Discovery Silver advances on Mexico drilling news
Discovery Silver Corp. [DSV-TSXV; DSVSF-OTCQX] on Tuesday June 22 released assay results from 12 diamond drill holes that targeted bulk-tonnage mineralization at its Cordero silver project in Mexico.
Discovery’s flagship asset is the 100%-owned Cordero project located in Chihuahua State. The company is currently advancing the project through a 66,000-metre drill program this year, focused on delineating a high margin silver project with size and scaleability.
Drill hole results released on Tuesday are part of a 75,000-metre (178 holes) Phase 1 drill program, which was completed at the end of April, 2021. Data from Phase one will be used to support a bulk tonnage resource update and preliminary economic assessment scheduled for the second half of 2021.
Phase 2 drilling will be focused on reserve definition, resource expansion and high-grade vein delineation.
Drilling highlights include 65.9 metres averaging 258 g/t silver equivalent (AgEq) from 309.4 metres (69 g/t silver, 0.11 g/t gold, 0.75 lead and 3.7% zinc) in hole C21-417.
“This current set of holes, drilled in areas where there were significant gaps in previous drilling, confirm the continuity of higher-grade mineralization at depth in the South Corridor,” said President and CEO Taj Singh. “Excellent grades over broad widths were encountered on a consistent basis, highlighting the potential for Cordero to emerge as one of the few multigenerational mines in the silver space.” Singh.
“We look forward to compiling final assay results from our Phase 1 drill program for incorporation in our resource update in the Q3 2021 and preliminary economic assessment in Q4, 2021.”
The company has said the project, as it is currently scoped, is taking shape as a major open-pittable project with projected mineral resources supporting 29 years of production at 40,000 tonnes/day, according to a PEA updated in April 2018.
The PEA envisaged average annual production of 8.0 million ounces of silver, 99 million pounds of zinc, 69 million pounds of lead and 12,000 ounces of gold. Capital costs have been estimated at $570 million.
Drill results announced on Tuesday confirm continuity of higher-grade bulk-tonnage mineralization at depth in the central part of the South Corridor. Mineralization is hosted within northeast trending domains that have been defined over a strike length of approximately 1.4 kilometres and are open to the northeast.
Hole C21-425 intersected 143.0 metres averaging 120 g/t AgEq from 517.8 metres, confirming mineralization to a depth of 600 metres, approximately 100 metres below the pit bottom from the 2018 PEA.
As of March 31, 2021, the company said it had cash and cash equivalents, plus a short-term investment balance of $94.7 million. That included $91 million in cash.
In late March, 2021, the company was added to the VanEck Ventors Junior Gold Miners ETF [GDXJ-NYSE] (with the underlying designation as a silver pure-play company) and the ETFMG Prime Junior Silver Miners ETF [SILJ-NYSE].
On Tuesday, Discovery Silver shares advanced on the news, rising 1.4% or $0.03 to $2.17 on volume of 204,680. The shares trade in a 52-week range of $2.84 and 86 cents.