LatAm miners hit high grades as drilling resumes

Latin America’s junior miners reported high-grade exploration results from gold and silver assets in June, as drilling resumed following COVID-19 suspensions.

Highlights showed Mexico’s huge mineral potential for silver, with grades of up to 4,209g/t, while the highest grade gold results came from Guatemala, Nicaragua and Brazil.

While many of the results were from drilling conducted prior to the COVID-19 lockdowns, many of the companies reported a resumption of exploration during June as restrictions eased.

Some, such as Discovery Metals at the Cordero project in Mexico, also plan to extend or accelerate drill programs as gold and silver prices continue to rise.

TOP GRADES - SILVER

Plomosas project, Mexico

Owner: GR Silver

Highlights: 4,209g/t silver over 1.7m, within 11.0m of 1,235g/t silver

Drill holes showed high-grade silver and gold outside of previously mined polymetallic mineralization in the Plomosas mine area.

GR also recorded 3.6g/t gold over 23.9m

Panuco project, Mexico

Owner: Vizsla Resources

Highlights: 3,348g/t silver equivalent over 2.0m

Vizsla announced the first drilling results from the Napoleon vein corridor at its Panuco project.

Assay results from two drill holes included 3,348g/t silver equivalent over 2.0m, within an intercept of 1,544g/t over 8.2m.

Drilling has restarted, with Vizsla planning to expand and define the footprint of mineralization at Napoleon.

Cordero project, Mexico

Owner: Discovery Metals

Highlights: 2,489g/t silver equivalent over 0.7m

Discovery reported results from eight drill holes at Cordero, as part of a program aimed at defining a high-margin development.

The company is expanding a phase 1 drill program by 20,0000m to 50,000-55,000m.

Cusi mine, Mexico

Owner: Sierra Metals

Highlights: 1,163g/t silver equivalent over 4.9m, within 17.4m of 464g/t.

Sierra reported the discovery of a new high-grade silver zone in an area called Northeast – Southwest System of Epithermal Veins at its Cusi mine.

The company plans to drill an additional 1,000m to better understand the extension of the zone at depth and to the northeast.

Los Ricos project, Mexico

Owner: GoGold Resources

Highlights: 1,120g/t silver equivalent over 4.4m

GoGold released results from nine drill holes at the Los Ricos South zone at its Los Ricos project, where drilling restarted in early June.

Highlights included 365g/t silver equivalent over 15.0m, including 1,120g/t over 4.4m.

Results from three additional holes later in June include 424g/t silver equivalent over 11m.

Guanaceví mine, Mexico

Owner: Endeavour Silver

Highlights: 1,085g/t silver and 3.25g/t gold over 10.0m

Endeavour reported exploration drilling from Q1 which intersected new high-grade gold-silver mineralization in the Santa Cruz vein on the El Curso property at Guanaceví.

The new resources are expected to add to the mine life at the operation, CEO Brad Cooke said.

TOP GRADES - GOLD

Cerro Blanco project, Guatemala

Owner: Bluestone Resources

Highlights: 48.5g/t gold and 97g/t silver over 3.8m, within 21.6g/t gold and 52g/t silver over 15.0m

Bluestone reported results from 14 underground and four surface drill holes at Cerro Blanco, where an ongoing 9,000m program is focused on the south zone of the deposit.

Exploration is gradually resuming in Guatemala under government guidelines, the company said.

San Albino-Murra project, Nicaragua

Owner: Mako Mining

Highlights: 40.5g/t gold over 4.3m

Mako reported drill results from the Bayacun zone, within the Las Conchitas area of San Albino-Murra.

Earlier in June, the company reported results from Bayacun including 23.1g/t gold over 5.5m.

Castelo de Sonhos project, Brazil

Owner: TriStar Gold

Highlights: 20.4g/t gold over 2m, within 2.5g/t over 22m

TriStar announced results of assays from 79 infill drill holes at Castelo de Sonhos.

With most resource drilling complete, the company is planning to progress to geological interpretation and modeling, which will be completed once consultants can safely travel to the project, CEO Nick Appleyard said.

Tucano mine, Brazil

Owner: Great Panther Mining

Highlights: 16.0g/t gold over 29.4m

Great Panther reported highlights of near-mine drilling at Tucano, part of an ongoing 55,000m resource definition program.

Results will be incorporated into an updated resources and reserve statement in Q4.

Mercedes mine, Mexico

Owner: Premier Gold Mines

Highlights: 11.7g/t gold and 55.7g/t silver over 5.2m, and 6.31g/t gold and 23.2g/t silver over 84.7m

Premier released results from an ongoing delineation drill campaign at Mercedes, focused on expanding and confirming higher-grade mineralization in several areas including Marianas and Diluvio West.

Drilling has restarted.