Unico Silver unveils a number of growth opportunities at Cerro Leon
Kachi is poised to become the first lithium brine project in South America to produce lithium at a commercial scale without evaporation ponds.
Boosted by an 84% increase in resources at its “flagship” Cerro Leon development, Unico Silver (ASX: USL) is on the fast-track to accelerate testing of the considerable upside surrounding the Argentinian project.
The company has already identified a number of tasks it is ready to undertake at Cerro Leon, including further drilling aimed at adding to an already impressive resource.
During the reporting period which ended 30 June 2023, Unico unveiled an 84% increase in the Cerro Leon mineral resource estimate (MRE), which it increased to 92 million tonnes of silver equivalent, including 16.5 million tonnes at 77 grams per tonne silver, 0.65 grams per tonne gold, 0.91% zinc, 0.35% lead for a 172 grams per tonne silver equivalent.
Significant step forward
Managing director, Todd Williams, said the second quarter saw the company make significant steps towards its goal of being a globally important silver development company.
“We achieved a material 84% increase in total ounces within the Cerro Leon project to 92 million ounces silver equivalent.”
“Specifically, the resource growth at Pingüino (up from 49 to 80 million ounces silver equivalent) since acquisition in November 2022 is an exceptional outcome and serves as a foundation for growth.”
“With a cash balance of $8.5m at the end of the quarter, the company is well funded to execute on our next phase of growth, as we seek to increase resources beyond 150 million ounces silver equivalent through exploration and further strategic consolidation.”
Upside potential to be tested
With most of the resources uncovered to date identified by shallow exploration work, Unico is confident there remains significant potential for low-risk resource growth, with mineralisation at multiple vein structures open at depth and along strike.
Unico’s block modelling of the Cerro Leon resource has identified a large amount of currently unclassified material, and it is investigating opportunities to include that material into future indicated and inferred category estimates by increasing drill density in these domains.
The company is also enthusiastic about the potential of two, adjacent, silver-gold epithermal vein districts where limited historical drilling has taken place.
Unico has already identified 35 prospects which it has prioritised for high impact discovery drilling.
Preparing for new drill program
Testing these prospects is just one of the company’s immediate priorities at Cerro Leon where Unico is making preparations for its 2023-2024 drill program.
The upcoming work will focus on converting the already identified of shallow inferred resources to an indicated level to improve resource confidence.
The company is currently finalising statutory permits for an upcoming combined diamond and RC drill program.
Unico’s growth priorities are also focused on investigating around 115 lineal kilometres of untested epithermal veins.