Ranger-Page Silver (Pb-Zn) Project
Ranger-Page is an exciting project and the acquisition gives us an excellent opportunity to cost-effectively diversify into another world-class silver district amid a rising metal price environment," said Mike Romanik, President of Silver Dollar. "I would also like to welcome Silver Valley Metals as our newest significant shareholder behind only First Majestic Silver and Eric Sprott."
Silver Dollar recently completed the acquisition of the Ranger-Page Project (the "Project") in Shoshone County, Idaho, as announced in the news release of August 7, 2024. The Project area, encompassing the Government Gulch Option and Joint Venture Agreement and the Page Mine Mineral Rights Lease and Option Agreement, consolidates the western end of the Silver Valley mining corridor under a single operator for the first time.
Figure 1: Location of the Ranger-Page Project in the Coeur d'Alene Mining District.
Project Highlights:
A drill-ready project in a world-class silver district where over 90 mines have operated since the first major silver-lead-zinc discovery was staked in 1884.
Ideally situated ~1.5 kilometres (km) south of Interstate 90 Freeway and the town of Smelterville, the Project features power, water, year-round access to local infrastructure and a workforce skilled in exploration and mining.
The Project comprises two contiguous patented lode claim groups with surface access rights in place to conduct exploration activities.
The exploration permitting process is with the State of Idaho, with no requirement for federal permitting.
The land package covers six historic mines with the option to acquire ownership of the Project's mineral rights, which are not currently subject to any royalties.
Multiple exploration targets developed over the last two years that are ready to drill after the systematic use of modern exploration techniques for the first time.
Primary target areas are up- and down-plunge from historic underground mining, along strike where induced polarization (IP) surveys identify anomalies, and where surface trenching identified near surface mineralization.
Additional exploration targets have been identified away from historic mine infrastructure, using soil geochemical data, mapping, and ground IP survey data.
The Project borders the Bunker Hill mine that is on track to restart mining in Q4 2024.
Figure 2: Looking NW from the Ranger-Page Project with I-90 and the town of Smelterville on the right.
Geology:
The Coeur d’Alene Mining District is one of the most significant silver mining regions in the world, known for its rich deposits of silver, zinc, and lead. The District has produced over 1.2 billion ounces of silver, 7 billion tons of lead, and 3 billion tons of zinc since initial discoveries were made along the south fork of the Coeur d'Alene River in the 1880s. Ore is produced from silver-lead-zinc veins hosted in clastic metasedimentary rocks of the Belt Supergroup. Orebodies show strong stratigraphic control, with most of the production coming from the Revett Formation.
The ore deposits of the Coeur d'Alene Mining District are hosted in structural features characterized by a complex network of faults and folds resulting from tectonic forces of diverse ages and movements. The District lies within the Lewis and Clark shear zone, a regional structural zone several kilometres wide, which includes the Thompson Pass Fault to the north, the Placer Creek Fault to the south, and the Osburn Fault that passes through the middle of the District. Numerous other subordinate district scale faults within the Lewis and Clark shear zone are related to mineralization and important for exploration.
The 27 km displacement of the Osburn Fault runs through the District's most productive silver belts and along the northern boundary of the Ranger-Page Project. A network of seven secondary faults transverses the Project area, with the north-south trending Page Fault at the western end and the Crown Point Fault at the eastern end intersecting the Osburn Fault. Additional faults include the east-west-trending Curlew, 96, Buckeye and Spring faults and the southeast-northwest-trending Government Gulch Fault (Figure 4).
Mineralization is principally galena-sphalerite and tetrahedrite veins with quartz, carbonate and barite gangue mineralogy. The District is famous for its major discoveries of vast high-grade polymetallic vein systems, with veins that can be 0.5 km in strike length and 2.5 km in dip length.
Ranger-Page Project History:
The land package includes six historic mines with the high-grade Page Mine being the largest. Operating from 1916 to1917 and from 1926 to 1969, it was a top-10 producer in the District having produced over 1.1 billion pounds of combined lead-zinc and 14.6 million ounces of silver.
The Page mine was also the deepest of the six historic mines. It was mined to a depth of 2,644 feet below surface, with Blackhawk mined to 1,200 feet, Crown Point mined to 200 feet, and the remaining three mines (Ranger, Wyoming, and Curlew) only explored and mined near surface.
For comparison, one of the deepest mines in the region is Hecla’s Lucky Friday Ag-Pb-Zn Mine. In operation since 1942, it is expected to produce approximately 5 million ounces of silver per year with proven and probable reserves of 78 million ounces of silver, 492,400 tons of lead and 229,380 tons of zinc as od December 31, 2023. The #4 Shaft project, an internal shaft at the Lucky Friday Mine, reaches 9,600 feet below surface and is an important part of the Gold Hunter/Lucky Friday expansion as it provides access to the highest-grade ore in the mine’s history.
Figure 3: Ranger-Page claim groups, underground mine workings, and new target areas.
Exploration Potential:
Major discoveries in the Coeur d'Alene Mining District tend to result from deep exploration down plunge of near-surface mineral showings. Narrow veins near surface can expand into multimillion-ounce ore bodies at depth, where vein structures intersect Revett formation quartzites and other favorable stratigraphy.
Consistent with the exploration history of the District, the Ranger-Page Project exhibits similar discovery potential near surface and at depth. This assessment is based on the comprehensive underground mining database that indicates mineralization continues at depth where historical underground mining ended. The latest exploration results from geophysical and geochemical surveys, extensive trenching and sampling, and geological mapping have identified new target areas with potential near-surface mineralization.
Figure 4: Showing network of faults and coloured IP anomalies dipping along faults toward the south.
We are thrilled with the acquisition of the Ranger-Page Project and thank all involved for their assistance in expediting the completion of the transaction," said Mike Romanik, President of Silver Dollar. "Our immediate exploration focus is on the near-surface targets recently discovered outside of the area of the historic mines."
Acquisition Summary:
The vendors assigned the assets to Silver Dollar's wholly-owned subsidiary for cash consideration of $300,000 and the issuance of 6,000,000 common shares in the capital of Silver Dollar at a deemed price of $0.30 per share for aggregate consideration of $2,100,000. The shares are subject to a statutory four-month hold period and contractual escrow under the following release schedule:
Release Date | Release from Contractual Escrow |
August 6, 2024 | 1,000,000 shares |
February 6, 2025 | 1,250,000 shares |
August 6, 2025 | 1,250,000 shares |
February 6, 2026 | 1,250,000 shares |
August 6, 2026 | 1,250,000 shares |
If Silver Dollar exercises its option under the acquired Government Gulch Agreement, as described below, it will grant the Vendors a royalty equal to 0.5% of net smelter returns from the Government Gulch property. Further, if Silver Dollar exercises its option under the acquired Page Mine Agreement, it will grant the vendors a royalty equal to 1% of net smelter returns from the Page Mine property; however, Silver Dollar may repurchase half of such royalty (0.5% of net smelter returns) at any time for CAD$500,000.
We'll also have Dale Moore and Tamarack Geological Services leading our exploration programs," said Mike Romanik, President of Silver Dollar. "Dale and the Tamarack team worked with the previous operator on the Ranger-Page Project and did an exceptional job in defining multiple targets over the last two years and we are excited to commence drill testing those targets on a priority basis."
The technical information on this webpage has been approved by Dale Moore, P.Geo., an independent Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.