The primary silver producer bought Kilgore with its circa US$32.3 million all-scrip acquisition of Otis Gold in April.
It said on Monday aerial surveys and remote sensing completed in August had revealed spectra indicative of alteration associated with the target epithermal system within the new claim blocks.
The company's SVP for geology and corporate development, Ben Pullinger, said the initial field season confirmed the company's belief in the "multiple growth opportunities" at Kilgore, both within and beyond the known mineral resource. "We are currently moving through the permitting process for the next phase of exploration on the property and look forward to building on our learning since acquiring the property in April 2020," he said.
Excellon filed an updated plan of operations with the US Forest Service in June and the agency is now revising the National Environmental Policy Act Environmental Assessment. The USFS had indicated the revised EA, and a decision notice, were expected to be completed by the second quarter of 2021. Should the timeframe be met, further exploration drilling could start by mid-July, said the company.
Planning for a multi-faceted geochemical and geophysical programme for the GK prospect (6km northwest of the Kilgore deposit), including rock and soil sampling, BLEG stream sediment sampling and IP/RES surveys to identify potential controls on mineralisation and drill targets, is underway. Regional surface sampling, geological mapping and prospecting will continue within the newly identified areas.
The company had relogged more than 3,000m of historical drill core from 11 diamond holes within the Kilgore deposit.
The Kilgore deposit is a caldera-related epithermal gold deposit holding a current indicated resource of 44.6 million tonnes grading 0.58 grams per tonne gold for 825,000oz and 9.4Mt at 0.45g/t for 136,000oz is inferred.
Excellon had recently undertaken a 5:1 share rollback to reduce the number of shares issued and outstanding from 159.9 million to about 32 million and it took a secondary listing on the NYSE American stock market in September. CEO Breandan Cahill said at the time he expected Excellon would become "a compelling story for American investors in this rising precious metals market", given the high silver price and the prospect of adding leverage to gold to the portfolio.
It remains the highest-grade silver producer in Mexico with its Platosa mine in Durango state averaging 510 grams per tonne silver over the past nine months. The company also recently announced a drill campaign at its Silver City prospect in Germany.
Excellon shares gained nearly 2% on Monday in Toronto to C$3.80, capitalising it at $122 million (US$95 million).
