Bear Creek drills 6.7 g/t gold over 2.3 metres at Mercedes gold mine, Mexico

Bear Creek Mining Corp. [BCM- TSXV; BCEKF-OTCQX] provided an update on mining and exploration activities since April 21, 2022, at its Mercedes gold mine in Sonora, Mexico.

During its first two months under Bear Creek ownership, activities at Mercedes concentrated on implementing operating strategies to improve Mercedes’ annual gold production and to initiate an aggressive exploration program. Development work has succeeded in doubling the number of active working faces and greenfield exploration results to date confirm the potential for new discoveries.

Bear Creek’s operating focus was to increase development work and establish the foundation for longer-term sustainable production increases. This work resulted in having 15 working faces available, more than doubling the historical average of work areas. Importantly, we will soon be opening working areas in the higher-grade Rey de Oro and Marianas deposits. Gold poured at Mercedes from April 21 to July 5, 2022 amounted to 9,757 ounces. The Company expects that gold production from Mercedes will increase from July onward.

Eric Caba, President and Chief Operating Officer of Bear Creek Mining, commented, “The acquisition of Mercedes was predicated on our belief that the project offered underappreciated opportunities for increasing production, reducing inefficiencies, expanding mineralization and increasing cash flow. That belief has been re-enforced since assuming ownership of Mercedes. I am impressed by the talented and dedicated Mercedes team and am confident that we will unlock Mercedes’ value and cement its position as a cornerstone of Bear Creek’s profitability.”

Greenfield exploration drilling is underway in the San Martin, Diluvio Scout, Margarita and Neo zones where highly prospective structures related to Mercedes mine gold mineralization extend beneath post mineral cover.

Highlights of results to date include the following: The Margarita Zone returned 2.3 metres grading 6.70 g/t gold and 68.0 g/t silver and 1 metre grading 4.34 g/t gold. The Neo Zone returned 1.2 metres grading 2.44 g/t gold, 1.3 metres grading 4.43 g/t gold and 3.3 metres grading 2.98 g/t gold.

This scout drilling program is initially targeting the prolific Diluvia-Lupita basin where past drilling indicates more than 3 km of a potential blind structural target extending from San Martin in the west to Margarita at the east. The continuation of mineralization north of the San Martin ore shoot in the Neo area where past exploration drill holes into this blind target identified gold mineralization. The San Martin Displacement target – a suspected down-dropped block immediately west of existing mine workings.

Bear Creek is also drilling a minimum of three exploration holes to test the potential for mineralization in down-faulted portions of the San Martin and Neo ore bodies immediately west of the San Martin fault that was discovered in 2020. The initial drill hole into the San Martin Displacement target intersected several mineralized zones of veins, vein breccias, hydrothermal breccias and tectonic breccias. This structural, geological and mineralogical material is typical of epithermal deposits including ore bodies being mined at Mercedes.

Andrew Swarthout, Director and founder of Bear Creek Mining, commented, “The fact that we have hit significant gold in almost every exploration hole drilled to date in 2022, most of which target blind, overburden covered targets, confirms that gold mineralization is prolific in the Mercedes district. The potential for additional gold discoveries within the 69,284 hectare Mercedes property is considerable despite the challenges presented by exploring beneath post-mineral cover. Now that we have located the positions of blind veins, we can determine with additional drilling where these mineralized veins thicken and work to pinpoint the more productive and typically higher grade “boiling horizons”. Greenfield exploration drilling has lacked support at Mercedes in recent years but will now proceed aggressively based upon this new geologic information that indicates that the district’s potential remains open. The data supports the premise that, like so many major epithermal gold regions, ore will be discovered for many years to come.”

Since April 21, 2022, 5,166 metres of reverse circulation and diamond drilling has been completed at a cost of approximately US$0.526 million. An additional 3,312 metres of greenfield exploration drilling are planned for the remainder of 2022. The 2022 Mercedes exploration drilling budget comprises approximately $1.23 M for greenfield exploration, $0.46 M for resource growth drilling and $2.80 M for reserve replacement drilling.