Tocvan Ventures Corp. (CSE:TOC) has told investors it is planning to start drilling at its El Picacho gold-silver project in Mexico 'as soon as possible' after the company identified the San Ramon prospect as a high-priority target.
It comes after the company completed a surface evaluation at the prospect in Sonora state. The target area identified spans an area 500 metres (m) by 500m, focused around significant historic workings, which trend south along the contact of a regional fault, the firm said.
Reconnaissance drilling by Timmins Gold in 2012 and 2013 identified multiple mineralized horizons, which hosted gold and silver mineralization down to a depth of 60m.
"The data clearly shows that San Ramon is a high-priority target showcasing mineralization from surface to a minimum depth of 60-meters, over a 500-meter trend and open in all directions," Tocvan CEO Brodie Sutherland told investors in a statement.
READ: Tocvan Ventures says it is 'extremely encouraged' by latest drill results from Pilar gold-silver project
"Past work has de-risked this target as we know mineralization extends to depth from historic drill logs. The high-grade gold and silver seen at surface and recorded from the underground workings confirms a robust system is present. Follow-up grid drilling of the area will be a priority for El Picacho's development," he added.
Historic underground sampling by Timmins also returned 23 rock chip samples from 1m to 2m, ranging from 0.3 grams per ton (g/t) gold to 22 g/t gold with silver values up to 26 g/t.
Later sampling in 2016 by Millrock confirmed the high-grade results with five rock chip samples returning between 2.0 g/t gold to 18 g/t gold.
A second underground working located 250m to the north returned nine rock chip samples ranging between 0.5 g/t gold and 8.2 g/t gold with silver values up to 32 g/t.
Tocvan said it believes past drilling at the prospect has proven the model for a continuation of mineralization at depth and that follow-up drilling is needed to hit the higher grades recorded in underground workings.
"The San Francisco deposit is hosted within the same rock type seen at San Ramon and is related to similar regional faults. With the rain season coming to an end in Sonora, planning is underway to initiate drilling at San Ramon as soon as possible," it added.
The El Picacho project covers 24 square kilometres and lies 140 kilometres (km) north of Hermosillo and just 18 km southwest of the producing San Francisco mine. Five primary zones of mineralization have been identified across the property totaling over 6 km of prospective trends.
Tocvan was created in order to take advantage of the prolonged downturn in the junior mining exploration sector, by identifying and negotiating interest in opportunities where management feels it can build upon previous successes.
It is earning 100% into two exciting opportunities in Sonora, Mexico - the Pilar gold-silver project and the El Picacho gold-silver project.
Contact the author at giles@proactiveinvestors.com