (See News Release dated June 4, 2020). The only other holes ever drilled in the area, NC19-308 and NC20-314, were both drilled vertically and did not properly test the main controlling fault. The geology in NC19-308 was dominated by unaltered mafic flows and drilled too far west of the fault. NC20-314, upon further review, revealed felsic textures and alteration similar to NC20-313 and NC19-306 and is currently being sampled for assays.

The silver mineralization intersected is hosted in brecciated, geochemically altered rhyolites with pyrite and galena +/- calcite infilling between the brecciated fragments. The geochemical signature of the rhyolites collected in hole NC20-313 suggests these rocks are of the same age, geochemical affinity and origin as those which hosts the Nash Creek deposit 2.8 kms to the north as well as the silver, zinc and lead discovered in drill hole NC19-306, 6.8 kms to the south.

The Nash Creek Deposit consists of three shallow, near-horizontal sulphide-rich lenses, which have been defined over 2.1 kms of strike and hosted in an altered felsic-mafic volcanic sequence. All but 59 of the 354 holes drilled to delineate the Hickey and Hayes zones that make up the known Nash Creek deposit were drilled vertically. The high silver values intersected in NC20-313 and NC19-306 are unprecedented to date at the Nash Creek Project. Notably, of the 11,228 samples taken on the property, only 6 samples returned silver values greater than 150 g/t. The Company believes that this creates an exceptional opportunity to strengthen the silver component of the existing resource within and near the Nash Creek deposit. 

One additional drill hole, NC20-321, was collared to test the Central Zone and intersected a 7.0m lead rich zone which returned 1.3% Pb, 1.7 g/t Ag and 0.04% Zn (See Table 1).

The Campaign also included two holes drilled on its 100% owned Superjack Project which hosts three massive sulphide bodies that define an Inferred resource of 3.21MT of 29.4 g/t Ag, 3.01% Zn, 0.27% Cu and 0.78% Pb (See Figure 5). Drilling was proposed to follow-up on the newly discovered “D” Zone where Callinex had previously intersected massive sulphides over 1.9 and 2.7 metre widths (See News Release dated November 16, 2017). The first hole, SJ20-94, was drilled to test an electromagnetic geophysical target west of the “B” Zone with anomalous lead values in soil samples. The drill hole intersected favorable geology however no appreciable base metals were encountered. The final hole of the exploration campaign, SJ20-95, tested the “D” Zone 50m southeast of previous drilling and intersected an 11.0m mineralized zone at 71m that was dominated mostly with barren sulphides, with a 1.0m sample that returned 21 g/t Ag, 1.3% Zn and 0.6% Pb (See Table 1). 

J.J. O’Donnell, P.Geo, a qualified person under National Instrument 43-101 and a Consulting Geologist for Callinex, has reviewed and approved the technical information in this news release.

Figure 1: Bathurst Regional Overview 

Figure 2: Nash Creek Project 2019-2020 Drilling with Regional Geology

Figure 3: Northern Section of Nash Creek Project 2019-2020 Drilling with IP Resistivity Slice at 150m Below Surface

Figure 4: Nash Creek Project 2019-2020 Drilling with IP Resistivity Slice at 150m Below Surface 

Figure 5: Superjack Project 2020 Drilling Collar Locations

Table 1: Nash Creek Drill Results 

Note: (1) True widths will require further drilling to determine.

The Callinex team will further evaluate all drilling results returned from its 2019/2020 drill program for recommendations of future follow up work.

QA / QC Protocols

Individual samples were labeled, placed in plastic sample bags, and sealed. Groups of samples were then placed in security sealed bags and shipped directly to SGS Canada Inc in Garson, Ontario for prepping and then on to SGS’s lab in Vancouver, BC for analysis. Samples were weighed then crushed to 75% passing 2mm and pulverized to 85% passing 75 microns in order to produce a 250g split. 35 elements including lead, zinc and silver assays were determined by Aqua Regia digestion with a combination of ICP-MS and ICP-AES finish, with overlimits (>100 ppm Ag, >10,000 ppm Zn, and >10,000 ppm Pb) completed by fire assay with gravimetric finish (Ag) or Aqua Regia digestion with ICP-AES finish (lead and zinc). If  gold was analyzed a Fire Assay of a 30 gram charge by AAS, or if over 10.0 g/t were re-assayed and completed with a gravimetric finish. QA/QC included the insertion and continual monitoring of numerous standards, blanks, and duplicates.

About Callinex Mines Inc.

Callinex Mines Inc. is advancing its portfolio of zinc rich deposits located in established Canadian mining jurisdictions. The portfolio is highlighted by its Nash Creek and Superjack deposits in the Bathurst Mining District of New Brunswick. A 2018 PEA outlined a mine plan that generates a strong economic return with a pre-tax IRR of 34.1% (25.2% post-tax) and NPV8% of $230 million ($128 million post-tax). The projects have significant exploration upside over a district-scale land package that encompasses several high-grade mineral occurrences along a 20km trend. Click here to view a video overview of the Nash Creek Project.

Callinex has a project portfolio that also includes projects within the Flin Flon Mining District of Manitoba that are located 25km to an operating processing facility that requires additional ore.