Western Alaska drills 789 g/t silver over 5.1 metres at Waterpump Creek, Alaska

Western Alaska Minerals Corp. [WAM-TSXV] reported that massive sulphides announced visually from drill hole WPC22-21 returned 5.1 metres grading 789 g/t silver (25.4 oz/ton), 22% lead and 14.9% zinc at the Waterpump project, Alaska.

WPC22-21 is the last hole to be reported from the 2022 exploration season at WAM’s 100%-owned Waterpump Creek Carbonate Replacement Deposit (CRD), and successfully continues the emerging 400-metres long mineralized trend defined by holes WPC21-09 through WPC22-22. Mineralization remains open in several directions and tracing this mineralized body will be one of the principal focuses of an expanded 2023 drill program. “Bonanza silver grades averaging 25.4 oz/ton with combined lead-zinc grades of 36.9% in the last hole of our 2022 drilling program are a great way to end the season,” said Kit Marrs, CEO. “This intercept continues the upper zone or manto at Waterpump Creek and mirrors similar high-grades in drill holes extending approximately 400 metres to the north. We expect to continue expanding the zone to the south with an aggressive multi-rig program in 2023.”

The emerging Waterpump Creek Manto shows classic multi-phase CRD-style massive sulphide mineralization with silver-rich lead stages cutting earlier zinc-rich stages and late-stage pyritic zones cutting the earlier silver and base metal zones.

Similar mineralization has now been cut at similar elevations in 10 WAM drill holes (including WPC21-09) and 6 historical drill holes, indicating a continuous elongate body 30 to 75 metres wide and 400 metres in length.

Mineralization along the body thickens progressively from north to south towards WPC22-18, which cut 101.7 metres of massive and semi-massive sulphides at the intersection of the Waterpump Creek graben structure and the Illinois Creek fault. This is interpreted as a feeder chimney to the laterally developed manto mineralization.

The high-grade intercepts in WPC22-13, 17, 20, 21 and 22 appear linkable to the high-grade zones in the interpreted WPC22-18 chimney.

WPC22-22 cut three significant zones of massive to semi-massive sphalerite and argentiferous galena in a matrix of secondary dolomite like that seen in previous drilling.

Deep sulphide intercepts in WPC22-22 lie at greater depth than WPC22-17 and 21 indicating that similar mineralization may be present below both of these holes.

“The emerging Waterpump Creek manto is a beautiful example of the high-grade, multi-stage mineralization features characteristic of a large CRD system,” said Dr. Peter Megaw, WAM’s Exploration Advisor. “Next we need to continue tracing this mineralization towards its source and seeing if we can leapfrog that process by locating the source with geophysics and surface geochemistry.”

Twenty-eight holes were drilled at Waterpump Creek in 2022. Of the 28 holes, 9 encountered mineralization and the remainder did not.

Combining the results from the first 23 holes drilled in the Waterpump Creek structural zone allows delineation of a continuous elongate massive sulphide ribbon (manto) 30 to 75 metres wide and 400 metres in length plunging gently to the south. Mineralization remains open in several directions.

Planning for 2023 is ongoing as this year’s results are analyzed in detail. Two or three new company-owned drill rigs are expected to be added to the two existing owned drill rigs allowing WAM to drill up to 17,000 metres next season. 2023 drilling will focus on following the Waterpump Creek high-grade manto to extend the manto along strike with drill spacings ultimately suitable for resource modeling. Concurrently, we will explore via drilling and geophysics the multiple similar geologic settings which have been identified elsewhere on the property and look for the intrusive body that drove the system.

WAM is focused on discovery of high-grade, district-scale ore systems in the historic Illinois Creek Mining District located in western Alaska. WAM’s 100% owned claims cover 73,120 acres (114.25 square miles or 29,591 hectares), roughly 45 km from the Yukon River.

The company has approximately 23,810,804 common shares issued and outstanding and 224,801 proportional shares issued and outstanding. Each proportional share is convertible to 100 common shares at the request of the shareholder and in the discretion of the company.