VANCOUVER, BC, June 3, 2022
/CNW/ - Zacatecas Silver Corp. ("Zacatecas" or the "Company"),
(TSXV: ZAC) (OTC: ZCTSF) (FSE: 7TV) is pleased to announce that it
has commenced its work plans to prepare a current resource estimate
at the advanced stage Esperanza Gold Project, located in Morelos
State, Mexico.
Immediate steps to confirm resource estimate include:
- Extensive verification through sampling at least 10% of the
historical drill core
- New metallurgical test work by SGS Minerals
- Additionally, team at Esperanza to commence work to identify and
prioritize expansion and exploration targets throughout the
project
The advanced stage Esperanza Gold Project has a historical
resource estimate of a measured and indicated resource of
34,352,000 tonnes at 0.98 g/t gold and 8.09 g/t silver for
1,083,366 ounces of gold and 8,936,201 ounces of silver and an
inferred resource of 718,000 tonnes at 0.80 g/t gold and 15.04 g/t
silver for 18,375 ounces of gold and 347,192 ounces of silver
(historical measured and indicated resource of 1.22 million ounces
AuEq at 1.11 g/t AuEq). See information on the
historical resource estimate under "About Zacatecas Silver Corp."
set forth below.
Significant core and reverse circulation drilling occurred,
prior to this historical resource calculation (98% of the historic
resource was in the M+I category), at the Esperanza Gold Project
resulting in a total of 389 drill holes for 69,716 metres.
Zacatecas Silver's team is now onsite carrying out an extensive
verification resampling program of the historical drill core.
Re-sampling will be completed on approximately 10% of the remaining
half-cut core, RC chips, and crush and pulp rejects. This
data will form the backbone of a remodelled resource estimate.
Zacatecas is also planning
further metallurgical test work including grind-size and
agglomeration tests and further column leach tests. The Company's
geologists will collect several 500 kg composite bulk samples as
part of the verification resampling program. Previous metallurgical
tests at the Esperanza Gold Project have indicated that recoveries
increase with lower crush size. However, in order to maintain
permeability and integrity of heap leach pads at finer crush sizes,
it is necessary to agglomerate the particles into larger pellets.
The test work now commenced seeks to increase previous
metallurgical recoveries.
Once a current resource is established, the Company intends to
use the resource as the foundation for a Pre-Feasibility Study
("PFS") on the project. A Preliminary Economic Assessment ("PEA")
was previously completed on the project based on a historical (then
current) resource.
Dr. Chris Wilson, Chief Operating
Officer and Director of Zacatecas
, comments "Our technical team is excited to have commenced
verification and bulk sampling of historical core and RC chips. The
core and RC chips have been stored in a secure facility and is of
excellent quality. All original historical drill logs, geotechnical
data and sample data is available and is also of a very high
standard. Mineralization at the Esperanza Gold Project is
associated with an oxidised skarn and some of the highest grade
material occurs at, or very close to, the current land surface. The
deposit is amenable to open pit mining and heap leach gold-silver
recovery. We look forward to moving the project forward towards
production."
Qualified Person
The technical content of this news release has been reviewed,
verified and approved by Dr. Chris Wilson, B.Sc (Hons),
PhD, FAusIMM (CP), FSEG. Chief Operating Officer and Director
of Zacatecas Silver, a qualified person as defined by NI
43-101.
About Zacatecas Silver
Corp.
Zacatecas is a mineral resource
company with the gold focused advanced stage Esperanza Gold Project
and the silver focused advanced stage Zacatecas Property. The
Zacatecas Property is located in Zacatecas State, Mexico, within the highly prospective
Fresnillo Silver Belt, which has produced over 6.2 billion ounces
of silver. The Company holds 7,826 ha (19,338 acres) of ground that
is highly prospective for low and intermediate sulphidation
silver-base metal mineralization and potentially low sulphidation
gold-dominant mineralization. On December 15, 2021, Zacatecas Silver announced a
mineral resource estimate at the Panuco Deposit consisting of 2.7
million tonnes at 187 g/t AgEq (171 g/t Ag and 0.17 g/t Au) for
16.4 million ounces AgEq (15 million ounces silver and 15 thousand
ounces gold) (see Company's news release dated December 15, 2021).
The Zacatecas Property is 25 km south-east of MAG Silver Corp.'s
Juanicipio Mine and Fresnillo PLC's Fresnillo Mine. The Zacatecas
Property shares common boundaries with Pan American Silver Corp.
claims and El Orito which is owned by Endeavour Silver Corp. There
are four main high-grade silver target areas within the Zacatecas
Property concessions: the Panuco Deposit, Muleros, El Cristo and
San Manuel-San Gill. The Zacatecas Property also includes
El Oro, El Orito, La Cantera, Monserrat, El Peñón, San Judas and San
Juan silver-base metal vein targets, and such targets are
relatively unexplored and will be the focus of rapid
reconnaissance.
The advanced stage Esperanza Gold Project, comprising 14,337.83
hectares, is located in Morelos State, Mexico. To date, significant core and reverse
circulation drilling has occurred at the Esperanza Gold Project
resulting in a total of 389 drill holes for 69,716 metres.
Alamos Gold Inc. reported in its most recent annual
information form a resource estimate of a measured and indicated
resource of 34,352,000 tonnes at 0.98 g/t gold and 8.09 g/t silver
for 1,083,366 ounces of gold and 8,936,201 ounces of silver and
inferred resource of 718,000 tonnes at 0.80 g/t gold and 15.04 g/t
silver for 18,375 ounces of gold and 347,192 ounces of silver. The
Company considers this to be an historical resource for the
purposes of National Instrument 43-101. Resource blocks were
defined using with dimensions of 10 metres (m) by 10
m by five m. The estimation of grades was performed with
the ordinary kriging method on capped composites. An added step in
the estimation strategy was the utilization of the dynamic
anisotropy technique in Vulcan's unfolding options. This
added capability allows for a more realistic outcome of the
estimated grade's spatial distribution as it follows the folded
shape of the deposit. Assumptions used in the resource include the
following metal prices: gold price of $1,400 (U.S.) per
ounce (oz) and silver price of $22 (U.S.) per oz. The
resource assumed the following economic assumptions: recovery of
60.4 per cent at 0.2 g/t to 71.9 per cent at 1.6 g/t for gold, 25
per cent for silver, $2.60-per-tonne mining
costs, 64-cents-per-tonne general and administrative
costs, $4.20-per-tonne milling costs and a pit slope of 45
degrees. The Company considers the resource relevant due to its
identification and modelling of
the Esperanza deposit.
The Company has not done sufficient work to classify the
resource as a current mineral resource or mineral reserves and the
Company is not treating the historical estimate as current mineral
resources or mineral reserves. Although the resource estimate is
considered reliable, the Company will resample a portion of the
drill core for the purpose of carrying out a new resource estimate.
Furthermore, additional data verification, including resurveying of
select diamond drill holes collars; review of graphic drill core
logs, comparison of these logs with remaining half-cut core and a
cross check of select geological logs agonist database entries; and
a check of original assay certificates against the assays and drill
hole database.
On behalf of the Company
Bryan Slusarchuk
Chief Executive Officer and Director
Forward-Looking
Statements
Information set forth in this news release contains
forward-looking statements that are based on assumptions as of the
date of this news release. These statements reflect management's
current estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations. They are
not guarantees of future performance. Zacatecas Silver cautions
that all forward looking statements are inherently uncertain and
that actual performance may be affected by many material factors,
many of which are beyond their respective control. Such factors
include, among other things: risks and uncertainties relating to
Zacatecas Silver's limited operating history, its proposed
exploration and development activities on its mineral propertiesand
the need to comply with environmental and governmental
regulations. Accordingly, actual and future events,
conditions and results may differ materially from the estimates,
beliefs, intentions and expectations expressed or implied in the
forward-looking information. Except as required under applicable
securities legislation, Zacatecas Silver does not undertake to
publicly update or revise forward-looking information.
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services
Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Exchange)
accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this
release.
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SOURCE Zacatecas Silver Corp.