Blackrock Silver to drill Tonopah West, Nevada
Blackrock Silver Corp. [TSXV-BRC] returned drills to the company’s Tonopah West project located immediately adjacent to Tonopah, Nevada within the Walker Lane gold and silver mineral trend.
Blackrock has begune preparation of drill sites on Tonopah West for a 20,000-metre, fully financed drill program set to commence in July 2024. The Tonopah West drill program will be completed with two core drills from Alloy Drilling LLC and one reverse circulation (RC) drill from Legacy Drilling LLC, both of which are based in Elko, Nev.
Andrew Pollard, president and CEO, stated: “Drill pad construction is now under way for our first sustained push on the drills following delivery of our October, 2023, mineral resource estimate which established Tonopah West as one of the highest-grade undeveloped large silver projects globally with 100 million silver equivalent (AgEq) inferred ounces grading 508.5 g/t AgEq. As we look to grow and derisk our mineral inventory, this program will be dual focused on both conversion and resource expansion. The Merten and Bermuda vein systems located at the southern edge of our DPB deposit will be the focal point for our resource conversion program as they represent our shallowest targets and would be the first structures encountered based on our conceptual underground mining plan. Expansion drilling will focus on the one-kilometre vein corridor between our DPB and NW step-out deposits, aiming to connect the entire 4-km silver-gold system and unlock substantial tonnage potential. Major long-lead project derisking initiatives have been under way at Tonopah West since the start of the year and are expected to generate news over the coming months across such areas as engineering, hydrologic and environmental studies. Advanced metallurgical test work is well under way with results anticipated in August of this year. This multifaceted work program is poised to be our most pivotal one yet in terms of demonstrating Tonopah West’s true potential, making for an active second half of 2024.”
The RC drill is expected to complete 50 pre-collar holes ranging from 50 metres to 300 metres deep. The core drills will use the pre-collars holes to finish core tails to the target depth. The core tails will range from 80 metres to 450 metres below the pre-collar depth.
The drill program will have two main objectives over the next six months. The first objective will be to convert approximately one million tonnes of high-grade silver and gold from the inferred resource category to the measured and indicated resource category.
This program will target high grades within the Bermuda and Merten vein systems which are located at the southern end of the DPB area where the veins are at their shallowest depth below the surface. Drilling will be on 25-metre centres within an area that is 270-metres in an east-west direction by 550 metres in a north-south direction. The resource conversion focus of the Tonopah West drill program is expected to consist of 41 precollar holes with corresponding core tails. The combined drill holes will range from 200 to 380 metres in total length. A total of 12,000 metres of combined RC and core drilling is planned for this portion of the program.
The second objective will be to connect the DPB zone to the NW target area which is approximately 1,000 metres northwest of DPB. Eleven holes are planned with nine new pre-collars being completed and two existing pre-collars being used for the resource expansion portion of the Tonopah West drill program. A total of 8,000 metres of drilling is planned on widely spaced drill holes for this portion of the drill program.
In addition, the company engaged Kappes, Cassidy & Associates (KCA) of Reno, Nevada, to complete additional metallurgical test work on the Tonopah West vein material. A total of nine additional composites were delivered to KCA in April 2024. This material along with the 12 original composites will be used to provide additional information to refine the estimated metallurgical recoveries by zone, assist in recommending a processing plant flowsheet, processing parameters and processing capital expenditures and operating expenditures with the aim of helping to derisk Tonopah West. The results from the metallurgical test work are expected in August 2024.