Riverside, Sierra Madre intersect high grade silver at Jesus Maria

Riverside Resources (CVE:RRI), and its partner Sierra Madre Developments (CVE:SMG) announced Wednesday they discovered high grade silver through drilling and trenching at the Jesus Maria mine area, part of the Penoles project in Durango state, Mexico.

A single hole was drilled to test the area beneath the historic mine workings and trenches. It encountered multiple zones of silver-gold, with associated lead and zinc mineralization.

The single drill hole, JM-DDH-11-01, intersected three mineralized intervals over an aggregate thickness of 8.5 metres.

The first interval found three metres grading 0.5 g/t gold, 209 g/t silver, 0.6% lead, and 0.9% zinc. The second interval intersected 2.85 metres of 0.2 g/t gold, 86 g/t silver, 1.3% lead, and 2.2% zinc, while the third interval averaged 0.1 g/t gold, 91 g/t silver, 2.2% lead, and 1.9% zinc, over 2.65 metres.

In addition, six new trenches, which were completed by Sierra Madre, outlined new mineralization along strike, confirming Riverside's previously reported results. The trenching delineated aggregate mineralized zones up to 20 metres in thickness, the company said.

The trenches identified high-grade mineralized intervals up to 13.4 metres in width, averaging 1.7 grams per tonne (g/t) gold, 309 g/t silver, 2.4 % lead, and 0.6% zinc, including a 6.9 metre interval that averaged 3.1 g/t gold, 552 g/t silver, 4.6% lead, and 0.6% zinc.

“Jesus Maria mine area has been one of the highest grade and most prolific mine zones in the >340 km sq Capitan Project Area and these new drill results prove the mineralization and potential mining can continue further than ever recognized,” said Riverside president and CEO, John-Mark Staude.

"The trenches have extended the length of the Jesus Maria mineralized zone and confirm that mineralization is still open along strike. Riverside looks forward to robust drilling of the Jesus Maria vein system and other major silver-gold vein systems in the Penoles District."

The Jesus Maria concession now extends over a 1.6 kilometre-long strike length, covering the down-dip extension of the Jesus Maria mineralized zone, Riverside said. The companies plan to continue trenching work to trace the western extension of the mineralized zone.

"The thickness and continuity of the mineralized zone observed at Jesus Maria shows that in addition to having potential for oxide gold deposits at the Capitan Hill area, the Penoles Mining District also has potential to host significant silver mineralization that builds on the historic silver-gold production," the companies said in a statement.

Earlier this year, Riverside agreed to option a 51 percent interest in the Penoles property to Sierre Madre. Sierra Madre is required to issue a total of 4.5 million shares of its common stock, make total cash payments of $2.85 million to Riverside, and incur $4.5 million in exploration expenditures for the stake.

Sierra Madre must also fund the cost of metallurgical studies and drilling required to calculate an initial resource estimate at the El Capitan target.

The Penoles project is located 70 kilometres to the south of Argonaut Gold's Castillo Mine, which is currently producing over 50,000 ounces a year. In addition to El Capitan, the Penoles property hosts two historic silver mines that were operated in the late 1800s, including Jesus Maria, where extensive backhoe trenching was carried out concurrent with drilling at El Capitain, intended to assess the thickness and grades encountered.