E2 Metals unearths bonanza gold and silver at Mia prospect

Argentina-focused explorer E2 Metals (ASX: E2M) has revealed a bonanza-grade drill intercept from its Mia prospect that it claims shows the potential of the Conserrat gold-silver project to host a new multi-million-ounce vein field.

The company emerged from a trading halt on Wednesday to announce the first gold and silver assay results from a recently completed drilling program at the prospect.

The best result was an 18m intersection grading at 47 grams per tonne gold and 208g/t silver starting from a depth of 66m, including 1m at a whopping 424g/t gold and 1,489g/t silver from 68m.

The hole was still in mineralisation at its total depth, with the final reverse circulation (RC) drill sample returning 5.6g/t gold and 97g/t silver.

The drilling campaign covered both the Mia and Patricia prospects within E2’s flagship Argentinean project with drilling at Mia designed to test extensions of high-grade mineralisation unearthed in May. This latest hole is located 50m southeast of the earlier-reported hole, which returned an 8m intercept grading at 7.64g/t gold and 216g/t silver.

E2 said this latest intercept confirms Mia as a “genuine new greenfields discovery” with managing director Todd Williams claiming it “compares with the best gold and silver epithermal vein systems globally with respect to grades and thickness”.

“The depth to mineralisation provides further encouragement being only 50 vertical metres below the surface,” he said.

“This is a watershed moment for E2 Metals that confirms the outstanding potential of the Conserrat project to host a new multi-million-ounce vein field, with many Mia-style vein targets still to test,” Mr Williams added.

Follow-up drilling to begin shortly

E2 said follow-up drilling will commence “shortly” with the aim of resolving the plunge of the bonanza mineralisation.

According to the company, preliminary interpretations suggest the bonanza mineralisation is controlled by the intersection of east-west and northwest veins and structures. The true thickness is not yet known.

This next round of drilling will be on north-south lines to test the extent of high-grade mineralisation along the east-west structure.

Patricia drilling results

Gold and silver assays were also received for the four RC holes drilled at the Patricia prospect, which were designed to test a zone of high-grade vein float that extends for 90m along strike.

Drilling intercepted two structures spaced 60m apart along strike, including a 3m wide vein that returned 1m at 0.3g/t gold and 174g/t silver from 95m downhole. A second hole returned 4m at 0.2g/t gold and 55g/t silver from 19m. Both structures are open to the east and west.

In addition to follow-up drilling at Mia, more scout RC drilling is planned at this prospect to further refine the subsurface geology and potentially locate the source of the high-grade vein float.

Other exploration results

E2’s announcement comes two days after the release of its September quarterly report, which summarised the company’s recent positive results at Conserrat.

It said drilling at the project is expected to continue until mid to late November.

Elsewhere in Argentina’s Santa Cruz province, the company reported soil sampling at its Corona project has defined a coherent 1.5km long silver arsenic soil anomaly at the Corona Norte prospect, which is located some 30km south of Newmont Corporation’s (NYSE: NEM) Cerro Negro gold mine.

As of 30 September 2020, E2 said it remains in a “robust” financial position with more than $5.2 million in cash.