Andean Silver Unveils Further ‘Bonanza’ Grades at Cerro Bayo Project in Chile
Andean Silver (ASX: ASL) continues to reap the benefits of an aggressive exploration strategy, hitting further “bonanza” grade silver intersections at its Cerro Bayo silver-gold project in Chile.
The company’s ongoing resource expansion program at Cerro Bayo is targeting a significant increase to the current global project mineral resource of 9.8 million tonnes at 351 grams per tonne silver equivalent for 111 million ounces.
The latest step-out drilling has identified numerous new discoveries and extensions to known mineralisation away from the project’s current resource, highlighting the potential for substantial growth.
Significant Resource Upgrade
Over the 18 months since acquiring Cerro Bayo, Andean has more than tripled the project’s global mineral resource, discovered multiple new vein systems, and created a project exploration pipeline to underpin long-term growth.
The company currently has three surface drill rigs at work at Cerro Bayo’s Laguna Verde mine complex, with the program conducting infill drilling across the Delia SE, Appaloosa, and Fabiola/Yasna/Coyita mine areas within 1 kilometre of the processing facility to support future economic studies.
Chief executive officer Tim Laneyrie said that assays of as much as 3,224g/t silver and 21.9g/t gold have again highlighted the quality of the Cerro Bayo assets.
“The intersections are extending the known mineralisation along numerous lodes, and now we have also intersected a new mineralised orientation,” Mr Laneyrie said.
Bonanza Hits Growing
Notably, Andean’s drilling is hitting the “bonanza” grades of both silver and gold in a significant number of locations.
“This is extremely promising because it opens the door to the possibility of substantial additional resources and targets to us to test,” Mr Laneyrie added.
Andean, which had approximately A$34 million cash on hand at the end of September, announced significant first pass drill results at the main Temer vein at Cerro Bayo earlier this month.
The company also identified additional high-grade surface veins in the same area that returned grades of up to 26,822g/t silver equivalent.