Azure Minerals (ASX:AZS) has begun concrete steps to follow up the discovery of extensive, high-grade silver at its Alacran project in Mexico today with the start of diamond drilling on the Mesa De Plata prospect.
Development news at this site is continuing to reflect share trading momentum, with Azure stock trading at A$0.038 today after spiking 50% mid-last month on hits at Mesa De Plata as rich as 1,235g/t silver across a 9-metre intercept from only 3 metres.
This sample was found within an 18-metre intersection grading 698g/t silver from 1.5 metres and was part of an reverse circulation drilling campaign that also returned 21 metres at 513g/t silver from 28.5 metres and 18 metres at 408g/t silver from 3 metres.
Surface sampling at the prospect has returned silver grades up to 489g/t.
The four-week diamond core drill campaign is planned for about 800 metres across four holes and will provide a comparison with the reverse circulation results.
Azure is also awaiting approval for a close-spaced drilling program to be undertaken covering Mesa de Plata.
Investor interest in the company’s recent work at the project has been reflected in a dramatic share price increase since the end of August. Azure shares have soared 300% from their August 31 levels to today.
Although the most recent excitement has been focused on silver, Alacran hosts significant copper potential as well, with the site lying close to several large copper mines, including being adjacent to the giant Cananea Copper Mine where annual copper production capacity is expected to reach 510,000 tonnes in 2015.
Indeed, the five of six recent holes drilled to test Alacran’s La Morita prospect for porphyry-related copper mineralisation encountered anomalies considered potentially indicative of a blanket of supergene copper or primary, porphyry-hosted copper sulphide mineralisation.
All six drill holes intersected wide zones of highly anomalous copper values (up to 0.5% copper), which are similar to the grades identified at surface.
Proactive Investors Australia is the market leader in producing news, articles and research reports on ASX emerging companies with distribution in Australia, UK, North America and Hong Kong / China.