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Highlights:
Commencement of Drilling at Elsienora: Silver Mines has launched a new drilling program at the Elsienora Project, with a focus on gold and silver targets, especially the Picker Prospect.
Data Review and Prospect: Historical exploration data has underscored the existence of 'McPhillamys' style gold mineralization at Elsienora, with other notable targets identified at Cuddyong, Nobbs Reef, and within the Elsienora Prospects.
Advancements at Bowdens Project: The company concluded the year with an upgraded resource at the Bowdens Silver Project, strengthening its position as Australia's largest undeveloped silver deposit
Silver Mines (ASX:SVL) has launched a major drilling campaign at the Elsienora Project, situated in New South Wales. This program follows an extensive review of historical exploration data collected over several decades. The focus of the drilling is on identifying key gold and silver targets, particularly within the Picker Prospect, an area with considerable potential for mineralization.
The Elsienora Project, which lies adjacent to Silver Mines' Tuena gold project, covers a region with a history of positive drilling results. The company plans to conduct a diamond drilling program that will cover a range of 2000 to 3000 meters. One of the key targets, the Picker Prospect, is marked by a significant gold-arsenic-silver-molybdenum-lead-antimony soil anomaly, with a strike length extending over one kilometer. In addition to its length, the anomaly contains elevated gold grades, with the highest reported grade exceeding twenty parts per billion. The location of Picker within the Godolphin-Copperhania Fault Corridor is significant, as it lies approximately 60 kilometers south of Regis Resources' McPhillamys gold deposit. The McPhillamys deposit is one of Australia's largest undeveloped open-pit gold resources, with substantial ore reserves.
Historical drilling results at Elsienora have also yielded favorable results, including multiple intersections of gold mineralization. These results include a 29-meter section with a gold grade of 1.53 g/t, an 8-meter interval returning 3.14 g/t gold, and a 21-meter zone with 0.89 g/t gold. Such findings provide a strong foundation for Silver Mines' current exploration efforts.
The company has also identified several other targets within the Elsienora Project, including Cuddyong, Nobbs Reef, and other areas within the broader Elsienora Prospects region. Managing Director Jo Battershill emphasized the significance of the region, noting its position at the frontier of orogenic gold and volcanogenic massive sulphide mineralization. Previous owners of the project, Alkane Resources (ASX:ALK), recognized the potential for epigenetic VMS-style mineralization, drawing parallels with the well-known McPhillamys deposit.
Since acquiring the project in 2023, Silver Mines has invested heavily in reviewing and advancing the exploration efforts at Elsienora. The findings from this review confirm the area's underexplored nature, highlighting the mineralization opportunities at both the Picker Prospect and additional prospects within the domain.
Silver Mines has also made significant advancements at its Bowdens Silver Project, with a resource upgrade concluding the year. This upgrade bolstered Bowdens' status as Australia's largest undeveloped silver deposit, further solidifying its position in the global silver market. The enhancements to Bowdens include a more refined metallurgical model and updated mine design, which will help minimize the environmental footprint. The company is working to secure the necessary regulatory consents for Bowdens, with expectations that progress will continue positively through the New South Wales state government.
