Shares in Regency Silver Corp surged as it told investors that the initial hole into the anomaly 500 metres (m) north of the historic mine workings at its flagship Dios Padre project in Sonora, Mexico had made a new gold, copper and silver discovery.
Over a length of 53.8 metres (m) starting from a depth of 416.5m, the drillbit hit 4.7 grams per tonne (g/t) gold. That intercept also included 35.8m of 6.84 g/t gold, 0.88% copper and 21.82 g/t silver.
Notably, the hole ended in mineralization and was stopped at 500m depth as the drill rig could not go any deeper.
"The 2022 drill program was a major success," said Bruce Bragagnolo, the company's executive chairman, in a statement.
"The drill hole into the prominent IP anomaly proved out our theory that the mineralization at depth would be different than the silver mineralization found at the historic Dios Padre silver mine workings.
READ: Regency Silver completes summer 2022 drill program at Dios Padre Property in Mexico
"The gold and copper grades below the IP anomaly have proven to be at the very top range of our expectations. The drill results outside of the block model at the historic silver mine workings were also very promising and justify additional work," he added.
"Our upcoming programs will be designed to verify management's model of a large, district scale magmatic-hydrothermal gold-copper-silver system."
The aim of the campaign at Dios Padre was two-fold. Firstly, to test the core of the IP anomaly 500m to the north of the old mine workings, and to expand the Dios Padre silver mine mineralization both to the east and west. It was "successful on both fronts," said the company.
The old silver mine workings boast an existing NI 43-101 inferred resource of 9.5 million ounces silver equivalent with an average silver grade of 236 g/t and Regency said additional drilling outside the existing block model near the old workings encountered grades as high as 582.47 g/t silver over 3.9m from 21.1m to 25m depth in one hole.
Another hit 558.30 g/t silver over 5.85m starting from 38.15m depth, it added.
The company said it was "very encouraged" that the step-outs all indicate the system continues both to the east and the west where it was previously thought to have stopped.
Additionally, to the east, gold values of the easternmost holes are some of the strongest intersected in the mine area with one hole intersecting 17.9m at 1.34 g/t of the yellow metal from 33.5m depth, it said.
Regency said it plans to follow up with a "more thorough" airborne and ground geophysical program in addition to further drilling to expand on the exceptional results from that first hole into the anomaly.
"Work is ongoing to secure a drill and contractor with a deeper drilling capacity to determine the extent of the mineralization below 500m downhole depth," it said.
Regency Silver is focused on the Americas. The company is led by a team of experienced professionals with expertise in both exploration and production. The flagship asset is the Dios Padre silver project in Sonora, Mexico.
Shares in Toronto added 38% to stand at C$0.34 each.
Contact the author at giles@proactiveinvestors.com