El Salvador president proposes bill to overturn metals mining ban
In 2017, El Salvador became the first country in the world to ban forms of metals mining.
Discovery Silver (TSXV: DSV) has released results for 19 holes from Phase 2 drill program on its flagship Cordero silver project in Chihuahua state, Mexico. These results include resource upgrade drilling for a pre-feasibility study (PFS) planned for the fourth quarter of this year, as well as expansion drilling of the current open pit and in the far northeast of the deposit.
The latest drilling at Cordero continued to intercept high grades in and around the open pit defined in the 2021 preliminary economic assessment (PEA), increasing the company’s confidence of the resource that will support the PFS mine plan.
Drill hole C21-560 intercepted a high-grade interval immediately below the current PEA pit that returned 18.1 metres averaging 606 g/t silver-equivalent (234 g/t Ag, 0.15 g/t Au, 3.8% Pb and 6.5% Zn) from 230 metres.
Drill hole C21-564 intercepted 33.9 metres averaging 337 g/t silver-equivalent (95 g/t Ag, 0.21 g/t Au, 1.9% Pb and 4.5% Zn) from 622.1 metres, approximately 70 metres below the PEA pit.
C21-544 intercepted 60.4 metres averaging 122 g/t silver-equivalent (45 g/t Ag, 0.07 g/t Au, 0.9% Pb and 1.2% Zn) from 115.7 metres, approximately 50 metres below the PEA pit.
A number of intercepts outside the PEA open pit were also encountered, demonstrating the potential to increase the size of the open pit in the PFS.
C21-574 intercepted 13.4 metres averaging 483 g/t silver-equivalent (272 g/t Ag, 0.16 g/t Au, 4.1% Pb and 1.9% Zn) from 3.3 metres in a step-out hole, approximately 100 metres to the northeast of the resource pit.
According to Discovery SilverCEO Taj Singh, these results are expected to further increase the confidence in the resource supporting its upcoming PFS and underscores the potential to expand the PFS open pit.
“In addition, our resource expansion drilling in the far northeast continues to highlight the prospectivity of this part of the deposit. Broad-spaced drilling to date has identified multiple sub-parallel mineralized corridors in this area that have the potential to expand the resource along strike and at depth,” Singh added.
The October 2021 mineral resource estimate showed 910 million oz. silver equivalent (404 million oz. silver and 1.2 million oz. gold) in the measured and indicated category, plus 140 million oz. silver equivalent (67 million oz. silver and 143,000 oz. gold) inferred, making Cordero one of the largest silver development-stage projects globally. This resource is supported by 224,000 metres of drilling in 517 drill holes and reinterpreted structural and geological models of the deposit.
As part of its Phase 2 drill program, Discovery Silver has so far completed 71,000 metres (211 holes). This drilling will continue through the remainder of the year and will be focused on three key areas: PFS drilling consisting of reserve definition and engineering drilling; resource expansion in the northeast of the deposit and at depth; and initial drill testing of five property-wide targets on the company’s extensive land package.
