KORE Mining Ltd. (TSX-V: KORE) (OTCQX: KOREF) announces that drill hole FG-20-377 intercepted 31.3 meters of 3.2 g/t gold, including 14.3 meters of 6.4 g/t gold, starting at 369 meters downhole in the Lower Zone of the FG Gold Project in the Cariboo Region of British Columbia.  This news release reports assays from drill hole FG-20-377, part of the 15-hole, 5,746 meter summer drill program at FG Gold with assays from 14 additional holes pending. 

Highlights

• Extends Lower Zone discovery 215 meters down-dip with:
  • 31.3 meters of 3.2 g/t gold at 369 meters downhole including:
    • 14.3 meters of 6.4 g/t gold at 386 meters downhole including
    • 1.0 meters of 61.2 g/t gold at 387 meters downhole
    • 5.8 meters of 4.2 g/t gold at 394 meters downhole
• Opens underground potential for FG Gold with 3.6 kilometers of mineralized strike
• Assays pending for 14 additional holes over 1,780 meters of lateral strike length
  • 10 of 14 holes intersect the newly discovered Lower Zone
  • 7 of 14 holes intersect quartz veins containing visible gold
• Remains underexplored along a 20-kilometer trend, providing many opportunities for resource expansion and new discoveries on-strike and downdip

KORE CEO Scott Trebilcock comments, “The large downdip step-out announced today in FG Gold’s Lower Zone, 31.3 meters of 3.2 g/t gold including 14.3 meters of 6.4 g/t gold, demonstrates FG Gold’s underground potential.  The step-out extends the Lower Zone discovery to 300 meters downdip from the historic drilling.  With 3.6 kilometers of shallow mineralized strike, all open at depth, this underground discovery could have a profound impact of the size and grade of the deposit.  KORE has ten more holes intersecting this newly discovered Lower Zone with assays pending in the weeks ahead.”

The cross-section in Figure 1 show the 215 meters step-out from the June 10, 2020 Lower Zone discovery intercept of 3.9 g/t over 10 meters at 237 meters, bringing the total downdip extent of the Lower Zone to 300 meters. Assays are pending for 14 holes in which 10 intersected the newly discovered Lower Zone, as shown in the long section in Figure 2. The other four holes in the program were drilled below historic drilling along strike from the main zone, bringing the strike length tested by Kore to date since the beginning of 2020 to ~1,800 meters.  All hole locations are shown in Figure 3 in plan map.  Drilling continues with 2,000 additional meters planned at FG Gold and Gold Creek through mid-December.

The district scale of the FG Gold project is shown in Figure 4.  The 20-kilometer district trend traces the mineralized stratigraphy around the regional syncline.  Shallow historic drilling averaged only 93 meters deep, leaving the mineralization open at depth and along almost the entire trend.  Figure 5 is a regional cross-section that shows the host rock potential at depth and connection to a potential porphyritic intrusion.

Exploration Program Details

Fifteen large diameter (HQ) oriented core drill holes for a total of 5,746 meters were completed from June to October 2020 as described in the news release disseminated October 22^nd, 2020.  The drill program was designed to step-out up to 200 meters downdip and continue nearly 2 kilometer along strike. The program is targeting the continuation of known gold-mineralized [orogenic] quartz veins further down-dip and along strike within prospective and un-tested regions of the targeted [phyllite] host rock. 

Assays from hole FG-20-377 are reported in this release with all other hole assays pending.  A plan map of the drill collars and traces is included in Figure 3 including the location of the cross section, Figure 1, and a long section, Figure 2. 

The full table of results are included below. Detailed core logs and photos are available on KORE’s website.

Due to coarse visible gold, metallic screening assays provide a much more representative sample versus conventional fire assays.  Historical drilling and assays had limited and sporadic metallic screen analyses which may have underestimated historical gold grades.  See below for more details on metallic screens.

Detailed Discussion of Results

Structural analysis and re-interpretation of historical drilling carried out prior to initiation of 2020 drilling by KORE highlighted significant potential for expanding high grade gold zones below the extents of historic drilling.  2020 drilling was designed to test the hypothesis that high grade gold zones correlating to plunge lines within both limb and hinge zones, and are extendable both at depth and along strike.  Gold-bearing quartz vein swarms appear to be correlated with high-deformation areas and hinge/limb areas of locally folded strata. The orientation [azimuth] of the drilling was intended to delineate potential continuous ‘mineral-shoots’ within the mineralized zones. 

A continuation of the shallowly drilled upper zone is intersected in hole FG-20-377 with 0.71g/t gold from 130.36 to 143.17 meters. This intersection is ~150 meters down-dip from the nearest intersection. The Lower Zone, discovered in hole FG-20-369, appears to be a corridor of quartz-vein hosted gold mineralization below and sub-parallel to the upper zone. While it does appear to extend to surface, at this stage, grade appears to increase with depth. Summer-Fall program drill holes FG-20-376 to FG-20-386 are drilled across four complete cross sections over a strike of ~650 meters designed to cross both upper and lower zones to allow for correlation both down-dip and along strike of both the upper and lower zones. Holes FG-20-387 to FG-20-390 test for lateral and down-dip mineralization in areas below sparse historic drilling. KORE drilling in 2020 tests over 1780 meters of strike length below the limits of historic drilling.

To date, the results from the 2020 drilling program are very encouraging to KORE. Early results indicate that the Company is finding further, high grade mineralized zones well outside of historic drilling, providing greater confidence in the structural interpretation and geologic model of the FG gold deposit.

Detailed Drill Hole Assays Tables for KORE Holes on Figure 1

Hole FG-20-369 (previously reported)

Hole FG-20-371 (previously reported)

Hole FG-20-377

Hole FG-20-376

Assays are pending on hole FG-20-376 however, zones of increased vein density occur where predicted. It is anticipated that these zones correlate to the nearby mineralized zones from both holes FG-20-369 and FG-20-377. Visible gold is observed at 238.75 meters in one of these vein corridors.

Hole location data is included at the end of this release.

Details of Metallic Screen Assaying

Metallic screen assays are often used in exploration when coarse or visible gold is present in the core as is the case at the FG Gold Project.  Traditionally, fire assays are undertaken on 30-50 grams of pulverised sample. The metallic screen fire assay uses a larger sample (1 kilogram in KORE’s case), with screening (to -106 micron) to separate coarse gold particles from fine material.  After screening, two samples of the fine fraction are analysed using the traditional fire assay method.  The fine fraction is expected to be reasonably homogenous.  The entire coarse fraction is assayed to determine the contribution of the coarse gold.  This method helps reduce the erratic assay results often seen in the higher-grade zones found in “nuggety” gold deposits such as the FG Gold Project.  All assays are performed at accredited independent commercial assay labs. 

Regional Geology

The FG Gold property straddles the boundary between the Omineca and Intermontane tectonics belts of the Canadian Cordillera. The eastward emplacement of the Intermontane Belt onto the Omineca Belt along the Eureka Thrust Fault caused widespread regional metamorphism and structural deformation of both Belts. The regional scale, northwest trending, shallowly plunging, Eureka Syncline is the dominant resulting structure in the project area. Rocks in the core of the Eureka Syncline are comprised of basalt, augite porphyry flows, tuffs and volcanic breccias metamorphosed to a low grade; they are structurally emplaced onto metavolcanic and sedimentary rocks of the Quesnel Terrane. The Quesnel Terrane is recognized for its prevalence of copper, gold and molybdenum mines and showings such as those at Highland Valley, Boss Mountain, QR and Mount Polley.

Property Geology

The FG Gold property is centrally located over the Eureka Syncline, strategically encompassing two limbs and the hinge zone of a gold-bearing meta-sedimentary rock unit of the Quesnel Terrane. The gold-bearing rock, a ‘knotted’ phyllite, is the host rock for gold mineralization over the 3 kilometers strike length of the Resource Area (see Figure 4). Surface mapping and geophysical inversion of airborne electromagnetic (EM) data suggests the knotted phyllite has a strike length of over 20 kilometers with potentially thickened regions occurring in the Eureka Syncline hinge zone (Kusk Zone Target) (see Figure 4).

Gold mineralization occurs in and is associated with development of quartz – Fe carbonate – muscovite – pyrite vein stockwork. The stockwork is best developed in the knotted phyllite unit. Stockwork zones locally concentrate in zones greater than 10 meters wide and are dominantly stratabound. Fe-carbonate alteration and carbonate porphyroblasts development within the knotted phyllite unit is observed to extend well outside immediate areas of veining.

About the FG Gold Project

The FG Gold project consists of 35 claims, totaling 13,008 hectares, in the eastern Cariboo region of central British Columbia, approximately 100 kilometers east of Williams Lake. The project is at low elevation and accessible by forestry roads.  FG Gold hosts an orogenic gold deposit on the northeast limb of the Eureka syncline.  The southwest limb and hinge zone are underexplored.  The Project also hosts copper-gold porphyry mineralization at the Nova Zone, discovered by KORE in 2018.  Figure 4 highlights the 20 kilometers trend of host rock expression at surface.

The 20 kilometer trend is defined by gold in soils and geophysics that traces the mineralized rock group around the regional syncline.  The Project has only been shallowly drilled where the mineralized rock group comes to surface. Past drilling averages only 93 meters deep into a steeply plunging sedimentary host rock.  Mineralization is open at depth and along almost the entire trend.  Figure 5 is a regional cross-section that shows the host rock potential at depth and potential connection to the Project’s porphyritic intrusion.

FG Gold is part of KORE’s 1,000 square kilometer South Cariboo Gold District which hosts 110 kilometers of the Eureka thrust structural trend that drives gold mineralization in the District.  The Trend is highly prospective for orogenic gold deposits, some of largest in the world, and includes KORE’s Gold Creek Project.  The Cariboo region is accessible with local power, well developed road network and skilled local labour from multiple current and past operating mines.

The previous drilling targeted stratigraphic controls on mineralization and did not penetrate into the bulk of the host-rock structure. Drilling was largely done with reverse circulation (“RC”) drilling and narrow core to generate shallow bulk-disseminated gold intercept models.  Within the current resource there appears to be mineralized corridors or chutes that are open at depth in the host rock. 

The current resource at the FG Gold project is as follows:

More information on the FG Gold Project and resource is available in the “NI 43-101 Technical Report, Frasergold Exploration Project, Cariboo Mining Division, BC” dated July 20, 2015 by K.V. Campbell of ERSi Earth Resource Surveys Inc. and G.H. Giroux of Giroux Consultants Ltd. technical report filed under Kore’s Profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on KORE’s website at www.koremining.com.

About KORE

KORE is 100% owner of a portfolio of advanced gold exploration and development assets in California and British Columbia.  KORE is supported by strategic investors Eric Sprott; and insiders, together with the management and Board, own approximately 64% of the basic shares outstanding. 

Figure 1 – Cross Section Showing Hole FG-20-369, FG-20-371, FG-20-376 and FG-20-377 (CNW Group/Kore Mining)

Figure 2 – Long Section of FG Gold Main Zone Showing Lower Zone Intersections and Visible GoldFigure 2 – Long Section of FG Gold Main Zone Showing Lower Zone Intersections and Visible Gold (CNW Group/Kore Mining)

Figure 3 – Plan Map of 2020 Drilling (CNW Group/Kore Mining)

Figure 4 – Property Map with Exploration Zones and Projected Trend (CNW Group/Kore Mining)

Figure 5 – Conceptual Regional Cross Section R – R’ (CNW Group/Kore Mining)