When Sierra Nevada Gold (ASX:SNX) announced yesterday (21 May 2024) a drill intercept of 1,270 grams per tonne of silver from the Blackhawk Epithermal Gold Project in Nevada, its share price soared 85% to $0.076.
However, the announcement did not disclose that the intersection of 0.5m @ 1,270g/t silver from 256.5m from drillhole BHD006 is a subset high-grade result of another result that was actually drilled in 2017.
In the company’s interim report for the period ended 30 June 2023, Sierra Nevada Gold says a drilling program undertaken in 2017 recorded 12m @ 219g/t silver, 0.36g/t gold, 3.05% lead, and 8.54% zinc from 250-262m. The 1,270g/t silver intercept is a subset of this intersection.
Executive Chairman Peter Moore was today unavailable for comment before going to press.
However, a company spokesperson says yesterday’s announcement was predicated on a re-evaluation of the Blackhawk Epithermal project data to assess its potential as a silver dominant system.
The spokesperson notes all data was re-evaluated, including previous drilling drillholes and from the perspective of silver potential rather than gold-equivalent as in the past.
“The silver potential of the project was not previously appreciated,” the spokesperson says.
Since yesterday’s ASX announcement, Sierra Nevada’s share price had fallen 21% to $0.060 as of 12.30pm AEST today.
On 21 May, Sierra Nevada Gold announced “previously drilled” core hole BHD006 returned 5m @ 479g/t Ag within a larger mineralised zone of 12m @ 219g/t Ag from 250m beneath the Endowment mine at its Blackhawk Epithermal Project in Nevada, US.
The company reports this high-grade intercept is situated 150m vertically below the deepest portion of the historic mine and includes higher grade intersections of 0.5m @ 1,270g/t Ag from 256.5m, 1m @ 823g/t Ag from 257m, and 1m @ 654g/t Ag from 258m.
In the ASX release Moore says these results, “which returned up to 1,270g/t silver from Blackhawk are very promising, coming from a vast and extensive vein network”.
“We’ve identified 22.5-line kilometres of veins at Blackhawk, but this known mineralisation has sat largely untouched since mining ceased in the area in the 1920s. We have two shallow oxide resources which have not been defined to a JORC-compliant level but this provides us the opportunity to deliver value from an existing project with further drilling and mineral resource definition,” the Executive Chairman says.
“Our 20-hole drill program is permitted and ready to drill, providing us with the opportunity to use modern exploration techniques to potential to return further high-grade results and shape this as a company-making discovery for Sierra Nevada.”
Sierra Nevada gold is an explorer focused on its assets in Nevada, US. The company’s assets are considered prospective for gold and silver, as well as copper-gold porphyry.
Write to Aaliyah Rogan at Mining.com.au
Images: Sierra Nevada Gold
