Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - January 30, 2018) - Benz Mining Corp. (TSXV: BZ) (FSE: 1VU) (the "Company" or "Benz"), provides an update on its Mel project drill plans for the summer of 2018.
Benz will focus on two specific objectives with its proposed exploration program.
The first objective is to increase the resource base through exploration of the northern and southern extensions of the Mel Main Zone and the Jeri and Jeri N targets. An initial phase of 12 to 16 drill holes totaling 3000 m of drilling is planned to test on strike extensions of the Mel resource. Trenching in 2017 indicated a potential 125m northern extension of the Mel Main Zone and an unknown potential for its southern extension. Historical drill results and the presence of additional targets at Jeri and Jeri North offers the potential for finding a new, near-surface resource in this area. Trenching and shallow drilling are planned for the exploration of Jeri and Jeri North. A trenching program to test a number of unexplored base-metal soil anomalies and to identify drill targets will consist of 10 trenches each 250 to 300m long. An initial phase diamond drilling program of 1000m is planned to test the surface targets identified by the trenches and to follow-up on historical drill results at Jeri and Jeri North. An expansion or first phase of drilling in 2018 will be considered for the Mel north/ south extension targets and for the Jeri/ Jeri North targets.
The second objective is to upgrade the Mel Main Zone resource to the Measured and Indicated categories from its published current Inferred Resource of 5.28Mt at a grade of 6.51% zinc, 1.86% lead and 45.05% barite at a 5.0% zinc-equivalent cut-off grade (see SEDAR for Technical Report dated March 20, 2017). Upgrading large part of the resource will be accomplished with a 10,000 m diamond drill program designed to better define the resource by in-filling areas where closer spaced core intercepts and assay data are needed. The 2017 drilling combined with additional drilling planned for 2018 are expected to provide the database required to upgrade the majority of the current resource to the Measured and Indicated categories.
Further to the Company's news release dated December 12, 2017, announcing that Benz had retained the services of Mr. Gary Lindsey of StrataStar Marketing Group, LLC ("StrataStar") to provide corporate communications and management consulting services to the Company. In consideration for the services to be provided, the Company has agreed to pay StrataStar a monthly fee in the amount of US$4,000 per month until March 31, 2018, or the first full month post-financing, whichever occurs first, when the amount increases to US$7,500; payable monthly in arrears on the last day of each month. As previously announced, as part of his compensation, Mr. Lindsey has been granted 250,000 options at an exercisable price of $0.185 per share.