Overview
The Niagara Project is a Revett-type sediment hosted copper-silver deposit located within the Murray Gold Belt District about 7 kilometers (4.4 mi.) north of the Company's operating Golden Chest Mine near Murray, Idaho. The Niagara deposit hosts a historic resource reported in 2008, which estimated approximately 150 million pounds of contained copper and 8 million ounces of contained silver confined to the upper Revett Formation. The deposit is of the stratabound variety believed to be similar to the now-closed Troy Mine (pre-mining resource: 48.9 million tonnes at 0.74% copper and 48.2 gpt silver), the Rock Creek project (resource: 124 million tonnes at 0.72% copper and 49.7 gpt silver) and the Libby Exploration project located in northwestern Montana and owned by Hecla Mining. It is common to find Revett-type stratabound mineralization stacked in several horizons of the Revett Formation. To date, no drilling has targeted the lower-middle Revett Formation of the Niagara deposit. Therefore, the Company believes it has excellent potential for additional mineralization in the unexposed lower-middle Revett rocks.
Murray Gold Belt Landholdings
The current Niagara deposit fits on a small footprint of approximately 180 acres of unpatented mineral claims
Niagara Mineralization
In 2008, New Jersey Mining Co. (now Idaho Strategic) drilled three core holes through the Niagara deposit which successfully increased the area of copper-silver mineralization in the upper Revett. As an example, drill hole DDH08-9 intersected 19.4 meters grading 0.51% copper, 25 grams per tonne (gpt) silver, and 0.029 gpt gold. Results from the 2008 drilling program were combined with historic data to complete an updated resource calculation (now considered historic).
Exploration potential at Niagara not only exists in the lower-middle Revett Formation, but also along strike in the upper Revett Formation where iron-stained spotted quartzite was recorded along East Fork Eagle Creek Road, a common pathfinder for stratabound mineralization. Idaho Strategic is in the process of completing permitting activities for a drilling program in 2026 with the goal of confirming historic drill results and expanding the mineralized footprint, both deeper and along strike.
The resource outlined below for the Niagara deposit is considered historic. Although the Company believes it to be an accurate indication of the mineralization in the upper Revett Formation, a qualified person from Idaho Strategic has not done sufficient work to classify this as a current estimate of mineral resources under S-K 1300 guidelines. Idaho Strategic is not treating the estimate as current and is not relying on it for any economic or development decisions:
District-Scale Exploration
Idaho Strategic's Niagara deposit lies within the Murray Gold Belt District in northern Idaho. The Murray Gold Belt is a diverse and expansive district and the company believes its landholdings have significant potential to host additional deposits.
History
An exploration program completed by Earth Resources Company on the Niagara property in the 1970's identified the now historic copper-silver resource. Their exploration program included 8 drill holes and 6 trenches on the outcrop of the mineralized strata. Within the Niagara project, the exploration revealed a higher grade core of 2.7 million tonnes, potentially amenable to underground mining, which grades 0.93% copper and 37.8 grams per tonne silver (1.10 ounces per ton). Earth Resources also completed metallurgical testwork that indicated conventional flotation will achieve acceptable recoveries.
Exploration
As identified by the USGS, the Niagara deposit is similar to Hecla’s Rock Creek and Libby Exploration projects, located in northwestern Montana. The Niagara deposit is currently permitted with the U.S. Forest Service for a modest surface drilling campaign in 2026. The campaign aims to upgrade the historic resource confidence and test mineral continuity along strike and down dip of known mineralization, and the deeper host stratigraphy in the untested lower-middle Revett Formation. The Company believes it has excellent exploration potential for resource growth.
Ownership
The Niagara project is currently under a long-term lease agreement with an initial term of 10 years at a modest annual rate that increases 3% per year. Idaho Strategic can extend the lease for an additional 10 years with follow-on extensions available subject to certain conditions. The company also granted the lessor a 2% net smelter royalty (NSR) on all production from the 9 unpatented mineral claims under lease with the right to buyback 1% of the NSR for $1,000,000 at any time during the lease term. Idaho Strategic currently owns all adjacent unpatented mineral claims.
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