Defiance Silver (DEF.V): Drilling Returns High Grades and Wide Widths in New Zone at Defiance Silver’s Zacatecas Project
Vancouver, British Columbia–(Newsfile Corp. – April 28, 2021) – Defiance Silver Corp. (OTCQX: DNCVF) (FSE: D4E) (“Defiance” or the “Company“) is pleased to provide an update to the ongoing drill program, including a newly-discovered zone of mineralization in the heart of the Veta Grande vein system at the Zacatecas silver project.
Summary of Results
- DDSA-21-35 – Intersected high-grade silver, including 1.57 metres of 1340 g/t AgEq (from 248.70m-250.27m) within a wide intercept of 18.55m of 149 g/t AgEq (from 241.35m-259.90m).
- DDSA-21-36 – An angled step-out drill hole from DDSA-21-35, which intersected multiple zones of silver mineralization including 4.73 metres of 386 g/t AgEq (from 193.80m-198.53m) within a wide zone of mineralization returning 23.5 metres of 148 g/t AgEq (from 188.05m-211.55m).
- DDSA-21-37 – A drill hole designed to test the vein in a previously undrilled section returned multiple high-grade results, including 1.85 meters of 1157 g/t AgEq (from 270.45m-272.30m) within a wider intercept of 8.22m of 333 g/t AgEq (from 270.45 to 278.67).
- DDSA-21-38 – A step-out hole from DDSA-21-37 returned 9.56 metres of 180 g/t AgEq (from 266.4m-275.96m).
Chris Wright, Chairman & CEO, commented: “This zone of high-grade mineralization within the Veta Grande structure highlights the near-term exploration and resource building potential for the project. We have always felt the principal structures were inadequately tested both along strike from previous drilling and also at depth. All holes reported in this release include zones of silver, gold, and base metal mineralization. We are encouraged by these results, some of which are the highest-grade silver results that Defiance has drilled to date at San Acacio. Follow-up drilling in this zone will be aimed at defining the structure up-dip, and systematically stepping down-dip to test the vertical profile of the Veta Grande structure. We look forward to releasing additional results this year as they are received.”
Cross Sections
Figure 1- Cross Section of drill hole DDSA-21-35
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Figure 2- Cross section of drill hole DDSA-21-37
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Discussion of Results
The drill holes reported in this release were designed to test the northwestern portion of the historic San Acacio mine area (Figure 4, Figure 5). Hole DDSA-21-35 was an infill hole within a zone that has historical drill holes (Figure 1). The other three holes – DDSA-21-36, 37, and 38 – drilled into a zone without substantial historical drilling and with poorly understood geology. Previous generations of miners and explorers were not successful in locating the Veta Grande system in the area to the east of DDSA-21-35. It is evident from historical long sections of the mine that whilst there were tunnels probing this area, no significant workings were developed. A 1995 series of short drill holes along the trend of the outcropping Veta Grande vein also failed to return significant results. A zone of more than 250m of strike length remained untested at depth due to uncertainty regarding the location or presence of the vein system in this area (Figure 3).
Defiance Silver used historical data to compile a 3D model of the veins and undertook a surface mapping program to help constrain the geometries of the veins and potential faults in the area. Hole DDSA-21-36 was designed to drill from an area with good control into an area with poor control, using the modelling as a guide. DDSA-21-36 drilled through a faulted zone, into historic workings with only moderate alteration or mineralization, and then into several unmined, mineralized zones. The top of the widest zone of high-grade mineralization in DDSA-21-36 was approximately 15m below the workings and is believed to have been missed by the historic workers due to the small offset in elevation, likely the result of faulting.
Using the updated modelling and the structural data collected from oriented core drilling in hole DDSA-21-36, holes DDSA-21-37 and DDSA-21-38 were planned to follow up this newly located zone of mineralization along strike. Both holes DDSA-21-37 and DDSA-21-38 encountered wide zones of veinlet arrays and multiple vein zones (Figure 2). In both holes, as well as in DDSA-21-36, the lower vein zone [Veta Grande] is not a simple vein but is a polyphase breccia with volumetrically significant sulfide material. Clasts of particular importance include dark sulfide-matrix breccias and pieces of quartz-sphalerite-silver sulfide vein material. These polyphase breccias are observed in a number of other drill holes across the property.
The highest-grade silver mineralization is typically associated with honey-coloured sphalerite, argentiferous galena, variable silver sulfides, and spatially correlated with amethyst. The highest-grade gold mineralization is typically associated with pyrite, brown to red-coloured sphalerite, and occasionally with hematite. The hanging wall mineralization tends to express as a more conventional vein to veinlet array morphology while the Veta Grande often occurs as a breccia with vein-type textures and gangue.
San Acacio hosts a current inferred mineral resource estimate containing 16.97 M oz silver (17.76 M oz AgEq) grading 181.94 g/t silver (192.5 g/t AgEq) with a 100 g/t AgEq cut off (see the Technical report titled: Technical Report and Resource Estimate, San Acacio Silver Deposit, Zacatecas State, Mexico by Giroux and Cuttle dated September 26, 2014, which is available on Sedar and the company’s website here).
Long Section of Drilling
Figure 3 – Schematic long section showing Veta Grande results, limits of current resource estimate and underground workings.
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Table of Results
Table 1 – Silver equivalent is calculated using the following formula: Silver-Equivalent (AgEq) = [(Au_ppm x 56.26)+(Ag_ppm x 0.80)+(Pb_ppm x .0016)+(Zn_ppm x 0.0026)]/ 0.80. Metal price assumptions are Au:$1750, Ag:$25, Pb: $0.75, Zn:$1.2. 100% recovery has been assumed for all metals. At this stage of the project, no metallurgy has been completed, and the reader is cautioned that 100% recoveries are never achieved. True thickness is assumed to be 50%-80% of downhole width.
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Drill Hole Information
Table 2 – All coordinates in WGS84 Zone 13N.
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The current drill program, a continuation of the previously numbered drill holes, commenced with hole DDSA-20-33. Defiance is currently drilling DDSA-21-45. This news release contains the results from 4 holes (DDSA-21-36 to 38) for a total of approximately 1496 metres. The company has drilled approximately 5600m of HQ3 drill core to date in the current program.
Figure 4 – Drill hole collar locations on the Veta Grande vein system.
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Next Steps
1) Increasing the 5,000 metre drill program to 10,000 metres.
2) Additional district-scale surface exploration, including mapping and sampling at the Lucita project.
3) Core re-logging of the historical drill holes.
4) Permitting for additional exploration holes as a follow up to the property-wide surface geochemistry and mapping program at San Acacio.
5) Permitting for phase 1 drilling at Lucita.
Figure 5 – Zacatecas project and reported drill holes in yellow.
Blue diamonds represent completed drill holes to date in current program.
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Discussion of QAQC and Analytical Procedure
Samples were selected based on the lithology, alteration, and mineralization characteristics; sample size ranges from 0.25 – 2m in width. All altered and mineralized intervals were sent for assay. One blank, one standard, and one duplicate were included within every 20 samples. Standard materials are certified reference materials [CRMs] from OREAS and contain a range of Ag, Au, Cu, Pb, and Zn values. Blanks, standards, and duplicates did not detect any issues with the analytical results.
Samples were analyzed by ALS Chemex Laboratories. Sample preparation was performed at the Zacatecas, Mexico, prep facility, and analyses were performed at the Vancouver, Canada, analytical facility. All elements except Au and Hg were analyzed by a multi-element geochemistry method utilizing a four-acid digestion followed by ICP-MS detection [ME-MS61m]; mercury was analyzed after a separate aqua regia digest by ICP-MS. Overlimit assays for Ag, Pb, and Zn were conducted using the OG62 method (multi-acid digest with ICP-AES/AAS finish). Gold was measured by fire-assay with an ICP-AES finish [50g sample, Au-ICP22].
San Acacio History
Zacatecas State continues to be the top producer of silver in Mexico and is one of the reasons Mexico remains the world’s largest silver-producing region. The Zacatecas-Fresnillo Silver Belt is one of the most prolific silver producing areas in the world. Production at the San Acacio mine dates to at least 1548 when Spanish colonialists mined mainly bonanza oxide ores, typically grading in excess of 1kg/tonne Silver. The various veins were mined intermittently until the mid-1800s when an English company drove the ~2km Purisima tunnel to allow for deeper underground access and drainage. From the late 1800s until the Mexican Revolution in 1920, mining consisted of intermittent production from bonanza grade ores. During the Mexican Revolution, heavy fighting in the Zacatecas region led to the halt of most mining endeavors. In the mid 1920’s, a cyanide plant targeting silica rich ores and a floatation plant for complex Pb-Zn ores were built with varying success until the transition from oxide to sulphide rich ores made for recovery complexities. In the mid 1930s the first tonnage estimate was created on the property, although the project sat mostly idle save for some stope and adit rehabilitation at Purisima and Refugio. Production was largely dormant except for some small processing done by CIA Fresnillo in the late 1930s to early 1940s. In the mid- 1990s Silver Standard Resources Inc. began a systematic exploration and evaluation program targeting an open pit silver mine consisting of backfill, remaining stopes and silica-rich hanging wall and footwall mineralization of the Veta Grande structure. This entry by a publicly-listed company kicked off nearly 3 decades of exploration, development, and bulk-scale processing.
Defiance Silver has been exploring the project since 2011 and has focused primarily on identifying near-term mine resources. Drilling by previous operators as well as Defiance Silver from 2009 to early 2017 confirmed the presence of significant mineralizing events that provide evidence for a long-lived mineralizing system. Drilling in late 2017 and early 2019 outlined complexities in the structural geology of the area and identified significant “down dropped” and rotated structural blocks as the company tested the Veta Grande at similar elevations where it was encountered by earlier mining and drilling.
About Defiance Silver Corp.
Defiance Silver Corp. (TSXV: DEF) (OTCQX: DNCVF) (FSE: D4E) is an exploration company advancing the district-scale San Acacio Deposit, located in the historic Zacatecas Silver District and the 100% owned Tepal Gold/Copper Project in Michoacán state, Mexico. Defiance is managed by a team of proven mine developers with a track record of exploring, advancing and developing several operating mines and advanced resource projects Defiance’s corporate mandate is to expand the San Acacio and Tepal projects to become premier Mexican silver and gold deposits.
Mr. George Cavey P.Geo., Vice President Exploration, is a Qualified Person within the meaning of National Instrument 43-101 and has approved the technical information concerning the Company’s material mineral properties contained in this press release.
On behalf of Defiance Silver Corp.
“Chris Wright”
Chairman of the Board
For more information, please contact: Investor Relations at +1 917-563-3821 or via email at [email protected].
704 – 595 Howe Street
Vancouver, BC V6E 2K3
Tel: 604-669-7315 | Email: [email protected]
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
This news release may contain forward-looking statements including but not limited to comments regarding timing and content of upcoming work programs, geological interpretations, receipt of property titles, potential mineral recovery processes, etc. Forward-looking statements address future events and conditions and therefore involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements. Defiance Silver Corp. relies upon litigation protection for forward-looking statements.
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