Prime Mining drills 6.9 g/t gold over 15 metres at Los Reyes, Mexico
Prime Mining Corp. [PYRM-TSXV; PRMNF-OTCQX; O4V3-FSE] reported additional assay results from its recently completed phase 2 drill program and start of phase 3 drilling at the 100%-owned Los Reyes project, Mexico.
These results are from 48 drill holes in the Z-T area where Prime continues to delineate and expand the multimillion-ounce Los Reyes high-grade gold-silver deposit. Los Reyes and its three known gold-silver deposit areas (Guadalupe, Z-T and Central), has a mineralized footprint of over 15 km2 and is located in a highly prospective, 500-year-old mining-friendly district of Sinaloa, Mexico.
Highlight Z-T drill intercepts: Step-out intercepts returned 10 g/t gold and 131 g/t silver over 3.1 metres (3.1 m estimated true width or ETW), including 28.5 g/t Au and 310 g/t Ag over 1.1 metres (1.1 m ETW) in hole 22TA-51; 4.7 g/t Au and 103 g/t Ag over 11.4m (8.7m ETW), including 39.6 g/t Au and 174 g/t Ag over 0.9m (0.7m ETW) in hole 22ZAP-87; 2.7 g/t Au and 451 g/t Ag over 6.3m (4.8m ETW), including 4.8 g/t Au and 821 g/t Ag over 3.0m (2.3m ETW) in hole 22TA-41; and 3.6 g/t Au and 20 g/t Ag over 16m (13.8m ETW), including 22.2 g/t Au and 41 g/t Ag over 2.2m (1.9m ETW) in hole 22ZAP-82.
Infill intercepts returned 4.2 g/t Au and 59 g/t Ag over 6.0m (5.4m ETW), including 23.6 g/t Au and 103 g/t Ag over 0.9m (0.8m ETW) in hole 22TA-43; 6.9 g/t Au and 33 g/t Ag over 15.0m (14.8m ETW), including 21 g/t Au and 55 g/t Ag over 1.5m (1.5m ETW) in hole 22SMW-12.
Drilling in the Z-T area of Los Reyes continues to encounter high-grade gold-silver intercepts and is anticipated to grow and merge three previously reported economically constrained resource pits.
Daniel Kunz, CEO, commented, “This drilling served two purposes – to continue to grow the Resource pits by discovering high-grade extensions along strike and down dip through step-out drilling and to confirm the confidence in our upcoming Resource report through infill drilling. These results support our view that the Z-T area current resource pits are merging into a more continuous single pit.”
Scott Smith, EVP Exploration added: “The Z-T area continues to reveal wide zones of potential ore well above cutoff grades with potentially low strip ratios. The step-out drilling is showing strong potential to expand the resource in a number of areas and directions. We have intercepted mineralization over 300 metres below the current resource pits and shown that the deposits remain open down dip and along strike.”
Phase 2 drilling was completed October 31, 2022. In total, 74,216 metres were drilled in 259 holes with zero lost-time injuries or material safety incidents. Combined with Phase 1 and on-going drilling, Prime has now drilled over 100,000 metres in over 400 holes.
Phase 3 drilling began in November and after a short holiday break is continuing again with five rigs operating at site. Drilling is focused on resource expansion and delineating new potential ore zones. Further details of the Phase 2 and Phase 3 drilling results will be released as they become available. Prime anticipates the release of an updated NI 43-101 resource estimate by mid-2023. The updated resource will include all Phase 1 and Phase 2 results, plus some initial results from the on-going Phase 3 drilling program.
Los Reyes is a rapidly evolving high-grade, low sulphidation epithermal gold-silver project. Historic operating results indicate that an estimated 1 million ounces of gold and 60 million ounces of silver were recovered from five separate operations at Los Reyes between 1770 and 1990. Prior to Prime’s acquisition, recent operators of Los Reyes had spent approximately US$20 million on exploration, engineering, and prefeasibility studies. The project remains underexplored and holds potential for additional discovery and resource expansion.
Since acquiring Los Reyes in 2019, Prime has spent approximately US$30 million on direct exploration activities and has completed two phases of comprehensive drilling totaling over 100,000 metres . Results to date suggest the three known main deposit areas, Guadalupe, Central and Z-T, are larger than previously reported. Potential also exists for new discoveries outside of the currently defined resource areas.