Fortuna Silver drills 10.6 g/t gold over 21.7 metres at Séguéla, Côte d’Ivoire, shares up

Fortuna Silver Mines Inc. [FVI-TSX; FSM-NYSE] provided an update on its Sunbird drilling program at the Séguéla gold project located in Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast).

Paul Weedon, Senior Vice President of Exploration at Fortuna, commented, “Infill drilling at Sunbird to upgrade resource confidence has commenced, with the first batch of results returning shallow high grade intersections from modelled low grade areas from within the pit optimization shell, including highlights such as 10.6 g/t gold over a true width of 21.7 metres in drill hole SGRC1572 and 14.9 g/t gold over a true width of 14 metres from drill hole SGRC1570.”

Weedon continued, “In addition to the initial infill results, extension drilling to test the northern strike beyond the pit shell has been successful in intersecting additional high-grade results such as 12.0 g/t gold over a true width of 5.6 metres in drill hole SGRC1566 and 6.6 g/t gold over a true width of 6.3 metres in drill hole SGRC1567.”

Weedon added, “The focus at Sunbird is currently on upgrading its resource confidence with the ultimate intention of conversion to mineral reserves to expand Séguéla’s current 1.1 million ounces of gold reserves and nine-year life-of-mine. The company is looking forward to the positive outcome of the program and the resumption of testing the high grade depth potential beyond the current optimization shell limit.”

Sunbird Deposit infill drilling highlights: SGRC1572 returned 10.6 g/t gold over an estimated true width of 21.7 metres from 60 metres. SGRC1570 returned 14.9 g/t gold over an estimated true width of 14.0 metres from 65 metres and 5.4 g/t gold over an estimated true width of 4.2 metres from 38 metres.

SGRC1566 returned 12.0 g/t gold over an estimated true width of 5.6 metres from 28 metres. SGRC1576 returned 9.9 g/t gold over an estimated true width of 9.8 metres from 163 metres. SGRC1568 returned 4.1 g/t gold over an estimated true width of 14.7 metres from surface.

SGRC1573 returned 6.6 g/t gold over an estimated true width of 9.1 metres from 126 metres. SGRC1564 returned 2.5 g/t gold over an estimated true width of 19.6 metres from surface.

Infill drilling for increased resource confidence at Sunbird is underway, with 30 holes drilled in the first 4,560 metres completed of a 9,500-metre program. Drilling has continued to intersect shallow high-grade mineralization in areas previously modeled as lower grade based on earlier wider spaced drilling.

Drill hole SGRC1572 intersected several zones of mineralization including 10.6 g/t gold over a true width of 21.7 metres and SGRC1570 intersected 14.9 g/t gold over a true width of 14.0 metres in the north of the pit optimization shell. Drilling to test continuity beyond the pit optimization shell to the north has also intersected broad shallow zones of mineralization including 2.5 g/t gold over a true width of 19.6 metres from surface in drill hole SGRC1564 and 2.4 g/t gold over a true width of 17.5 metres from surface in drill hole SGRC1581. Additional drilling is planned to further define the extent of these zones.

Séguéla Probable Mineral Reserves stand at 12.1 Mt averaging 2.80 g/t gold.

Drilling is scheduled to be completed in the second quarter of 2023 ahead of further optimization work and integration into the life of mine plan. Further drilling to test the depth potential of the high-grade shoots previously identified plunging to the south is planned for the second half of 2023.

Sunbirds mineralization consists of a series of near vertical quartz dominant veins demonstrating good continuity down-dip and along strike. This reflects the strong structural control present; consistent with the majority of the deposits drilled at Séguéla to date. Refer to Appendix 1 for full results received for all holes drilled in the first phase of the Sunbird drill program.

Current Mineral Resources at the Sunbird Deposit are set below.

Fortuna Silver Mines has four operating mines in Argentina, Burkina Faso, Mexico and Peru, and a fifth mine under construction in Côte d’Ivoire. Sustainability is integral to all our operations and relationships. We produce gold and silver and generate shared value over the long-term for our stakeholders through efficient production, environmental protection, and social responsibility.

In early trading Monday March 13, shares of Fortuna Silver gained $0.32 to $4.72.