Advance strikes stacked silver-copper and gold sweet spot in Mexico
Brought to you by BULLS N’ BEARS
Murray Ward
Advance Metals has unearthed its most significant polymetallic drill hit to date at its 100 per cent-owned Gavilanes silver project in Mexico.
The third drill hole of an 18-hole maiden diamond drilling campaign for 4500 m brought home the bacon with a hefty 37.5-metre intercept grading a solid 83 grams per tonne (g/t) silver, 0.8 g/t gold and 0.6 per cent copper.
Notably, the drill bit was still turning in mineralisation when the hole terminated at 243.2m, leaving the zone wide open at depth and along strike.
The assays build on findings from a previous similar hole which delivered an exceptionally broad 54.6m intercept grading 0.6 per cent copper, 22g/t silver and 0.3g/t gold.
‘I am excited to see how the scale of the system could expand in the near term.’
Advance Metals managing director and chief executive officer Dr Adam McKinnon
The impressive deeper hit sits below two shallower zones of high-grade silver, with the headline result of 15.6m from just 24m downhole going a stellar 309g/t silver, including a 3.4-metre slice at a bonanza 569g/t silver. A second interval returned 6m at an impressive 204g/t silver from 58.8m.
Advance says the latest results provide compelling evidence for its theory that Gavilanes hosts a vertically stacked, multi-stage mineralising system, with silver-dominant mineralisation near the surface and an increasing endowment of copper and gold at depth.
Together, the first few holes of this maiden campaign are beginning to paint a consistent picture of a potentially large-scale system.
Advance Metals managing director and chief executive officer Dr Adam McKinnon said: “The 37.5 metre lower zone contains significant silver, gold and copper mineralisation and continues to the end of the hole, leaving the lower zone completely open and providing a clear target for follow-up drilling.”
The Gavilanes project sits in the prolific silver-gold district of Durango, just 23km east of First Majestic Silver’s world-class San Dimas mine.
San Dimas is a monster, having historically produced a jaw-dropping 745 million ounces of silver and 11 million ounces of gold, cementing the region’s reputation as one of the world’s premier historic silver provinces.
Advance says it plans to prove up a JORC-compliant resource at Gavilanes, building on the project’s existing foreign estimate of 22.4 million silver-equivalent ounces. With the current program delivering the goods, the company looks to be on track for a resource upgrade in the fourth quarter of this year.
The company’s strategic pivot into Mexico’s high-grade precious metals sector is already beginning to pay off. Gavilanes follows its recent success at the Yoquivo project in Chihuahua, where drilling doubled the resource to 33 million silver equivalent ounces.
Beyond Mexico, Advance has strengthened its portfolio by consolidating 100 per cent ownership of its high-grade Victorian gold assets, where previous drilling has returned spectacular bonanza-grade intercepts, including 7.5m at an eye-catching 55g/t gold.
With assay results pending for the fourth drill hole at Gavilanes and the drill rods now spinning on a sizeable southern step-out in hole five, punters should expect a steady stream of news flow from the prospect in the coming months.
Advance went to Mexico looking to grow its silver inventory. Instead, each drill hole is pulling up thick zones of copper and gold beneath the high-grade silver, hinting it might just be onto a much bigger, multi-layered beast.
As the stacked system theory firms up, things could get “chilli” hot in Mexico very quickly.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: mattbirney@bullsnbears.com.au
