Group Eleven shares leap on high-grade zinc-lead hits at Ballywire in Ireland

Group Eleven Resources (TSXV: ZNG; US-OTC: GRLVF) shares shot up 25% Tuesday as the company reported the strongest zinc-lead-silver drill results yet at its Ballywire prospect, part of its PG West project in Ireland.

Hole G11-3552-12 returned 29.6 metres grading 4% zinc, 6.6% lead, 78 grams silver per tonne and 0.15% copper from 283.4 metres depth, the company said on Tuesday. Ballywire is about 250 km southwest of Dublin.

That hole, a 180-metre step-out from the discovery area, also included 12.9 metres of 5.8% zinc and 10.8% lead, 123 grams silver and 0.19% copper; 5.2 metres at 2.8% zinc, 21.3% lead, 76 grams silver and 0.1% copper; and 6.8 metres of 8.5% zinc and 4.1% lead, 172 grams silver and 0.29% copper.

The hole hit mainly massive and semi-massive sulphide mineralization, as well as disseminated and vein-hosted sulphide mineralization, Group Eleven said. 

G11-3553-12 is the best hole drilled yet at Ballywire, CEO Bart Jaworski said.  

“With a 2.6 km-long footprint, a 6 km-long prospective trend and increasingly robust intervals of massive sulphide, Ballywire is increasingly showing signs of a major zinc-lead-silver discovery,” he said.

The results come almost two years after the company made its initial discovery of the high-grade massive sulphides at Ballywire, which sits at the intersection of the Pallas Green and Rathdowney mineralized trends. Ballywire is also about 20 km southeast of Glencore’s (LSE: GLEN) Pallas Green zinc deposit.

Hole G11-3552-12 was drilled about 50 metres up-dip from hole G11-3552-09 which returned 21.8 metres of mineralization, including 2.8 metres of 3.4% zinc and 0.8% lead and 5 grams silver. G11-3552-09 was among the four holes reported on Tuesday.

The four holes extend the known high-grade massive sulphide mineralization by 180 metres or 25% from a strike length of 710 metres to 890 metres.

The G11-3552-12 results justify further drilling eastwards towards hole G11-3552-07, which in April cut 4.4 metres of 304 grams silver and 0.73% copper, including 0.6 metre of 1,440 grams silver and 3.03% copper, the company said.

Group Eleven shares traded at 19¢ apiece on Tuesday, valuing the company at $38 million. Its shares traded in a 52-week range of 6¢ and 28¢.