Discovery drills high-grade silver at Cordero

Discovery Metals (TSXV: DSV; US-OTC: DSVMF) has released results from eight holes completed at its Cordero project in Mexico’s Chihuahua state, including 1 metre grading 1,907 grams per tonne silver-equivalent (700 grams silver per tonne, 0.74 gram gold per tonne, 16.1% lead and 14% zinc) in its first hole testing the 1.2-km-long Todos Santos vein trend at the project.

The intercept, in hole 342, started at 147 metres depth and was part of a wider 5-metre breccia interval that averaged 653 grams silver-equivalent (225 grams silver, 0.27 gram gold, 5.1% lead and 5.5% zinc).

Another high-grade intercept came from hole 338, which intersected the Parcionera vein at 150 metres depth. That hole returned 2 metres of 1,119 grams silver-equivalent (489 grams silver, 0.82 gram gold, 2.9% lead and 11.1% zinc) within a 4-metre intercept of 651 grams silver equivalent (365 grams silver, 0.55 gram gold, 2.1% lead and 4% zinc).

Discovery Metals recently expanded its drill program at Cordero, which began in September 2019, to 55,000 metres from 35,000 metres, and added a second drill rig earlier this month at the 370-sq.-km project. The drill program is designed to test the strike and depth continuity of high-grade feeder structures and bulk-tonnage, breccia-hosted targets.

“We continue to intercept wide zones of bulk-tonnage style mineralization along the North-East Extension at Cordero,” Taj Singh, president and CEO of Discovery Metals, said in a news release. “In addition, our understanding of the previously overlooked high-grade vein trends on the property continues to evolve. Four of the eight drill holes in this news release hit high-grade feeder structures, including 1,907 grams silver-equivalent over 1.4 metres in our first ever drill hole targeting the Todos Santos vein trend, and 1,119 grams silver equivalent over 1.5 metre at the Parcionera vein trend.”

Discovery Metals’ Cordero project in Chihuahua state, Mexico. Credit: Discovery Metals.

Singh added that the two vein trends have a current combined strike length of over 1.5 kilometres, based on historical underground workings.

Five of the eight holes reported were drilled northeast of the core Pozo de Plata zone, in areas with significant gaps in drilling. Four intercepted multiple broad zones of stockwork or breccia-hosted mineralization, including hole 333, drilled 650 northeast of Pozo de Plata. That hole returned 120 metres grading 114 grams silver-equivalent (30 grams silver, 0.11 gram gold, 0.3% lead and 1.5% zinc), starting at 207 metres depth.

Discovery Metals acquired Cordero, located in the northern part of the Central Mexican Silver Belt, last year from Levon Resources. At a 15 gram per tonne silver-equivalent cutoff grade, the project hosts 990 million indicated tonnes grading 32 grams silver-equivalent for 1 billion ounces. It also holds 282 million inferred tonnes grading 56 grams per tonne silver equivalent for 513 million ounces.

A 2018 preliminary economic study showed the project could support 29 years of open-pit production at 40,000 tonnes per day, producing an average of 8 million oz. silver, 99 million lb. zinc in concentrate, 69 million lb. lead in concentrate, and 11,900 oz. gold, annually.

— This article first appeared in the Canadian Mining Journal. The Northern Miner and the Canadian Mining Journal are part of Glacier Resource Innovation Group.