Take a look at this-$10,000/ton! Yamana's Bacon Silver Grades Unparalleled in Modern Times
SPOKANE, WASHINGTON--Yamana Resources reports consistent multipercent silver assays from the pockets of mineral concentrations in the upper levels of the Veta Martha Silver Shoot. Yamana believes that these results are unprecedented in modern times.
Diamond drill core hole (DDH) 28 contains the richest drill intercept of:
- 5.1 meters of
123,547 g/t Ag (12.35 percent or
3,972.6 oz/t) with 13.44 percent equivalent silver
197.67 g/t Au (6.36 oz/t) (1 g/t Au = 55 g/t Ag)
This intercept contains the highest individual sample of the entire drilling program so far, being
- 1.1 meters of
206,642 g/t Ag (20.66 percent or
6,643.7 oz/t) with 22.26 percent equivalent silver
290.33 g/t Au (9.33 oz/t)
Single half-meter samples in nearby reverse-circulation (RC) holes run as much as:
- 68,800 g/t Ag (6.88 percent or 2,212.0 oz/t) with
352.40 g/t Au (11.33 oz/t)
- 117,900 g/t Ag (11.79 percent or 3,790.6 oz/t) with
37.0 g/t Au (1.19 oz/t)
The assay results were provided by Yamana's wholly owned, full-service fire assay laboratory located at its Bema operations center in Santa Cruz. In view of the extra-ordinarily high silver values, the assay program included a careful, systematic, and comprehensive check assay scheme using two independent labs. Acme Analytical Laboratories (Chile) Ltda. was used for routine checks and Actlabs-Skyline of Tuczon, Arizona, served as an umpire lab. All check sample pulps were prepared at Yamana's Bema lab under the close supervision of two qualified persons. The results from all three labs fell within statistically acceptable standards for the minerals exploration industry. A comparative assay table is available to interested parties upon request.
A high-density drilling program of 67 short RC holes and two DDHs for a total of 1,351 meters was completed at the end of April to define the extremely rich pockets of silver. Assay results for the first 26 holes of the ''Silver-Pocket'' drilling program were previously reported (see Yamana release March 8, 1999). This press release covers the next 28 holes; results from the remaining 15 holes are outstanding. Assay Highlights are set out in Table 1, and a detailed Assay Summary is provided as Table 2 onYamana's Web site.
Map A (on Yamana's Web site) shows the general layout of drilling relative to the out-cropping vein of the Veta Martha Silver Shoot, and Map B (attached) shows the high-density drilling (2.5-meter hole spacing) pattern over a 45-meter section of the vein, defining two separate silver pockets, both of which remain open to depth (see Maps C and D, attached, and Map E on Yamana's Web site). The quartz vein host rock around and in between the silver pockets runs 500 to 5,000 g/t Ag (not shown on Map B).
Drilling indicates that other pockets of bonanza-grade silver may exist 40 and 140 meters east of the area of high-density drilling. Assays for the eight holes that tested these places are pending. Other areas, such as the R-4 Zone (see Yamana release April 21, 1999) are also prospective for finding similar high-grade pockets.
Some of the richness of the silver pockets is due to secondary enrichment (supergene) from shallow weathering and oxidation of the vein, but the silver mineralization in the deeper parts of the pockets appears to be primary (hypogene), derived directly from ancient volcanic hydrothermal activity. The phenomenal grades of the silver pockets of Bacon's Veta Martha can be compared to famous bonanza ore pockets found in historical mining districts, such as Creede, Colorado, and Comstock, Nevada.
The Bacon precious-metals pockets are dominantly silver, with gold constituting only about 8 percent of their equivalent silver values. Silver occurs principally as native silver (usually wires), silver sulfides (acanthite), and silver sulfosalts (pyrargarite and friebergite), with gold carried mainly as electrum, a silver-gold alloy. Microminer-alogic analyses indicate the silver will be readily recoverable using standard mill and flotation methods. Pilot metallurgical tests are being conducted.
The Veta Martha Silver Shoot occurs within a 200-meter segment of the Veta Martha quartz vein system, where the vein dips 60 to 70 degrees. The shoot averages 3.9 meters in true thickness and extends to a depth of 75 meters. It contains an indicated resource, confirmed by independent audit, of 185,400 tonnes averaging 1,187 g/t equivalent silver, and totaling 7.08 million ounces (see Yamana release March 1, 1999), based on 1 g/t Au = 60 g/t Ag. Yamana believes that this resource will be substantially upgraded upon integration of the ''Silver-Pocket'' drilling program results.
At current metals prices, the gold and silver contained in these pockets can be valued on the order of several thousand U.S. dollars per tonne, with some of the mineralized material exceeding US$10,000 per tonne. At these values, some portion of the mineralized pockets will not require beneficiation prior to profitable shipping to a smelter. The term for this run-of-mine high-grade is ''Direct Shipping Ore'' (DSO).
A complete assessment of the amount of this mineralized material (DSO) will be made when all assay results are received, more drilling is done, and economic factors are better identified. However, an interim resource is currently being estimated by Yamana, using cross-sectional analyses. It is expected to be completed and verified by an inde-pendent technical audit within the next few months. Yamana believes that the upside potential for the amount of this material could exceed 5,000 tonnes of 2 percent (20,000 g/t) equivalent silver. If so, the economic value of such a resource would exceed Yamana's current market capitalization.
Yamana is rapidly moving the Bacon silver deposit to prefeasibility, in anticipation of developing a viable mining operation. Victor Bradley, CEO of Yamana, states, ''Now, corporate emphasis can be on cash-flow generation from what could be a highly profitable operation.''
Yamana Resources Inc. is a Canadian minerals exploration company focused primarily on silver exploration and development in Argentina, with additional precious-metals interests in Paraguay and Washington state.
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