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Andrew Todd
Advance Metals has kicked off its first-ever drilling tilt at the companyโs Gavilanes silver project in Durango, Mexico, firing up the diamond rig for a 4500-metre program in the world-class silver province.
The work is designed to test extensions to the projectโs existing high-grade system, which currently hosts a non-JORC foreign estimate of 22.4 million ounces of silver equivalent at an impressive 246 grams per tonne (g/t).
The company is aiming to combine the results from the new drilling with a review of historical core to deliver a JORC-compliant resource upgrade later this year.
While this is Advanceโs first on-ground exploration at the recently added project, the ground has experienced a substantial amount of historic drilling, with some spectacular silver grades pointing at more to come.
โWe are now applying the same disciplined and systematic approach at Gavilanesโ
Advance Metals managing director and CEO Dr Adam McKinnon
The existing 700m silver trend has churned out multiple bonanza grade hits, including a 6.3m hit running 2016g/t silver from 77m, another going 3.3m at a whopping 2.54 kilograms per tonne silver from 110m and a 3.8m section at 988g/t silver from just 58m.
Advance says its upcoming campaign will feature between 15 and 18 diamond holes, targeting extensions to the known high-grade mineralisation both down-dip and along strike.
The first hole of the program is already underway, zeroing in on mineralisation down-dip to the west of a previous intersection that returned a stunning 6.3m at more than two kilograms per tonne silver.
Advance Metals managing director and chief executive officer Dr Adam McKinnon said: โFollowing the successful delivery of our maiden 33Moz AgEq JORC Resource at Yoquivo, we are now applying the same disciplined and systematic approach at Gavilanes, combining targeted diamond drilling with a review and sampling of historic core to unlock value from another high-grade Mexican silver system.โ
The Gavilanes project has quickly emerged as Advanceโs next key growth asset in Mexico, hot on the heels of the companyโs recent maiden 33-million-ounce silver equivalent JORC resource at its Yoquivo project.
In addition to testing extensions of the main mineralised system, the company says it will also test peripheral targets at its El Nopal, La Cruz and La Tuna prospects, which could potentially serve up entirely new discoveries outside the foreign resource area.
In a low-cost play that has paid dividends before, Advance will look to generate additional data by reviewing and resampling previously unassayed historic core from Gavilanes.
The company believes its new silver play may offer similar upside to Yoquivo. There, broader, lower-grade mineralised zones were successfully outlined through targeted resampling work, providing a cost-effective means to build additional geological data ahead of Yoquivoโs resource upgrade.
With a tried-and-tested playbook now being rolled out from one project to the next, Advance seems to be building solid momentum in Mexico.
The companyโs technical crew has already spent the past month on site at Gavilanes, establishing access and building drill pads to ensure the program runs efficiently.
With the drill bit now turning at a project that has already coughed up some eye-watering silver grades from shallow depths, Advance will likely be confident it can deliver yet more silver ounces to its Mexican ambitions and perhaps nail a new discovery on the side.
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