Aftermath Silver (TSX-V:AAG) Ltd has revealed the first assay results from diamond drilling at its Berenguela silver-copper-manganese project, and the company’s president says its silver, copper and manganese intersections “more than met our expectations."
Assays from the central southern Peru project include “multiple, thick, high-grade silver, copper and manganese intersections,” President Ralph Rushton said in a statement. “Holes 003, 004 and 005 returned particularly good silver-copper intercepts. The program to date has more than met our expectations and our geological model is proving to be accurate.”
Specifically, hole 003 traversed three zones of mangnesium-rich mineralization with thickness of 7.70 meters, 13.40m and 10.95m, respectively, some of which included high-grade silver mineralization as well.
READ: Aftermath Silver updates on progress at its Berenguela silver-copper-manganese project in southern Peru
Hole 004 includes a “massive replacement” of limestone by Mn-rich mineralization, with associated Cu oxides, from 12.50m to 68.80m, the company said. Hole 005 crossed a high Mn replacement zone with old workings close to the surface at depths from 3m to 11.80m.
Aftermath has been drilling at Berenguela since December, and the company has the option to acquire 100% interest in the property from SSR Mining.
“The program is planned as a combination of resource verification, metallurgical sampling, and confirmation of some historical [reverse circulation] holes,” Rushton continued. “Our technical team is incorporating the new drilling into a revised geological interpretation of the Berenguela mineralization. We are also building a new geostatistical model of the main mineralized domains ahead of a planned metallurgical test work program using fresh core from these holes.”
From here, Aftermath plans to complete a new NI 43-101-compliant resource estimate later this year, and work has begun on a new wire frame and block model, the company said.
As of May 3, Berenguela drill program has seen 59 completed diamond core holes covering about 5,660m of drilling. Aftermath expects regular batches of assay results in the coming months, the company said.
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