Abrasilver drills 357 g/t AgEq over 87 metres at Diablillos, Argentina
Abrasilver Resource Corp. [ABRA-TSXV; ABBRF-OTCQX] has discovered a new near-surface, high-grade silver zone, located over 500 metres southwest of the Oculto mineral resource, on the company’s wholly owned Diablillos property in Salta province, Argentina.
Diamond drill hole 22-019 contains the discovery hole for the promising new zone, called the Southwest zone. Key takeaways include Hole DDH 22-019 that intersected a high-grade interval of 87 metres at 357 g/t AgEq, or silver equivalent (5.1 g/t AuEq – comprised of 346 g/t silver and 0.15 g/t gold) in oxides starting at a down-hole depth of only 89 metres. The hole included a 22-metre interval grading 1,033 g/t AgEq (14.8 g/t AuEq – comprised of 1,015 g/t silver 0.27 g/t gold).
The reconnaissance hole was drilled to test a magnetic anomaly extending beneath colluvial cover southwest of Oculto. The newly discovered Southwest zone is located over 500 metres beyond the limit of the current Mineral Resource estimate at Oculto.
John Miniotis, president and CEO, commented: “We’re thrilled that we continue to discover new high-grade, near-surface silver mineralization at our world-class Diablillos project. It is extremely promising for the first hole in a new, untested target to return such strong, high-grade results. Importantly, the high-grade mineralization is thick, near surface, and demonstrates excellent potential for continuity, thereby ranking it as our highest-priority exploration target for our ongoing Phase III drill program. We’re eagerly looking forward to announcing more results from this new zone over the coming weeks and months ahead.”
Dave O’Connor, chief geologist, commented: “Hole DDH 22-019 is a spectacular exploration success. The hole was drilled to test a linear magnetic anomaly interpreted as being a potential feeder zone hosting a mineralized breccia. This has turned out to be the case and is supported by the high-grade copper sulphide mineralization at the base of the oxide silver zone. The magnetic anomaly extends for over one kilometre under colluvial cover southwest of Oculto. Looking forward, our immediate priority is to now systematically drill the Southwest zone in order to determine the scale of this new system. The colluvial cover is about 50-60 metres thick, and the oxide silver mineralization appears to commence immediately beneath it, presenting an ideal open pit mining situation.”
Other Diablillos drill results include DDH-22-017 that returned 21.5 metres of 43,3 g/t AgEq, 31.0 metres of 109.3 g/t AgEq, including 9.0 metres of 233.7 g/t AgEq, and 15.5 metres of 102.2 g/t AghEq. DDH-22-018 returned 16.0 metres of 46.8 g/t AgEq and 13.0 metres of 47.5 g/t AgEq. DDH-22-020 returned 7.5 metres of 30.0 g/t AgEq and 25.0 metres of 48.8 g/t AgEq.
The company’s Phase II, 20,000-metre drill program has been successfully completed, having delivered numerous positive results throughout the past year. At this time, assay results for the final 12 holes from this campaign remain pending and are expected to be received over the next several weeks. Once all assay results from the Phase II program are received, the Company will prepare and publish an updated Mineral Resource estimate, which is anticipated to be completed in September 2022.
The company has commenced an additional 15,000-metre Phase III exploration program designed to further expand Mineral Resources across the Diablillos property. The size of the drill program may be expanded, if warranted.
The Diablillos silver-gold project has a current Measured and Indicated Mineral Resource of over 90 million ounces of silver and 1.0 million ounces of gold.