Zacatecas Silver Commences Work Preparing Current Resource Estimate at Esperanza Gold Project
VANCOUVER, BC, June 3, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - Zacatecas Silver Corp. ("Zacatecas" or the "Company"), (TSXV: ZAC) (OTC: ZCTSF) (FSE: 7TV) is pleased to announce that it has commenced its work plans to prepare a current resource estimate at the advanced stage Esperanza Gold Project, located in Morelos State, Mexico.
Immediate steps to confirm resource estimate include:
- Extensive verification through sampling at least 10% of the historical drill core
- New metallurgical test work by SGS Minerals
- Additionally, team at Esperanza to commence work to identify and prioritize expansion and exploration targets throughout the project
The advanced stage Esperanza Gold Project has a historical resource estimate of a measured and indicated resource of 34,352,000 tonnes at 0.98 g/t gold and 8.09 g/t silver for 1,083,366 ounces of gold and 8,936,201 ounces of silver and an inferred resource of 718,000 tonnes at 0.80 g/t gold and 15.04 g/t silver for 18,375 ounces of gold and 347,192 ounces of silver (historical measured and indicated resource of 1.22 million ounces AuEq at 1.11 g/t AuEq). See information on the historical resource estimate under "About Zacatecas Silver Corp." set forth below.
Significant core and reverse circulation drilling occurred, prior to this historical resource calculation (98% of the historic resource was in the M+I category), at the Esperanza Gold Project resulting in a total of 389 drill holes for 69,716 metres.
Zacatecas Silver's team is now onsite carrying out an extensive verification resampling program of the historical drill core. Re-sampling will be completed on approximately 10% of the remaining half-cut core, RC chips, and crush and pulp rejects. This data will form the backbone of a remodelled resource estimate.
Zacatecas is also planning further metallurgical test work including grind-size and agglomeration tests and further column leach tests. The Company's geologists will collect several 500 kg composite bulk samples as part of the verification resampling program. Previous metallurgical tests at the Esperanza Gold Project have indicated that recoveries increase with lower crush size. However, in order to maintain permeability and integrity of heap leach pads at finer crush sizes, it is necessary to agglomerate the particles into larger pellets. The test work now commenced seeks to increase previous metallurgical recoveries.
Once a current resource is established, the Company intends to use the resource as the foundation for a Pre-Feasibility Study ("PFS") on the project. A Preliminary Economic Assessment ("PEA") was previously completed on the project based on a historical (then current) resource.
Dr. Chris Wilson, Chief Operating Officer and Director of Zacatecas , comments "Our technical team is excited to have commenced verification and bulk sampling of historical core and RC chips. The core and RC chips have been stored in a secure facility and is of excellent quality. All original historical drill logs, geotechnical data and sample data is available and is also of a very high standard. Mineralization at the Esperanza Gold Project is associated with an oxidised skarn and some of the highest grade material occurs at, or very close to, the current land surface. The deposit is amenable to open pit mining and heap leach gold-silver recovery. We look forward to moving the project forward towards production."
The technical content of this news release has been reviewed, verified and approved by Dr. Chris Wilson, B.Sc (Hons), PhD, FAusIMM (CP), FSEG. Chief Operating Officer and Director of Zacatecas Silver, a qualified person as defined by NI 43-101.
Zacatecas is a mineral resource company with the gold focused advanced stage Esperanza Gold Project and the silver focused advanced stage Zacatecas Property. The Zacatecas Property is located in Zacatecas State, Mexico, within the highly prospective Fresnillo Silver Belt, which has produced over 6.2 billion ounces of silver. The Company holds 7,826 ha (19,338 acres) of ground that is highly prospective for low and intermediate sulphidation silver-base metal mineralization and potentially low sulphidation gold-dominant mineralization. On December 15, 2021, Zacatecas Silver announced a mineral resource estimate at the Panuco Deposit consisting of 2.7 million tonnes at 187 g/t AgEq (171 g/t Ag and 0.17 g/t Au) for 16.4 million ounces AgEq (15 million ounces silver and 15 thousand ounces gold) (see Company's news release dated December 15, 2021).
The Zacatecas Property is 25 km south-east of MAG Silver Corp.'s Juanicipio Mine and Fresnillo PLC's Fresnillo Mine. The Zacatecas Property shares common boundaries with Pan American Silver Corp. claims and El Orito which is owned by Endeavour Silver Corp. There are four main high-grade silver target areas within the Zacatecas Property concessions: the Panuco Deposit, Muleros, El Cristo and San Manuel-San Gill. The Zacatecas Property also includes El Oro, El Orito, La Cantera, Monserrat, El Peñón, San Judas and San Juan silver-base metal vein targets, and such targets are relatively unexplored and will be the focus of rapid reconnaissance.
The advanced stage Esperanza Gold Project, comprising 14,337.83 hectares, is located in Morelos State, Mexico. To date, significant core and reverse circulation drilling has occurred at the Esperanza Gold Project resulting in a total of 389 drill holes for 69,716 metres.
Alamos Gold Inc. reported in its most recent annual information form a resource estimate of a measured and indicated resource of 34,352,000 tonnes at 0.98 g/t gold and 8.09 g/t silver for 1,083,366 ounces of gold and 8,936,201 ounces of silver and inferred resource of 718,000 tonnes at 0.80 g/t gold and 15.04 g/t silver for 18,375 ounces of gold and 347,192 ounces of silver. The Company considers this to be an historical resource for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101. Resource blocks were defined using with dimensions of 10 metres (m) by 10 m by five m. The estimation of grades was performed with the ordinary kriging method on capped composites. An added step in the estimation strategy was the utilization of the dynamic anisotropy technique in Vulcan's unfolding options. This added capability allows for a more realistic outcome of the estimated grade's spatial distribution as it follows the folded shape of the deposit. Assumptions used in the resource include the following metal prices: gold price of $1,400 (U.S.) per ounce (oz) and silver price of $22 (U.S.) per oz. The resource assumed the following economic assumptions: recovery of 60.4 per cent at 0.2 g/t to 71.9 per cent at 1.6 g/t for gold, 25 per cent for silver, $2.60-per-tonne mining costs, 64-cents-per-tonne general and administrative costs, $4.20-per-tonne milling costs and a pit slope of 45 degrees. The Company considers the resource relevant due to its identification and modelling of the Esperanza deposit.
The Company has not done sufficient work to classify the resource as a current mineral resource or mineral reserves and the Company is not treating the historical estimate as current mineral resources or mineral reserves. Although the resource estimate is considered reliable, the Company will resample a portion of the drill core for the purpose of carrying out a new resource estimate. Furthermore, additional data verification, including resurveying of select diamond drill holes collars; review of graphic drill core logs, comparison of these logs with remaining half-cut core and a cross check of select geological logs agonist database entries; and a check of original assay certificates against the assays and drill hole database.
On behalf of the Company
Bryan Slusarchuk
Chief Executive Officer and Director
Information set forth in this news release contains forward-looking statements that are based on assumptions as of the date of this news release. These statements reflect management's current estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations. They are not guarantees of future performance. Zacatecas Silver cautions that all forward looking statements are inherently uncertain and that actual performance may be affected by many material factors, many of which are beyond their respective control. Such factors include, among other things: risks and uncertainties relating to Zacatecas Silver's limited operating history, its proposed exploration and development activities on its mineral propertiesand the need to comply with environmental and governmental regulations. Accordingly, actual and future events, conditions and results may differ materially from the estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations expressed or implied in the forward-looking information. Except as required under applicable securities legislation, Zacatecas Silver does not undertake to publicly update or revise forward-looking information.
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
SOURCE Zacatecas Silver Corp.
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