Drilling at Silver One Resources' (TSXV: SVE; US-OTC: SLVRF) Candelaria project in Nevada has expanded higher-grade mineralization between the past-producing Mount Diablo and Northern Belle pits at depth and confirmed near-surface lower-grade mineralization around the two pits.
The company has recently drilled nine holes at the project. Highlights include 8 metres of 237 grams silver per tonne; 19 metres of 152 grams silver and 0.26 gram gold; as well as 6 metres of 92.87 grams silver and 0.3 gram gold. All of the intercepts in this release are within oxidized material.
"We are encouraged by the high silver grades encountered between the Mount Diablo and Northern Belle, as they indicate that clusters of higher-grade silver mineralization occur within an area covering a potential strike length of over 1,500 metres," Greg Crowe, the company's president and CEO, said in a release. "These results demonstrate that additional drilling is highly warranted, both down dip and along strike between the two pits, to fill in undrilled areas with the objective of potentially expanding the previously known areas of mineralization."
One of the holes stepped out the Lower Candelaria Shear (LCS) silver-gold bearing unit by 30 metres to the east of prior drilling. This horizon appears to be 19 metres wide. An additional hole, drilled between the two historic pits, intercepted a zone over 100 metres wide with five mineralized horizons - each of these is 4 metres wide, on average.
According to the company, the drill program has confirmed historic drill results from the property.
Silver One has the option to acquire a 100% interest in the Candelaria mine project. To do so, it would need to issue US$100,000 worth of units (consisting of one share and half of a warrant) to both SSR Mining (TSX: SSRM; NASDAQ: SSRM) and Maverix Metals (TSX: MMR; NYSE-AM: MMR) and make a US$1 million payment to Maverix (made up of cash and shares) one year after the start of commercial production at a rate of 2.5 million oz. silver annually from Candelaria.
The past-producing site also features historic leach pads; potential reprocessing of this material could generate near-term cash flow for the company.
Silver Standard (now SSR Mining) acquired the Candelaria property in 2001. The project is within the Candelaria mining district, which produced high-grade silver between the late 1880s and 1954. Northern Belle started producing silver in 1874.
- This article first appeared in the Canadian Mining Journal.