Tocvan to begin Sonora drilling at El Picacho

Sep 19, 2022

2022-09-19 18:51 ET – News Release

Mr. Brodie Sutherland reports

TOCVAN OUTLINES NEXT STEPS FOR ADVANCEMENT OF PILAR AND EL PICACHO PROJECTS. BULK SAMPLING AT PILAR SCHEDULED FOR Q4 2022

Tocvan Ventures Corp. has released an operational update for both gold-silver projects in Sonora, Mexico. With the conclusion of the wet weather season approaching, the company plans to first initiate drilling at El Picacho with a maiden drill program targeting the San Ramon prospect (see the news release dated Sept. 13, 2022). Drilling will target the 500-metre-by-500-metre prospective area, where high-grade gold at surface and in underground workings has outlined the potential for a near-surface bulk tonnage target. At Pilar, planning is under way for the next stage of exploration and development. A bulk sample is scheduled to begin preparation in October and November, utilizing a local heap leach facility to process material from Pilar. An independent qualified professional will oversee the operations to ensure the accuracy of the results. The outcome will provide useful data to assist in proceeding with the permitting and development requirements for establishing a bulk test mine on site. Exploration at Pilar will continue with drilling scheduled to follow up on key expansion target areas and provide infill data along established mineralized domains for future resource calculations.

Pilar next steps:

Bulk sampling of trench material;
Continued drilling of infill and stepouts:
- 2,000-metre infill drilling;
- 3,000-metre stepout and exploration drilling;
Permitting for on-site test facilities;
Updated technical report.

El Picacho next steps:

Maiden drill program (San Ramon prospect);
Trenching and surface evaluation across target areas:
- San Ramon (500-metre-by-500-metre target area);
- Jabali (450-metre trend);
- Cornea (2,300-metre trend);
Prioritization of other drill targets;
Permitted for 15,000 metres of drilling and 2,000 metres of trenching.

“Over the last year, we have seen a major advancement in our understanding of our Pilar and El Picacho projects,” commented chief executive officer Brodie Sutherland. “We are excited to continue that advancement with the first large-scale bulk sample at Pilar to further confirm the grade and recovery of gold and silver. This information will lead us into permitting for our own pilot facility at Pilar. At the same time, drilling will commence at our El Picacho project, initially targeting our highly prospective San Ramon area, one of several target areas permitted for drilling. Pilar still has potential for expansion and will remain a focus for us with continued drilling on several trends that remain open to the southeast. Our success over the past two years has gained a lot of interest from large-scale producers in the region. We look forward to building off that success and developing strong relationships during the upcoming operating season and beyond.”

Recap of past operating season at Pilar (November, 2021, to July, 2022):

Trench program:

Four trenches completed, all four returned mineralization;
Two trenches returned mineralization across the entire length:
- T-21-2: 19.5 metres at 0.61 gram per tonne gold and six g/t silver;
- Including: 11.5 m at 0.87 g/t Au and seven g/t Ag;
- T-21-3: 19.8 m at 0.73 g/t Au and eight g/t Ag;
- Including: 8.6 m at 1.27 g/t Au and 12 g/t Ag.

Phase 3 drilling — 16 drill holes, totalling 2,944 metres highlighted by:

Main zone:
116.9 m of 1.2 g/t Au, including 10.2 m of 12 g/t Au and 23 g/t Ag;
108.9 m of 0.8 g/t Au, including 9.4 m of 7.6 g/t Au and five g/t Ag;
63.4 m of 0.6 g/t Au and 11 g/t Ag, including 29.9 m of 0.9 g/t Au and 18 g/t Ag;
21.7 m at 0.9 g/t Au, including 4.0 m at 4.3 g/t Au and seven g/t Ag.

New discovery 600 metres from Main zone:

30.5 m of 0.4 g/t Au including: 1.5 m of 7.6 g/t Au;

New discovery trend 375 metres from Main zone:

22.9 m of 0.3 g/t Au and 19 g/t Ag, including: 10.7 m of 0.6 g/t Au and 40 g/t Ag;
54.9 m at 0.3 g/t Au and five g/t Ag, including 13.7 m at 0.6 g/t Au and 13 g/t Ag and 9.2 m at 0.6 g/t Au and three g/t Ag.

Metallurgy:

Four column leach samples submitted for analysis;
Head grade range: 0.4 g/t Au to 5.0 g/t Au;
Gold recovery range: 88.9 per cent to 96.9 per cent*;
* Important note: Testing was completed by a local private producer and contractor based in Sonora, Mexico. The facility used to calculate head grade and recovery is not a certified lab.

Surface results highlights

Main zone expansion:

9.2 g/t Au and 279 g/t Ag.

4-T trend extended over 100 metres to the southeast, highlighted by:

6.6 g/t Au and 433 g/t Ag;
3.5 g/t Au and 645 g/t Ag;
4.9 g/t Au and 32 g/t Ag.

New vein target defined over 200-metre strike, highlighted by:

1.3 g/t Au and 524 g/t Ag;
1.3 g/t Au and 94 g/t Ag;
1.1 g/t Au and 48 g/t Ag.

South zone reconnaissance sampling:

3.1 g/t Au and 27 g/t Ag;
2.5 g/t Au and two g/t Ag;
1.0 g/t Au and 29 g/t Ag.

Discussion

As the company looks to advance Pilar toward production with bulk sampling and more advanced metallurgical analysis, it is important to note the key advantages of operating in a quality mining jurisdiction.

Why mine in Sonora, Mexico:

1. Low-cost operations:
- Sonora is renowned for low-cost, open-pit, heap leachable deposits.
- These low-cost assumptions provide a shelter from inflationary prices and fluctuating metal prices.
- Below summarizes some local examples of the estimated mine costs from three producers:
  - Minable grades typically range from 0.4 g/t Au to 1.0 g/t Au, with recoveries ranging from 50 to 90 per cent.
  - Results from Pilar are above the regional average for both assumptions.

2. At surface oxide gold-silver amenable to heap leach:
- Mineralization at Pilar outcrops at surface in a highly fractured and oxidized host rock.
- Metallurgical studies, both bottle roll and column leach, show recovery of gold to be above the regional average, giving the company confidence in conducting bulk sampling to confirm average head grades and recovery.
3. Excellent infrastructure
- Tocvan projects are fully road reachable to all current target areas.
- Pilar is located 130 kilometres southeast of the capital of Sonora, Hermosillo and approximately two hours drive from Hermosillo to the town of Suaqui Grande on paved highway. Suaqui Grande to the project site is approximately 30 minutes on gravel road.
- Its El Picacho property is located approximately 145 km north of Hermosillo and 18 km southwest of the San Francisco mine. Access is off of a state highway and a series of dirt roads. The site takes approximately two hours to drive to from Hermosillo and has a rail line located just a few kilometres east of the project boundary.
4. Strong local technical expertise:
- The long history of mining in Sonora has fostered industry-leading technical personnel in the understanding and development of heap leach process facilities and mine development.
- Tocvan is proud to have a team of local industry experts with proven experience in the development of projects.
5. Straightforward and established permitting process:
- Sonora has an established system for permitting all scales of development from exploration to full-scale mining.
6. A quality jurisdiction, home to major producers and potential development partners:
- Both of Tocvan’s projects are proximal to currently producing mines or projects moving toward development.
- At Pilar, three major projects are close by:
  - Osisko Development’s San Antonio project — 25 kilometres north;
  - Minera Alamos’s Santana mine — 50 kilometres to the east;
  - Argonaut Gold’s La Colorada mine — 80 kilometres to the northwest;
- At El Picacho, the project is within the Caborca orogenic gold belt also referred to as the Mojave-Sonora megashear. This trend is host to major deposits such as Fresnillo’s La Herradura mine and MagnaGold’s San Francisco mine, just 18 kilometres northeast of El Picacho.
- The company is well positioned to attract a major development partner in the region.

About the Pilar property

The Pilar gold-silver property has recently returned some of the region’s best drill results. Coupled with encouraging gold and silver recovery results from metallurgical testwork, Pilar is primed to be a potential near-term producer. Pilar is interpreted as a structurally controlled low-sulphidation epithermal system hosted in andesite rocks. Three primary zones of mineralization have been identified in the northwest part of the property from historic surface work and drilling, and are referred to as the Main zone, North Hill and 4-T. The Main zone and 4-T trends are open to the southeast, and new parallel zones have been recently discovered. Structural features and zones of mineralization within the structures follow an overall northwest-southeast trend of mineralization. Mineralization extends along a 1.2-kilometre trend. Only half of that trend has been drill tested so far. To date, over 22,000 m of drilling has been completed:

2022 phase 3 diamond drilling highlights include (all lengths are drilled thicknesses):
- 116.9 m of 1.2 g/t Au, including 10.2 m of 12 g/t Au and 23 g/t Ag;
- 108.9 m of 0.8 g/t Au, including 9.4 m of 7.6 g/t Au and five g/t Ag;
- 63.4 m of 0.6 g/t Au and 11 g/t Ag, including 29.9 m of 0.9 g/t Au and 18 g/t Ag;
2021 phase 2 reverse circulation drilling highlights include (all lengths are drilled thicknesses):
- 39.7 m of 1.0 g/t Au, including 1.5 m of 14.6 g/t Au;
- 47.7 m of 0.7 g/t Au, including three m of 5.6 g/t Au and 22 g/t Ag;
- 29 m of 0.7 g/t Au;
- 35.1 m of 0.7 g/t Au;
2020 phase 1 RC Drilling highlights include (all lengths are drilled thicknesses):
- 94.6 m of 1.6 g/t Au, including 9.2 m of 10.8 g/t Au and 38 g/t Ag;
- 41.2 m of 1.1 g/t Au, including 3.1 m of 6.0 g/t Au and 12 g/t Ag;
- 24.4 m of 2.5 g/t Au and 73 g/t Ag, including 1.5 m of 33.4 g/t Au and 1,090 g/t Ag;
15,000 m of historic core RC drilling; highlights include:
- 61.0 m of 0.8 g/t Au;
- 16.5 m of 53.5 g/t Au and 53 g/t Ag;
- 13.0 m of 9.6 g/t Au;
- 9.0 m of 10.2 g/t Au and 46 g/t Ag.

About the Picacho property

El Picacho gold-silver property is interpreted as an orogenic gold system within the regional Caborca orogenic gold belt known for producing gold mines that include La Herradura (greater than 10 million ounces gold) and San Francisco (greater than three million ounces gold). The project is 140 kilometres north of Hermosillo and only 18 kilometres southwest of the producing San Francisco mine. The project totals 24 square kilometres. Five primary zones of mineralization have been identified across the property totalling over six kilometres of prospective trends. Surface sampling and historic workings have identified high-grade gold and silver values. The project has only seen widely spaced reconnaissance drilling with no follow-up. Tocvan believes this provides an excellent opportunity for discovery of a multimillion-ounce district.

About Tocvan Ventures Corp.

Tocvan is a well-structured exploration development company. Tocvan was created to take advantage of the prolonged downturn in the junior mining exploration sector by identifying and negotiating interest in opportunities where management feels it can build upon previous success. Tocvan has approximately 36 million shares outstanding and is earning 100 per cent into two exciting opportunities in Sonora, Mexico: the Pilar gold-silver project and El Picacho gold-silver project. Management feels both projects represent a tremendous opportunity to create shareholder value.

Brodie A. Sutherland, PGeo, chief executive officer for Tocvan, a qualified person as defined by Canadian National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed and approved the technical information contained in this release.

We seek Safe Harbor.

https://tocvan.com/