Andean Silver reports significant mineral resource increase at Cerro Bayo project
Andean Silver (ASX: ASL) has reported a 64% increase in tonnage and an 80% increase in total silver equivalent (AgEq) ounces at the historic Cerro Bayo project in southern Chile.
The new resource estimate, which sits at 8.3 million tonnes grading 341 grams per tonne for 91 million, covers previous operating areas of the Cerro Bayo and Laguna Verde mine complexes and exclude all high-grade silver-gold intersected at the Pegaso 7 and Cristal prospects since Andean acquired the project in February.
Best assays included 1.1m at 1,100g/t AgEq (408g/t silver and 8.3g/t gold) at Pegaso 7 and 3.3m at 785g/t AgEq (83g/t silver and 8.5g/t gold) and 1.1m at 620g/t AgEq (34g/t silver and 7.1g/t gold) at Cristal.
‘Genuine scale’
Chief executive officer Tim Laneyrie said the updated resource establishes Cerro Bayo as an outstanding silver asset with genuine scale and high grades.
“While the rapid growth of this mineral resource is a remarkable achievement in its own right, we are nowhere near the finish and have a further update planned for early next year which will include additional drilling results,” he said.
“The mineralisation at Cerro Bayo remains completely open and we have a pipeline of greenfields targets to drill.”
“This all points to compelling potential for upgrades and further value creation for our shareholders.”
Historical production
Production at Cerro Bayo started in 1995, with more than 100Moz AgEq produced until June 2017.
The project occupies the western margin of the Deseado Massif in the country’s Aysen region, considered one of the premier epithermal gold-silver mining provinces worldwide with an endowment of more than 20Moz gold and more than 450Moz silver.
The Cerro Bayo mineral resource update includes the addition of underground resources at Lourdes, Marcela and Cerro Bayo within the immediate historic mine complex, as well as the regional Raul and Guanaco prospects.
It has resulted in an 80% growth in overall silver-equivalent ounces and a 10% increase in the overall grade from 311g/t to 342g/t.
High-grade material
Mr Laneyrie said the grade increase reflected additional high-grade underground material being brought into current resources.
“We have taken a conservative approach to evaluating the Cerro Bayo resource with regards to areas of depletion, open-pitable factored resources and resource categories,” he said.
“Further material will be available for re-evaluation as our understanding of the resource matures.”