Drilling Program Commences at Poplar Property to Confirm and Expand Historic Deposit Area

For a junior exploration company the commencement of a drill program is often the most eagerly anticipated event. Various preliminary steps must be completed in advance to gather and interpret geologic data for target definition, and ideally there will be positive results generated from surface sampling work along the way. But it is the potential for a high grade interval to be encountered through underground drilling that may confirm a significant discovery, and the prospect for this positive outcome builds shareholder expectations when a drill begins turning on a property.

This week Tasca Resources Ltd. (TSXV:TAC – $0.05 & OTC:ECMXF – $0.03 & Fra:3TA – €0.02) announced that a diamond drilling program is now underway at the Poplar project, located in British Columbia. The news is indeed welcome after a nearby forest fire earlier this fall had restricted access to the project area. With the drilling permit now in hand and a crew mobilized to the site, the first round of drilling work by Tasca for this property has begun.

New Target Zones and Potential Extensions of Deposit Area to be Tested During Drilling Work

The Poplar property was advanced based on the work of a prior operator that established a historic copper-gold deposit of significant size several years ago. Previously completed exploration work, including 129 drill holes amounting to more than 37,000m of combined drilling, contributed to outline an Indicated resource of 131 million tonnes, with an average grade of 0.31% copper and 0.9 g/t gold. In addition, an Inferred resource of 132 million tonnes was presented, with an average of 0.27% copper plus 0.7 g/t gold. There was also an attractive by-product of molybdenum and silver present within this polymetallic resource.

While this deposit area was once defined under NI43-101 reporting standards and is believed to be accurate, a thorough review and verification of the historic exploration data must be completed, including drilling of confirmation holes in order to bring the deposit back into compliance as a current mineral resource. That is the primary objective for the drilling work now in process.

Tasca has also highlighted several attractive targets identified elsewhere within the Poplar property area based on geophysical survey data interpretation. These include zones further to depth and lateral from the existing deposit area. There is also an intriguing anomaly generated by an airborne MAG survey that outlined features which indicate the potential for porphyry alteration. Lastly, some historical drill zones that were not part of the original deposit area, but encountered attractive alteration, will be selected for renewed investigation using modern technology in the search for additional discovery prospects on the property.

High Grade Gold Values Encountered at Princeton Property

Exploration activity is also advancing at a second attractive project controlled by Tasca in BC. Earlier this week Tasca announced assay results from a round of trenching and sampling work that had been underway at its Princeton property in September.

The Company presented a large batch of assay results highlighted by an interval of 0.9m from a quartz vein exposed in trenching that contained 217 g/t gold. This extremely high grade section was part of a vein system excavated along strike for 120 meters. The structure exposed by trenching varied between 0.3m to a maximum of 1.8m in width.

Combined with previous trenching work completed in 2011, a total of 53 gold-bearing samples were collected, and of these, 38 samples contained values above 10 g/t gold. Some of the appeal for this discovery zone is also verified by three separate samples from the 2018 program that exceeded 100 g/t gold values. Additional grab samples collected in the vicinity yielded some attractive results, with a large percentage of the assay data also exceeding 10 g/t gold.

The potential for a much larger target exists, as thick overburden at each end of the trench prevented further sampling work, indicating that the productive vein structure may extend well beyond the currently exposed area.

Higher grade gold encountered in sampling at surface is often an indication that a robust gold system may be awaiting confirmation further to depth. Tasca is excited to follow up on this promising trenching work with a drill program scheduled to commence in the spring, after the snow melts to allow access to the project again.

The Princeton property is located within a region of British Columbia that is highly prospective for mineral deposits and several other companies are currently active in proximity. To the north, an extremely high grade drill core interval averaging 24.5 g/t gold across more than 17m was recently reported at the Shovelnose property operated by Westhaven Resources. Successful exploration activity by other companies nearby may contribute greater speculative appeal among investors as Tasca continues advancing its own gold discovery in the district.

Established copper mines in operation nearby, including the Highland Valley and Similkameen mines, represent further evidence of the highly prospective geology of this area. Several historic former gold mining operations are also located in proximity within this district.

Conclusion

British Columbia has been a very productive mining jurisdiction within Canada for many years and the active discoveries recently reported from many projects in the province are a testament to that mineral endowment. Tasca is very much a part of this story, with leverage to current activity underway at two separate properties, each of which demonstrating high grade exploration results that hold the potential for the discovery of more significant deposits.

With drilling work now in process at Poplar, and pending commencement early in the spring at Princeton, Tasca shareholders may look forward to the potential for a meaningful advance in the share price as results are reported in the months ahead.

The work underway at Poplar adds a further positive dimension for the shareholder value of the Company, as the confirmation drilling will contribute towards enabling a compliant and reliable resource estimate for the property. The value proposition for this advanced deposit will increase further as the confidence of the resource is elevated to higher classification with the increase in drill density, and as new target zones are successfully identified to build the overall magnitude of the discovery. Recommendation: BUY.

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