Kootenay Silver Inc and Aztec Minerals Corp announced that the joint venture approved a 22-hole, 5,000-metre reverse circulation (RC) drilling program at the Cervantes porphyry gold-copper property in Sonora, Mexico.
Aztec and Kootenay recently formed a 65/35 joint venture and the JV Management Committee met earlier this week to review and approve the Phase 2 drill program, which follows up on the results of the recently-completed 2021 Phase 1 exploration program.
The company noted that the JV plans to commence the reverse circulation program in late November, and will test four main targets: California target, California North prospect, Jasper prospect, and Purisima East target.
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“Success in the upcoming drilling program will help build our confidence in advancing the project to an initial open pit resource estimate and elevate the profile of the Cervantes project in a region that has both porphyry copper and heap leach gold production in Mexico," said Aztec CEO Simon Dyakowski in a statement.
Kootenay Silver said that the primary objectives of the two-phase 2021 exploration program are to better define the open pit, heap leach gold potential of the porphyry gold oxide cap at California, evaluate the potential for deeper copper-gold porphyry sulfide mineralization underlying the oxide cap, test for north and west extensions of the California mineralization at California North and Jasper, and assess the breccia potential of Purisima East.
Cervantes is a highly prospective porphyry gold-copper-molybdenum property located in southeastern Sonora state, Mexico. The project lies 160 km east of Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico within the famous Laramide porphyry copper belt approximately 265 km southeast of the Cananea porphyry copper-molybdenum mine.
Kootenay Silver is an exploration company actively engaged in the discovery and development of mineral projects in the Sierra Madre Region of Mexico and in British Columbia, Canada. Supported by one of the largest junior portfolios of silver assets in Mexico, Kootenay continues to provide its shareholders with significant leverage to silver prices.
The company remains focused on the expansion of its current silver resources, new discoveries, and the near-term economic development of its priority silver projects located in prolific mining districts in Sonora, State and Chihuahua, State, Mexico, respectively.
Contact Ritika at ritika@proactiveinvestors.com