Pan American advances on La Colorada results
Pan American Silver Corp. [PAAS-TSX, NASDAQ] on Thursday released impressive drilling results from a high-grade zone on the company’s La Colorada skarn project in Zacatecas, Mexico.
The company said the results from 22 new infill and exploration drill holes (18,071 metres) further demonstrate the size and quality of the mineralization at La Colorada.
For example, Infill drill hole D-96-03-22, in the western portion of the deposit, contains an extensive zone of high-grade silver and base metal sulphide mineralization with an intercept of 295.5 metres at 234. g/t silver, 6.36% lead and 5.72% zinc, including 97.0 metres at 654 g/t silver, 15.35% lead and 11.38% zinc.
That marked the highest-grade intercept drilled to date on the La Colorada Skarn project.
Pan American shares advanced on the news, rising 4.47% or $1.04 to $24.28 on volume of 191,590. The shares are currently trading in a 52-week range of $38.51 and $22.81.
Pan American was founded in 1994 by financier Ross Beaty. Since then, the company has grown from a start-up to become the world’s second largest primary silver producer with the world’s largest silver reserves and resources, while also becoming a significant gold producer.
Pan American, owns and operates mines in Mexico, Peru, Canada, Argentina and Bolivia. Its portfolio includes the Escobal mine in Guatemala, where operations are currently suspended.
In Canada, the portfolio includes the Timmins West and Bell Creek (together Timmins) operations.
Pan American owns 100% of the large (La Colorada Skarn) polymetallic deposit discovered in 2018 through brownfield exploration near its La Colorada mine. The deposit is estimated to contain 141 million ounces of silver and a large volume of base metals based on the inferred resource estimate of 100.4 million tonnes (grading 44 g/t silver, 0.20% copper, 1.77% lead and 4.29% zinc) released back in August, 2020.
Drill hole D-96-03-22 returned the highest-grade intercept from the more than 200,000 metres drilled to date on the La Colorada Skarn project,’’ said Christopher Emerson, Pan American’s Vice-President, Business Development and Geology.
“Further infill drilling will provide tighter spacing to help define this high-grade zone, while step out drilling targets extension of the footprint to the west where the mineralization is still open,’’ he said.
Meanwhile, Pan American said it plans to provide an update to the mineral resource estimate for the La Colorada Skarn in the third quarter of 2022. The cut-off date for this resource update was April 30, 2022, hence the drill results disclosed on Thursday will not be included in the upcoming mineral resource update