Andean Silver hits new mineralisation outside of Cerro Bay resource with aggressive drilling campaign

Andean Silver (ASX: ASL) has hit extensive new mineralisation outside the current resource with an aggressive drilling campaign at the historical Cerro Bay silver-gold project in Chile.

The latest assays from the Coyita North, Pegaso 7 and Cristal deposits within the Laguna Verde mining complex have continued to expand the project’s critical mass of resources.

Drilling at Coyita North unveiled high-grade shoots extending below the resource and doubling the vertical extent of known mineralisation, as well as numerous high-grade veins in the Coyita North hanging wall and footwall beneath the existing infrastructure.

Multiple new veins

Andean has discovered multiple new mineralised veins east of the main vein at Pegaso 7, vertically tracing them to more than 100 metres.

The company believes these veins, which previous operators failed to identify, demonstrate the untapped potential of Andean’s tenure.

Andean has also expanded the broad halo envelope and extended the main central vein system at Cristal Central.

A geological review of Cerro Bayo in the context of other epithermal deposits has shown the possibility for significant extensions to exist from multiple mineralising events over time, information Andean will use to inform part of its ongoing strategy.

Additional mineralisation

Andean chief executive officer Tim Laneyrie said the campaign demonstrated Cerro Bay’s potential to host additional significant mineralisation below the existing resource and adjacent to existing underground infrastructure.

“Our strategy to keep extending the known mineralisation along strike and at depth is working extremely well and has the added benefit of giving us a very low discovery cost per ounce,” Mr Laneyrie said.

Investor demand for silver exposure is growing rapidly and limited global supply options have seen Andean prioritise genuine scale and growth at Cerro Bay.

“By continuing to increase the resource and demonstrating that there is a pipeline of growth, we can capitalise on this opportunity,” Mr Laneyrie said.

Aggressive campaign

Andean is rolling out an aggressive growth campaign over its 330 square kilometres of granted tenure at Cerro Bay.

The company has reported a total 340% increase in resources during the past year, discovered multiple new vein systems, created a project exploration pipeline to underpin long-term growth and re-established a project site team.

Over the coming months, the team plans to combine extensional and infill drilling to systematically target lodes within 1.5km of the Cerro Bay processing facility before focusing on regional resource targets, including the proven Marcela and Guanaco vein systems.

They will also use results from recent geophysical and surface mapping by Andean’s generative team to improve resource confidence in the measured and indicated categories at the Laguna Verde district and plan a drilling campaign at the newly defined Droughtmaster corridor.