Category: Exploration and Development

N. Eric Fier, CPG, P.Eng and CEO, remarked, “Our drilling on the Babicanora Vein continues to expand the high-grade precious metal mineralization along a drill-tested strike length of 1.3 kilometres. The southeast extension of the Babicanora Vein, known as “Area 51” after the discovery hole, appears to be expanding in height to over 200 metres and remains open along strike and to depth. Area 51 has multiple bonanza grade intercepts within its near-surface high-grade footprint. We are only weeks away from finishing our final drill holes for incorporation into the anticipated Las Chispas maiden resource estimate.”

CEO Paul Thompson stated “Adding Cesar Lemas to our management team affords us the ability to have multiple projects in different phases at any given time. His knowledge of the land and his ability to manage the local jurisdictions will prove invaluable. Our shareholders will understand my excitement for the Mabel-Dana project when they see the updated report.“

Orex’s President, Gary Cope says, “We look forward to conducting a new exploration program on this promising silver-copper-zinc project in the prolific Silver Trend of north-central Mexico. This is another key step in the revitalization of Orex.”

“Cerro Caliche is a very compelling under-explored gold project area located in the Sonora-Cucurpe mega-district located between the prolific north-south oriented Sierra Madre Gold Belt to the east and the northwest oriented Sonora-Mojave Megashear complex to the west,” said Kenneth MacLeod, President and CEO of Sonoro. “We are especially pleased to be able to capitalize on and continue previous exploration episodes of this productive older gold mining district and to draw upon the extensive technical expertise of Sonoro’s Mexican technical team, directed by noted geologist, Melvin Herdrick.”

This drilling completes the third project in a 6,900m program to test 3 of Prospero’s projects under the terms of a strategic investment from Fortuna Silver Mines Inc. made in May 2017. Prospero and Fortuna are planning a 3-4 hole, 1,800m drill program to test 2 targets with deep, angled holes. Drill collar maps and draft sections for the Pachuca drill holes are available on Prospero’s website.

Carlos Silva, COO of Santacruz, stated “This drill program will allow Santacruz to establish a maiden resource estimate on the Veta Grande vein in the first half of 2018,” Mr. Silva continued “Following this Phase 1 program the Company’s plan is to broaden the exploration program along the northern strike of the Veta Grande vein as we are eager to test the strike extent of this important historical vein system.”

Thomas Atkins, President and CEO of Mammoth, commented on the initial drill results stating: “We’re very pleased with these initial results! The objective of this drilling is to test for the first time the depth extension of surface mineralization along a 6 kilometre trend identified by Mammoth. These initial results begin to confirm the continuity of potentially economical surface mineralization at depth along this trend.”

Kootenay President and CEO James McDonald stated “La Borracha is a very exciting target with the potential to add a significant number of new ounces to our resource. The zone has been traced on surface from the resource northward for at least 1,100 meters and the latest hole CC-17-37 indicates good grades and widths. The zone has seen very limited drilling and we are eager to commence the next round of drilling in the first half of February. “

N. Eric Fier, CPG, P.Eng and CEO, remarked: “2017 was a very successful year for SilverCrest with multiple high-grade discoveries at Las Chispas. We have now drilled over 40,000 metres in the district with our current focus on increasing the high-grade footprints of the Babicanora, Las Chispas, and Giovanni veins in preparation for the upcoming maiden resource in Q1. The Babicanora Vein will be the largest contributor to the resource with an impressive high-grade precious metal footprint of over 1.0 kilometre in strike length. Even with our aggressive exploration program in 2017, we have only partially drill-tested 3.5 kilometres of the known 12 cumulative kilometres (19 epithermal veins) in known vein strike length. After the announcement of the maiden resource in Q1 2018, we hope to continue to add value through further in-fill and expansion drilling, complete an updated resource in H2 of this year, and complete a Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) in H2 as well. Lastly, I would like to thank all of our shareholders and communities for their continuing support and we are looking forward to another exciting year for the Company.”

Brian Robertson, President and CEO commented, “These high – grade drill results over significant widths continue to expand the mineral resource and increase the grade for the El Dorado/ Juan Bran zone. The expanded resource and higher grades will have a positive impact on an updated resource estimate. The discovery of the high- grade dike contact mineralization also provides a model for exploring additional dike contact zones that are known to exist on the property.”