John Miniotis, President and CEO and David O’Connor, Chief Geologist of AbraSilver Resource Corp (TSX.V:ABRA – OTC:ABBRF), join me to review the substantial increase in size and overall silver grades in the updated Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) on the Company’s wholly-owned Diablillos property in Salta Province, Argentina. The 258 million silver equivalent ounce MRE comprises an updated estimate for the Oculto deposit plus estimates for the JAC, Fantasma and Laderas deposits, all making up the overall Diablillos Project.
We start off having John break down the key takeaways from the MRE, which demonstrated a 36% increase in total contained silver in Measured & Indicated (M&I) mineral resources to 148 million ounces Ag (from 109 Moz Ag), primarily due to the recently discovered JAC deposit. There was also a 32% increase in the average silver grades in M&I Mineral Resources to 87 g/t Ag (from 66 g/t Ag), due to higher silver grades at the JAC deposit and higher equivalent cut-off grades at Oculto. There was also a significant contained gold resource totaling 1.36 Moz Au in M&I, representing a 5% increase in contained Au.
Both John and Dave noted that behind most of this growth was the debuting of the Maiden Resource Estimate for the JAC deposit of 5.3 million tonnes at 202 g/t Ag and 0.13 g/t Au, containing 34 Moz silver and 22 koz gold. However, it should also be noted that the Oculto deposit also grew in size and grade adding to the overall growth, even with a higher cutoff grade being incorporated into the Project.
Dave then breaks down some of the areas for further upside growth and focus for more drilling next year in the coming Phase 4 drill program following up on this year’s success in drilling the Alpaca, JAC North, Fantasma, and Laderas Targets. The point was made that this is clearly now a regional district, that may end up having multiple open pits feeding the overall project once it moves into development. Dave breaks down the structural trends in the mineralization, and further outlines how JAC North and Alpaca are orientated in relation to the main JAC Zone, and also points out that in a similar way, the Laderas Target, is another zone of gold and copper mineralization near the Oculto main zone, that warrants further drilling follow up.
The next key catalyst for the Company will be the Pre-Feasibility Study, due out in the first quarter of 2024, which will include the economics on this larger updated resource estimate.
If you have any follow up questions for John or Dave regarding at AbraSilver, then please email me at Shad@kereport.com.
- In full disclosure, Shad is a shareholder of AbraSilver at the time of this recording
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