Defiance Silver Corp. (“Defiance” or the “Company”) is pleased to provide an update to the ongoing drill program, including the discovery of wide, high-grade zones of mineralization outside of the existing resource area at the San Acacio project in Zacatecas, Mexico.
Highlight of Results
DDSA-21-48 – Returned very high grades and wide widths of silver in the main zone of the Veta Grande structure, including 20.97m of 144.00 g/t Ag or 179 g/t AgEq (from 142.20m – 163.17m), including 1.63m of 597.29 g/t Ag or 665 g/t AgEq (from 153.27m – 154.90m) and 0.60m of 1460.00 g/t Ag or 1574 g/t AgEq (from 154.30 – 154.90m).
DDSA-21-47 – Tested the main Veta Grande structure near to known workings and returned 3.50m of 274.50 g/t Ag or 362 g/t AgEq (from 128.50m – 132.00m). Further down hole, drilling encountered historical workings which resulted in poor recovery (less than 20%) that returned 12.0m of 183.03 g/t Ag or 289 g/t AgEq (from 132.00m – 144.00m).
DDSA-21-46 – Returned 3.15m of 212 g/t AgEq (from 225.65m – 228.80m) within a base-metal rich zone in a hole that was designed to test structural targets at depth.
Chris Wright, Chairman & CEO, commented: “The 2021 drilling campaign so far has successfully demonstrated up-dip and down-dip continuity of the main Veta Grande vein-structure outside of the current resource estimate, and the wide widths and high grades that we have continually encountered in the Almaden Zone further demonstrate the resource building potential at the San Acacio area of our Zacatecas district project.”
Overview Maps
Figure 1 – The Zacatecas project. Reported drill holes in yellow.
Blue diamonds represent previously reported drill holes in current program. Light blue diamonds represent holes completed with results pending.
Figure 2 – Drill hole collar locations with Veta Grande and new unnamed vein projected to surface. Cross-section location shown in white dashed line.
Cross Section
Figure 3 - Cross Section of drill holes DDSA-21-46, DDSA-21-47 and DDSA-21-48. Previous reported results from hole DDSA-21-35 and DDSA-21-36 also highlighted.
Discussion of Results
Holes DDSA-21-46, 47, and 48 were drilled in various directions from the same pad within the northwestern zone of the San Acacio project.
DDSA-21-47 targeted the main vein system up-dip from SAD-15-05 and in a gap between two historic 1995 drill holes [SAD95-10 and 11]; this hole targeted the area directly below the historic Almaden zone trench. Historic underground workings (~12m wide, true width unknown) were encountered broadly where expected, and whilst these historically mined zones had poor recovery (~18%), grades were very high in the available sample material. The hanging-wall portion of the vein remains intact with 3.50m at 274.50 g/t Ag or 362 g/t AgEq. DDSA-21-47 drilled ~200m into the footwall to gain additional information about the geology and structure of this zone. DDSA-21-47 hit the Veta Grande vein at approximately the same level as holes SAD-14-01 & 14-04, which also contains encouraging mineralization outside the area of the current resource.
DDSA-21-48 was drilled as a step-out hole into an area of the Veta Grande system without historic drilling, approximately 60m east of SAD-15-05 and 55m up-dip of the well-mineralised DDSA-21-36 (see press release dated 28 April, 2021). DDSA-21-48 extends the newly located mineralization zone, Veta Alta, up-dip from the high-grade hole DDSA-21-36. DDSA-21-48 targeted the Veta Grande vein below the Purisima level, and no historic workings were encountered. Two notable intercepts are highlighted, including the known Veta Grande, and the lesser established Veta Alta. Veta Alta is base-metal rich in this location and appears to contain significant silver grades in other locations within the property.
DDSA-21-46 tested the Veta Grande vein system and a potential intersection with the Veta Morada structure. The best mineralisation was encountered on the Veta Blanca, though mineralisation was strongly Zn-Pb rich with somewhat elevated Au values.
San Acacio Geologic Overview
The highest-grade silver mineralization is typically associated with honey-coloured sphalerite, argentiferous galena, variable silver sulphides, and spatially correlated with amethyst. The highest-grade gold mineralization is typically associated with pyrite, brown to red-coloured sphalerite, and occasionally with hematite. The hanging-wall mineralization tends to express as a more conventional vein to veinlet array morphology while the Veta Grande often occurs as a breccia with vein-type textures and gangue.
San Acacio hosts a current inferred mineral resource estimate containing 16.97 M oz silver (17.76 M oz AgEq) grading 181.94 g/t silver (192.5 g/t AgEq) with a 100 g/t AgEq cut off (see the Technical report titled: Technical Report and Resource Estimate, San Acacio Silver Deposit, Zacatecas State, Mexico by Giroux and Cuttle dated September 26, 2014, which is also available on Sedar and the company’s website here.
Long Section of Drilling
Figure 3 – Schematic long section showing Veta Grande intersections, limits of current resource estimate, and known underground workings.
Table of Results
Table 1 – Silver equivalent is calculated using the following formula: Silver-Equivalent (AgEq) = [(Au_ppm x 56.26)+(Ag_ppm x 0.77)+(Pb_ppm x .0019)+(Zn_ppm x 0.0026)]/ 0.80. Metal price assumptions are Au:$1750, Ag:$25, Pb: $0.90, Zn:$1.2. 100% recovery has been assumed for all metals. At this stage of the project, no metallurgy has been completed, and the reader is cautioned that 100% recoveries are never achieved. True thickness is assumed to be 50%-80% of downhole width. Historical stope recovery is 18.9% in reported zone.
Drill Hole Information
Table 2 – All coordinates in WGS84 UTM, Zone 13N.
The current drill program, a continuation of the previously numbered drill holes, commenced with hole DDSA-20-33. This news release contains the results from holes DDSA-21-46, 47, and 48 for a total of 1228 metres. The company has drilled approximately 7,842 m of HQ3 drill core to date in the current program.
Next Steps
- Continued drilling in the main resource area at the San Acacio mine, designed to test the limits of the vein system for an updated resource estimate.
- Additional district-scale surface exploration, including mapping and sampling at the Lucita project is ongoing.
- Core re-logging of the historical drill holes is ongoing.
- Permits have been submitted for approval on additional exploration holes as a follow up to the property-wide surface geochemistry and mapping program at San Acacio.
- Permits have been submitted for approval for phase 1 drilling at Lucita.
Discussion of QAQC and Analytical Procedure
Samples were selected based on the lithology, alteration, and mineralization characteristics; sample size ranges from 0.25 – 2m in width. All altered and mineralized intervals were sent for assay. One blank, one standard, and one duplicate were included within every 20 samples. Standard materials are certified reference materials [CRMs] from OREAS and contain a range of Ag, Au, Cu, Pb, and Zn values. Blanks, standards, and duplicates did not detect any issues with the analytical results.
Samples were analyzed by ALS Chemex Laboratories. Sample preparation was performed at the Zacatecas, Mexico, prep facility, and analyses were performed at the Vancouver, Canada, analytical facility. All elements except Au and Hg were analyzed by a multi-element geochemistry method utilizing a four-acid digestion followed by ICP-MS detection [ME-MS61m]; mercury was analyzed after a separate aqua regia digest by ICP-MS. Overlimit assays for Ag, Pb, and Zn were conducted using the OG62 method (multi-acid digest with ICP-AES/AAS finish). Gold was measured by fire-assay with an ICP-AES finish [50g sample, Au-ICP22].
San Acacio History
Zacatecas State continues to be the top producer of silver in Mexico and is one of the reasons Mexico remains the world’s largest silver-producing region. The Zacatecas-Fresnillo Silver Belt is one of the most prolific silver producing areas in the world. Production at the San Acacio mine dates to at least 1548 when Spanish colonialists mined mainly bonanza oxide ores, typically grading in excess of 1kg/tonne Silver. The various veins were mined intermittently until the mid-1800s when an English company drove the ~2km Purisima tunnel to allow for deeper underground access and drainage. From the late 1800s until the Mexican Revolution in 1920, mining consisted of intermittent production from bonanza grade ores. During the Mexican Revolution, heavy fighting in the Zacatecas region led to the halt of most mining endeavors. In the mid 1920’s, a cyanide plant targeting silica rich ores and a floatation plant for complex Pb-Zn ores were built with varying success until the transition from oxide to sulphide rich ores made for recovery complexities. In the mid 1930s the first tonnage estimate was created on the property, although the project sat mostly idle save for some stope and adit rehabilitation at Purisima and Refugio. Production was largely dormant except for some small processing done by CIA Fresnillo in the late 1930s to early 1940s. In the mid- 1990s Silver Standard Resources Inc. began a systematic exploration and evaluation program targeting an open pit silver mine consisting of backfill, remaining stopes and silica-rich hanging wall and footwall mineralization of the Veta Grande structure. This entry by a publicly listed company kicked off nearly 3 decades of exploration, development, and bulk-scale processing.
Defiance Silver has been exploring the project since 2011 and has focused primarily on identifying near-term mineral resources. Drilling by previous operators as well as Defiance Silver from 2009 to early 2017 confirmed the presence of significant mineralizing events that provide evidence for a long-lived mineralizing system. Drilling in late 2017 and early 2019 outlined complexities in the structural geology of the area and identified significant “down dropped” and rotated structural blocks as the company tested the Veta Grande at similar elevations where it was encountered by earlier mining and drilling.
About Defiance Silver Corp.
Defiance Silver Corp. (DEF | TSX Venture Exchange; DNCVF | OTCQX; D4E | Frankfurt) is an exploration company advancing the district-scale Zacatecas project, located in the historic Zacatecas Silver District and the 100% owned Tepal Gold/Copper Project in Michoacán state, Mexico. Defiance is managed by a team of proven mine developers with a track record of exploring, advancing and developing several operating mines and advanced resource projects. Defiance’s corporate mandate is to expand the San Acacio and Tepal projects to become premier Mexican silver and gold deposits.
Mr. George Cavey P.Geo., Vice President Exploration, is a Qualified Person within the meaning of National Instrument 43-101 and has approved the technical information concerning the Company’s material mineral properties contained in this press release.
On behalf of Defiance Silver Corp.
“Chris Wright”
Chairman of the Board
For more information, please contact: Investor Relations at +1 (604) 343-4677 or via email at info@defiancesilver.com.
www.defiancesilver.com
Suite 2900-550 Burrard Street
Vancouver, BC V6C 0A3
Canada
Tel: +1 (604) 343-4677 Email: info@defiancesilver.com
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This news release may contain forward-looking statements including but not limited to comments regarding timing and content of upcoming work programs, geological interpretations, receipt of property titles, potential mineral recovery processes, etc. Forward-looking statements address future events and conditions and therefore involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements. Defiance Silver Corp. relies upon litigation protection for forward-looking statements.