Irving Resources’ First Drill Holes at Omui Mine Site Return High-Grade Gold and Silver (Au-Ag)

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Dec. 17, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Irving Resources Inc. (CSE:IRV) (“Irving” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce its first two diamond drill holes completed at Omui Mine site, part of its 100% controlled Omu Gold Project, Hokkaido, Japan, have encountered high-grade Au-Ag vein intercepts. In addition, a recently completed deep hole at Omui Mine site has encountered multiple epithermal veins within the boiling zone at vertical depths of over 300 m.

Omui Mine Site Drilling Highlights:

• The first two diamond drill holes completed at Omui Mine site, 19OMI-001 (oriented northwest at an inclination of 45 degrees) and 19OMI-002 (oriented south at an inclination of 50 degrees), have encountered high-grade Au-Ag vein mineralization (Figures 1 and 2). Results are summarized below:

Summary of vein intercepts from holes 19OMI-001 and 19OMI-002:
Hole	From (m)	To (m)	Length (m)	Au (gpt)	Ag (gpt)	Au Eq (gpt)
19OMI-001	5.30	6.30	1.00	19.25	27.50	19.57
	45.92	47.00	1.08	4.38	6.15	4.45
including	45.92	46.50	0.58	6.34	8.52	6.44
19OMI-002	46.40	58.50	12.10	1.58	139.90	3.23
including	54.70	56.50	1.80	6.05	808.18	15.56
including	55.55	55.88	0.33	28.90	4180.00	78.08
	67.00	68.00	1.00	1.04	326.68	4.88
including	67.00	67.19	0.19	3.46	1195.00	17.52
Au Eq = Au (gpt) + Ag (gpt)/85

• Veins in both holes were intersected at shallow levels, and because Irving believes this area has seen limited erosion since vein formation approximately 12 million years ago, it is likely these formed within 100 m of the paleo-surface. This implies that these veins may result from leakage from a larger vein system at depth, an intriguing possibility given the very high grades encountered.
• As discussed in the Company’s news release dated November 5, 2019, recent controlled-source audio-magnetotelluric (“CSAMT”) data gathered from Omui Mine site indicates the presence of a broad, deep-rooted, northwest-trending electrically resistive zone underlying the target area. This feature is interpreted to be silicified rocks generated by hydrothermal activity. A recent study of hydrothermal fluid inclusions trapped in vein quartz from Omui indicates the top of the prospective boiling zone starts at around 380 m beneath the paleo-surface. Irving believes the most prospective target at Omui lies at depths of over 300 m below present surface along the CSAMT resistive zone.
• As a first test of the CSAMT anomaly discussed above, Irving recently completed deep diamond drill hole 19OMI-010. This hole was oriented south at an inclination of 60 degrees and drilled to approximately 584 m. This hole encountered silicified volcanic rocks over its entire length. Multiple quartz veins were encountered. At depths shallower than 300 m, veins are dominated by low-temperature quartz, however, below this point, veins display strong indications of boiling including ubiquitous bladed calcite, a mineral deposited by boiling hot spring waters. Several such veins contain notable amounts of ginguro, or silver sulfosalts. Possible small grains of electrum, a natural gold-silver alloy, were observed in at least two veins. Irving is encouraged by observations from this hole.
• Drilling at Omui Mine site has ceased for the remainder of 2019 due to inclement weather including heavy snow. A total of ten holes were completed since early October encompassing approximately 2,558 m. The drill has been relocated to Omu Sinter where it will resume drilling in January 2020. Irving anticipates undertaking additional drilling at Omui Mine site once snow melts in April or May. In the meantime, core is being logged, sawn and sampled. All core from the first ten holes at Omui Mine site is expected to be delivered to the ALS Global laboratory in Australia by year end.     

“We are excited by the high grades seen in our first two holes from Omui Mine site,” commented Dr. Quinton Hennigh, director and technical advisor to Irving. “Given these intercepts occur high in the system, we think they bode well for the discovery of further high grade veins within the boiling zone below. Our first deep hole, 19OMI-010, has intersected multiple veins displaying clear indications of boiling and provides us our first glimpse of the deeper part of the system at Omui. We eagerly await further assays from this exciting discovery at our Omu Gold Project.”