Published: September 14, 2020 |

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MAG Silver entered into an agreement to consolidate and acquire 100 percent of the silver-rich Deer Trail Carbonate Replacement Deposit (CRD) project in Piute County, Utah.

The project includes 111 patented and 682 unpatented claims encompassing the historic Deer Trail Mine and the adjoining Alunite Ridge area. This is the first time since the early 1980s that these properties have been consolidated, allowing MAG to apply an integrated district-scale exploration approach based on the continuum of mineralization styles from CRD through Skarn to porphyry copper-molybdenum shown by many related systems worldwide.

This model suggests that the high-grade silver, gold, lead, zinc and copper CRD sulfides of the Deer Trail mine are linked by kilometres of continuous mineralization to a porphyry copper-molybdenum center lying to the west near Alunite Ridge. 

Phase I exploration, focused on following the silver-rich Deer Trail mine CRD mineralization to depth, is well advanced using a combination of historic and new data reinforced by an underground seismic survey planned for late September. Initial drill pads are permitted and drilling is planned for early October, 2020.

“Deer Trail has been on my exploration radar since 1982, as it displays the most important characteristics of a large porphyry-related CRD system. Consolidating the property lets us apply our integrated exploration model and apply new technology to the search for the entire suite of mineralization styles that we expect to occur on the property,” said Dr. Peter Megaw, MAG Silver’s chief exploration officer.

“Our experienced CRD exploration team is excited to see what unfolds over the next few months as we begin drilling for more extensive high-grade silver-gold-lead-zinc CRD and skarn mineralization below the historic mine,” added Dr. Megaw.

“Utah is a new jurisdiction for MAG and we are very pleased with the outpouring of positive support for the Deer Trail Project from this historically mining-friendly community,” said George Paspalas, MAG Silver’s president and CEO.

“As we integrate into the community, we are operating in a manner that reflects our values; commitment to health, safety, social responsibility and environmental stewardship.  We expect to be here for some time,” added Paspalas.

Fall 2020 Phase I Drill Program
A fully permitted 6,500-meter Phase I surface drilling program is set to start in early October 2020. Initial targeting is based on an integrated 3D Leapfrog Geo® project combining a large historic data set with MAG’s CRD exploration model plus extensive new surface and underground mapping, core relogging and geophysical reprocessing. Final drillhole angle and depth refinements will be guided by the results of an underground seismic survey slated for September 2020.

Phase I drilling priorities include:
• Determining the depth to the thick section of high-potential limestone host formations known regionally to lie
  just below the comparatively unfavorable host rocks of the Deer Trail mine.
• Trace the identified steeply-dipping feeder structures to depth into these limestones.
• Locate massive sulfide mineralization controlled by the above and possibly detectable seismically.

COVID-19 – Deer Trail Project
Safety is one of MAG’s key core values, and now during the COVID-19 pandemic, the health, well-being, and support of its people assumes more importance than ever. MAG is following protocol guidance from governmental public health agencies and to date, no MAG employees or contractors at the Deer Trail Project site have tested positive for COVID-19.

About Deer Trail
The Deer Trail CRD was intermittently mined for high-grade silver, gold, lead, zinc and copper sulfides until 1985 when the mine closed leaving faces in massive sulfide. The Alunite Ridge area, 2-6 km west of Deer Trail is cut by numerous gold-quartz and alunite veins that were prospected and locally mined from 1914 to 1945.  This veining and surrounding alteration has long been suspected to be the surface expression of buried porphyry molybdenum-copper mineralization centre(s), which is supported by high-grade molybdenite-bearing quartz veins found recently by MAG in unsampled historic core. MAG’s model suggests that these inferred intrusions are the source for continuous mineralization traceable to (and from) the Deer Trail mine CRD mineralization. Notably, this CRD-Skarn-Porphyry Cu/Mo continuum is well expressed by the nearby giant Bingham Canyon Porphyry Copper District, which is of similar age and lies on the same regional fault system as Deer Trail.

The first focus, already well advanced, is to project the geometry of the feeder structures of the known CRD mineralization to depth into the inferred underlying thick and clean limestone host rocks to seek larger scale silver-rich massive sulfide replacements and potentially mineralized skarn. A deep-looking underground 2-D seismic survey (proven to work through a successful trial survey) is planned for September 2020 and should help map out the favorable host rocks at depth, trace the major mineralization feeder structures and possibly directly detect massive sulfide mineralization. Phase I drilling is slated to start in Early October 2020 to test this end of the deposit spectrum.
 
The second focus is exploration for the intrusive “source” of the system. This is important not only because it may be an economic porphyry copper/molybdenum deposit in its own right, but because it helps define an exploration corridor carrying continuous mineralization from the porphyry through mineralized skarn to the inferred extensive high-grade replacement mineralization of focus #1 above.  Exploration for a mineralized Porphyry between the Deer Trail Mine and Alunite Ridge has been intermittently pursued since the 1960s and includes a few widely spaced deep drill holes. Previously, none of these were thought to have hit Porphyry-style mineralization, but while relogging historic drill core MAG geologists recognized unsampled quartz-molybdenite veins up to 30 centimetres wide that grade up to 2.9 percent molybdenum within a broad zone of pervasively sericite-altered volcano-sedimentary rocks. This style and intensity of mineralization and alteration is characteristic of what would be expected in or near a productive Porphyry intrusion.  Surface mapping and sampling over this area and other suspected porphyry alteration zones are in progress. Results will be combined with existing geophysics and the few historic drill holes targeting these areas to improve understanding of these centers and guide Phase II drilling.

About MAG Silver Corp.
MAG Silver Corp. is a Canadian advanced stage development and exploration company focused on becoming a top-tier primary silver mining company, by exploring and advancing high-grade, district scale, silver-dominant projects in the Americas. Its principal focus and asset is the Juanicipio Project (44 percent), being developed in a joint venture with Fresnillo (56 percent). The Juanicipio Project is located in the Fresnillo Silver Trend in Mexico, the world’s premier silver mining camp. The Juanicipio Joint Venture is currently constructing and developing the surface and underground infrastructure on the property to support a 4,000 tonnes per day mining operation, with the operational expertise of Fresnillo, the project operator. As well, an expanded exploration program is in place at Juanicipio on multiple highly prospective targets.

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