Surge Copper drills 0.94% zinc, 8.1 g/t silver over 138 metres at Ootsa, British Columbia

Surge Copper Corp. [SURG-TSXV; SRGXF-OTCQX; G6D2-FSE] reported complete assay results for 17 holes from the 100%-owned Ootsa property in British Columbia. Included are results from two holes testing exploration targets and 15 holes from the Seel Breccia East zone, where the company is expanding high-grade copper-silver breccia style mineralization and has identified a large and open zone of zinc-lead-silver-gold breccia style mineralization.

Highlights: Large intervals of zinc-silver-gold-lead breccia mineralization have been encountered in multiple holes from the Seel Breccia East zone, highlighted by holes S22-319 which intersected 138 metres grading 0.94% zinc and 8.1 g/t silver, including 36 metres grading 1.49% zinc, 14 g/t silver, 0.14 g/t gold, and 0.11% copper; S22-326 which intersected 48 metres grading 0.74% zinc, 0.57% lead, 0.26 g/t gold, and 18.4 g/t silver; S22-327 which intersected 90 metres grading 0.68% zinc, 0.16 g/t gold and 3.8 g/t silver and S22-335 which intersected 104 metres grading 0.73% zinc, 0.17 g/t gold, and 8.7 g/t silver, including 50 metres grading 1% zinc, 0.26 g/t gold, and 8.4 g/t silver.

This new zinc-lead-silver-gold breccia discovery has been traced for over 300 metres along strike and is over 200 metres thick, and remains open to the west-southwest.

Significant gold and silver values are seen throughout the new zone with gold grades increasing at depth in certain areas. High-grade copper-rich breccia was intersected in hole S22-321 which returned 14 metres grading 0.97% copper, 26.3 g/t silver, and 0.15 g/t gold.

Results for 10 drill holes from the second phase of the 2022 regional exploration program on the Berg property are pending.

Leif Nilsson, CEO, commented: “This batch of results represents a significant and thematically consistent set of results from our 2022 exploration program, the first phase of which was focused on the Ootsa property as we awaited our Berg permit renewal which was awarded in August. The area which is now being referred to as Seel Breccia East was included in our 2022 resource estimate, but had limited drilling so was seen as an area with good expansion potential. This discovery of a zinc-rich breccia zone with strong precious metal content over a multi-hundred-metre strike extent underscores the prospectivity of this district.

“Understanding the full potential of this zone will ultimately require further modelling and metallurgical test work, but w ith the exploration hit rate seen in this portion of the campaign, we are very pleased with this initial set of results for this zone. This constitutes the third distinct discovery from the first phase of the 2022 regional exploration program, in conjunction with the silver zone discovery at Blackjack and the new copper-gold porphyry zone discovered just to the north of the Seel Breccia East zone.”

Assay results have been received for 15 holes drilled into the Seel Breccia East zone (holes S22-319 to 327, 329, and 331 to 335) and for two holes (PN22-01 and H22-02) testing large ZTEM geophysical anomalies around the Ox and Seel deposits.

The 2022 drill program has successfully outlined this large zone of zinc-lead-silver-gold breccia mineralization for over 300 metres of strike, 200 metres of vertical depth, and around 200 metres of width, and the zone remains open to the west-southwest. This large zone sits partially within and on the edge of the 2022 resource constraining pit; however, the 2022 resource estimate did not contain any estimate for this type of mineralization, and thus this new zone has the potential to enhance the value of the project.

Surge Copper drilled 38 holes for 15,300 metres across the Ootsa and Berg properties during the 2022 season. Twenty-eight holes from the Ootsa property have now been received and released. During 2022, 10 holes were drilled on multiple exploration targets on the Berg property and results for these holes are pending.

The Company owns a 100% interest in the Ootsa property, an advanced-stage exploration project containing the Seel and Ox porphyry deposits located adjacent to the open pit Huckleberry Copper Mine, owned by Imperial Metals [III-TSX]. The Ootsa property contains pit-constrained NI 43-101 compliant resources of copper, gold, molybdenum, and silver in the Measured, Indicated, and Inferred categories.

The company is also earning a 70% interest in the Berg property from Centerra Gold [CG-TSX]. Berg is a large, advanced-stage exploration project located 28 km northwest of the Ootsa deposits. Berg contains pit-constrained NI 43-101 compliant resources of copper, molybdenum, and silver in the Measured, Indicated, and Inferred categories. Combined, the adjacent Ootsa and Berg properties give Surge a dominant land position in the Ootsa-Huckleberry-Berg district and control over three advanced porphyry deposits and multiple copper, gold, and silver exploration targets.