Silvercorp Metals Inc (CVE:SVM) (NYSEAMERICAN:SVM) (FRA:S9Y) has announced the results of its exploration program at the TLP mine in Henan province in China.
The company said from October 1, 2019, to September 30, 2020, the drilling program at TLP has targeted the down/up-dip and along-strike extensions of known mineralized vein structures in the production areas, adding that exploration drilling and tunneling are continuing at the mine and all other mines at the Ying mining district where the project is located.
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So far, 26,355 meters from a total of 110 diamond drill holes, including 106 underground holes and four surface holes, have been completed, while assay results for 71 holes have been received with 48 holes intercepting mineralization.
Silvercorp said most of the underground drills were focused on high-grade drill intercepts from previous drill programs where mining access tunnels were developed but the mineralization was not mined, and that the drilling program has intersected many higher-grade silver-lead ore zones, including veins T11, T2E, T33W5, and the newly discovered T15W3 vein.
The company added that most of the higher-grade silver-lead zones can be mined using existing access and development tunnels, which is expected to substantially reduce tunnel development costs at the TLP mine going forward. Meanwhile, ten rigs have been drilling at the TLP mine since July 2020 to continue identifying these types of easily accessible zones.
Additionally, the company said it is continuing to test for new vein structures in previously less-explored areas, with step-out drilling in the northwest part of the TLP mine discovering new veins including CJ9W, CJW1, CJ11, CJ12, CJ12E, and CJ20.
A highlight of the drilling included two major veins intersected by hole ZKG08S01_1, one of which comprised partially of a 2.28-meter interval of vein T15W3 grading 1,125 grams per tonne (g/t) silver while the other was a 0.80m interval from 50.60m to 51.40m of vein T11 grading 1,334 g/t silver.
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