Andean Silver's (ASX: ASL) maiden drilling programme at the Cerro-Bayo silver-gold project in Chile has outlined a large area of high-grade mineralisation which sits well outside the current Mineral Resource Estimate.
The assays from the Pegaso 7 prospect, which is two km from the existing resource and processing plant, outline a mineralised area of 600m along strike to a depth of 300m.
“Our first drilling programme at Cerro-Bayo has returned exceptional results which clearly demonstrate the potential for substantial resource growth,” CEO, Tim Laneyrie, said.
“We have outlined a large area of high-grade mineralisation which remains open in all directions.
“Importantly, the vein structures which host the mineralisation extend for 1km along surface, highlighting the huge potential to continue growing this mineralised footprint.
“Given this, we are planning an expanded drilling program which is aimed at growing this mineralised area. These results, and the large database of historic assays which we inherited, will form part of the resource upgrade we have planned for the current quarter."
Drilling Update
The drilling has intersected the main and subsidiary mineralised zones at anticipated positions. The results to date combined with the updated logging has helped refine the target model for Pegaso 7 and has warranted an expanded drilling campaign into areas targeting veining and brecciated dome mineralised zones.
The latest drilling combined with a relogging campaign of the historic drilling from the Pegaso 7 mineralised zone has shown that the main area of mineralisation is controlled by the intersection of a series of sub-vertical high-grade veins that strike ~330 degrees and a sub vertical, North striking pre-mineral intrusive dacite dome.
Further ongoing work at Pegaso 7 will involve:
- Testing the potential for future open pit resources through systematic surface channel sampling across the outcropping vein corridor that extends for up to 1km followed by a series of shallow drillholes.
- Planning a second phase of drilling to test extensions of intercepts from historic drillholes 400m north from the current programme, including 5.3m @ 205g/t AgEq; and
- Planning an infill drilling campaign into the current dacite dome contact area to support a future maiden resource and an extensional drilling campaign to further test for down plunge extensions.
The company has embarked on an aggressive drilling programme that currently has two rigs drilling with the focus on building on the initial base Mineral Resource Estimate, near mine extensional drilling targets and greenfields opportunities which have been defined.
The company believes in boots on the ground geology work and is actively exploring the over 300 sq. km of granted tenure to generate a robust project pipeline.
Work is progressing on compiling the district deposits into an updated JORC Mineral Resource Estimate which is on track for a planned September 2024 quarter release.
