JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – With drill permits now in place, preparations for the 3 000 m drilling programme at Canadian explorer Kootenay’s 100%-owned La Cigarra silver project, in Chihuahua state, Mexico, are well under way, with expectations that drilling will commence on or by August 1.
The TSX-V-listed company noted on Thursday that the targeted drill programme was designed to test the high-priority rapid air movement (RAM) target and to expand La Cigarra's current mineral resource estimate by targeting the continuity of high-grade trends recently identified within the resource.
"We are very pleased to proceed with our drilling programme on La Cigarra and the highly prospective nearby RAM target,” noted Kootenay president and CEO James McDonald, adding that this was a key drilling campaign that would aid Kootenay in its goal of expanding known resources, with a focus on understanding and expanding high-grade silver zones extending from within the La Cigarra resource, before the company proceeded with a preliminary economic assessment on the project.
“We are also very excited to conduct a maiden drilling programme on the nearby RAM target, which is a large, structurally controlled 3.8 km anomalous silver trend that offers significant potential to further add to our current silver resources," added McDonald.
Drill testing will begin on the RAM target where the initial eight holes of the programme are planned, followed by drilling along extensions of the La Cigarra resource, where several underlying high-grade silver zones have been identified. This includes the southern boundary of the Las Carolinas zone, where hole 155 returned 23 metres of 138 g/t silver.
“This area remains open down dip and along strike to the south-east, which could potentially extend an additional 2 km.
“The overall objective of the programme will be to further determine the controls of the high-grade mineralised zones contained within and extending from La Cigarra, with a focus on expanding the known silver resource estimate,” said the company.
Kootenay noted that a larger drilling programme would be designed as the current drilling progressed and as the results of relogging to assess the potential to model the high-grade zones and the 3 000 m programme were made and received.