Mexico’s proposed higher mining royalties could block nearly $7bn in investments
The Mexican government proposed raising mining royalties under the argument that metal prices have risen in recent years.
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA–(Marketwire – Sept. 6, 2011) – El Tigre Silver Corp. (the “Company“) (“El Tigre“) (TSX VENTURE:ELS)(PINK SHEETS:EGRTF)(FRANKFURT:5RT) is pleased to announce the sampling results conducted on Gold Hill along the southern extension of the El Tigre silver-gold vein. El Tigre is conducting this work under its wholly owned subsidiary Pacemaker Silver Mining S.A. de C.V. at its El Tigre Project in Sonora, Mexico. The 430 square kilometer El Tigre silver-gold project is controlled 100% by 8 concessions.
El Tigre geologists have identified a potentially large open-pitable area of low grade gold mineralization along the southern extension of the El Tigre vein. This zone is associated with the original discovery of out-cropping high-grade gold mineralization by early prospectors which led to the development of the district in 1900. The first production from the district was from gold ores that averaged over one ounce per ton. As these ores were depleted, mining attention turned to the high-grade silver deposits that averaged 30 to 40 ounces silver per short ton and 0.1 to 0.15 ounces of gold per short ton. After 35 years of production from 1904 to 1939, the total district production is estimated at 75 million ounces of silver and 400,000 ounces of gold.
Gold Hill Rock Chip Sampling
Field work continues to target the 1,100 meter long by 70 to 80 meter wide zone in the hanging wall of the El Tigre vein structure at Gold Hill. Geologists have sampled rock out crops along this prospective zone. To date they have collected 215 samples, and all but one returned anomalous values of gold and/or silver. Of these, there were 73 that returned gold values greater than 0.1 g/mt Au and/or silver values greater than 30 g/mt Ag. The range of the assay values was from 0.009 to 3.5 g/mt Au and 1 to 412 g/mt Ag.
One of the large rock outcropping where sampling was done was above El Tigre’s drill holes ET-31 and ET-32. These samples were cut from stock work veinlets and brecciated fractures within the hanging wall tuffs of the El Tigre vein. The following results are from this zone and are also considered representative of the overall set of assay results.
| Rock Chip | Surface Width | Au | Au | Ag | Ag |
| Sample # | (meters) | gram/mt | oz/ton | gram/mt | oz/ton |
| ET-286 | 5 | 0.32 | 0.010 | 1.6 | 0.051 |
| ET-287 | 5 | 0.59 | 0.019 | 1.6 | 0.051 |
| ET-288 | 5 | 0.69 | 0.022 | 4.5 | 0.145 |
| ET-289 | 5 | 1.37 | 0.044 | 20.3 | 0.653 |
| ET-290 | 5 | 0.45 | 0.014 | 9.0 | 0.289 |
| ET-291 | 5 | 0.97 | 0.031 | 10.6 | 0.341 |
| ET-292 | 5 | 1.66 | 0.053 | 10.9 | 0.350 |
As the zone is further sampled over Gold Hill, then a potentially large low-grade gold-silver mineralized zone could be developed. This mineralization is hosted in oxidized rocks making it amenable to possible open pit mining methods using heap-leach extraction technology.
Stuart Ross, President of El Tigre, stated, “We are extremely pleased with our geologist’s progress on our sampling effort. The new gold and silver assay results from samples collected away from the previously explored high-grade areas give us indications that the mineralization in the southern extension of the El Tigre silver-gold vein is more extensive than originally thought.”
Gold Hill Drilling Results
The following drill results for ET 31 and ET-32 were reported in two previous press releases dated May 27, 2011 and August 23, 2011 and are repeated here to provide additional background and support to the rock chip sampling results, reported above. Basically, the surface rock chip results and drill hole assays support an exploration concept that a wide zone of low grade gold mineralization is found in the hanging wall rocks of the El Tigre vein. With additional drilling and surface sampling, El Tigre could possibly develop an open pitable zone of gold mineralization on the flanks of Gold Hill.
| Gold Hill Target | ||||||||
| From | To | Core Length | True Width | Ag | Ag | Au | Au | |
| (meters) | (meters) | gram/mt | oz/ton | gram/mt | oz/ton | |||
| ET-31 | 16.50 | 43.00 | 19.30 | 12.36 | 11 | 0.32 | 0.486 | 0.014 |
| 46.00 | 49.00 | 3.00 | 1.92 | 13 | 0.38 | 0.528 | 0.015 | |
| 50.50 | 53.50 | 3.00 | 1.92 | 15 | 0.44 | 0.446 | 0.013 | |
| 55.00 | 59.50 | 4.50 | 2.80 | 18 | 0.52 | 0.410 | 0.012 | |
| 64.00 | 67.00 | 3.00 | 1.92 | 3 | 0.09 | 0.252 | 0.007 | |
| 68.50 | 70.00 | 1.50 | 0.96 | 1 | 0.03 | 0.270 | 0.008 | |
| 74.50 | 80.50 | 6.00 | 3.84 | 6 | 0.17 | 0.904 | 0.026 | |
| 82.00 | 83.50 | 1.50 | 0.96 | 2 | 0.06 | 0.213 | 0.006 | |
| 85.00 | 102.50 | 17.50 | 11.24 | 129 | 3.76 | 0.861 | 0.025 | |
| 104.00 | 111.00 | 7.00 | 4.49 | 295 | 8.60 | 0.274 | 0.008 | |
| ET-32 | 22.00 | 23.50 | 1.50 | 0.96 | 1 | 0.03 | 0.302 | 0.009 |
| 29.50 | 31.00 | 1.50 | 0.96 | 6 | 0.17 | 0.789 | 0.023 | |
| 35.50 | 37.00 | 1.50 | 0.96 | 3 | 0.09 | 0.511 | 0.015 | |
| 38.50 | 43.00 | 4.50 | 2.88 | 23 | 0.67 | 0.977 | 0.028 | |
| 46.00 | 50.50 | 4.50 | 2.88 | 22 | 0.64 | 0.479 | 0.014 | |
| 62.50 | 64.00 | 1.50 | 0.96 | 1 | 0.03 | 0.378 | 0.011 | |
| 65.50 | 70.00 | 4.50 | 2.88 | 6 | 0.17 | 1.018 | 0.030 | |
| 87.50 | 89.00 | 1.50 | 0.96 | 2 | 0.06 | 1.085 | 0.032 | |
| 92.00 | 93.50 | 1.50 | 0.96 | 162 | 4.72 | 0.710 | 0.021 | |
| 95.00 | 101.00 | 6.00 | 3.84 | 10 | 0.29 | 0.433 | 0.013 | |
| 104.00 | 108.50 | 4.50 | 2.88 | 146 | 4.26 | 0.076 | 0.002 | |
Planned Work Program
El Tigre believes that it has identified a low grade target of merit that may be amenable to future open pit mining. The company is planning to continue the surface rock chip sampling, and based on these results, drill multiple core holes along the trend of the zone to confirm continuity to depth. After these core samples are assayed, then early stage metallurgical test work will be conducted. Good results will warrant additional drilling followed by resource modeling to determine if the zone is large enough for economic mining.
Steve Craig, Vice President of Exploration, further commented “After recently joining El Tigre and spending some time on the El Tigre property I am very optimistic about the future development of the project. Some of our goals for this fall include initiation of a 5000 meter core drilling program, initiation of metallurgical test work on the drill core, and continuation of sampling along the entire length of the El Tigre vein system looking for other low grade mineralized zones.”
Quality Assurance-Quality Control
The quality assurance-quality control (QA-QC) program of El Tigre and their contractors is as follows: Samples are collected and handled only by authorized company personnel utilizing the appropriate methods. Samples are bagged and labeled with unique sample numbers and sample data is recorded on individual sample tags. These are then transported by El Tigre personnel to the El Tigre project core shed where they locked up until shipment. A shipment from the site consists of 60-100 samples. El Tigre personnel transport the samples bagged two to four to a bag and sealed to the company’s Hermosillo office. ALS Global authorized personnel load and transport the samples from El Tigre’s Hermosillo office to the ALS Hermosillo sample preparation facility. The samples are assayed from a 250 gram sample split using a HF-HNO3-HClO4 acid digestion, HCl leach and an ICP-AES ICP Scan for 33 elements. Silver over limit is fire assayed. Gold is fire assayed by 30 gram fire assay – AA analysis. Values over 10 ppm gold are fire assayed with gravimetric finish. Pulps and rejects are returned to El Tigre’s office and stored.
“ALS Minerals Laboratories in North America is registered to ISO 9001:2000 for the provision of assay and geochemical analytical services” by QMI Quality Registrars. In addition, ALS Minerals’ main North American laboratory in North Vancouver, BC, Canada, is accredited by the Standards Council of Canada (SCC) for specific tests listed in our Scope of Accreditation No. 579 which is available athttp://palcan.scc.ca/specs/pdf/677_e.pdf “. ALS Global Laboratories quality assurance and assay procedures are described on their website athttp://www.alsglobal.com/qa.aspx.
The technical content of this news release has been approved by Steven D Craig, CPG and Vice President of Exploration for El Tigre, a Qualified Person as defined in NI 43-101.
About El Tigre Silver Corp:
The Company, through its subsidiaries, holds the rights to 100% of nine mineral concessions comprising 430 square kilometres located in north-eastern Sonora, Mexico (the “El Tigre Property“). A technical report has been prepared for the El Tigre Property and can be found on the Company’s profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on the Company’s website at www.eltigresilvercorp.com.
