Abacus Provides Update on Willow Drilling

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Oct. 28, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Abacus Mining & Exploration Corporation (“Abacus” or the “Company”) (TSXV: AME) wishes to provide an update on the Willow porphyry copper drilling program in the Yerington copper camp, southeast of Reno, Nevada.

The program began in early July and the third drill hole has now been terminated, with approximately 1700 metres drilled. All holes to date have intersected the Luhr Hill porphyry, which is the host rock of the four known porphyry copper-molybdenum deposits in the Yerington camp. Previous drilling in 2018 also intersected this rock unit, marking the first new discovery of this rock unit and of a new potential copper-molybdenum porphyry deposit in the Yerington camp in over forty years.

The Company has decided to defer drilling the final hole of the program, as it cannot be completed prior to the onset of winter conditions on the property. This deferral will also allow time for logging and sampling of the holes to be completed, which is behind schedule due to various covid related delays. These delays were detailed in the Company’s news release of October 6, 2021 but included technical personnel availability and various supply chain issues.

Based on past work done by Abacus the target is at least 1.5 km by 1.5 km in size and is a blind target under later volcanics. In 2018 the drill contractor was only able to complete one of three holes to depth, but geochemical data was able to provide vectors for the current drilling. The 2021 program has added three more holes, but considering the size of the target, it remains poorly tested.

Copper porphyry-molybdenum deposits at Yerington occur at the contact of the Luhr Hill porphyry and surrounding volcanic rocks, or further into the volcanic package. Because the target at Willow is covered, prospecting by drill is the only effective means of trying to locate a porphyry center, and this often takes several drill campaigns to achieve. Each of the new 2021 drill holes have intersected the host Luhr Hill porphyry, and each will be extensively sampled to provide geochemical vectors to guide further drilling. Analytical results will be reported once received by the Company.