Sun Silver (ASX:SS1) has intersected a broad silver–gold zone beginning outside the current mineral resource estimate (MRE) at its Maverick Silver Project in Nevada, US.
Hole MR25-235 returned 98.3m @ 120.3 grams per tonne silver equivalent (AgEq) from 173m, including 47.6m @ 200.6g/t AgEq from 176.8m. The broader interval comprised 65.7g/t silver (Ag) and 0.67g/t gold (Au), while the included section graded 119.6g/t Ag and 1.05g/t Au.
Likewise, the same hole intersected 4.6m @ 73g/t AgEq from 318.5m, including 0.3m @ 811.7g/t AgEq from 320m outside the current MRE.
Managing Director Andrew Dornan says the results point to potential resource growth along the northwest structural corridor.
“Our latest drilling at the Maverick Silver Project in Nevada has delivered an exceptional 98.3m @ 120g/t AgEq, including 47.6m @ 201g/t AgEq, with the intercept starting outside the current mineral resource and highlighting significant resource growth potential,” Dornan says.
Hole MR25-235 also returned 86.9m @ 0.10% antimony (Sb) from 175.3m, with individual assays reaching 1.23% Sb.
“The associated 86.9m antimony zone averaging 0.1% Sb, with grades up to 1.2% Sb, further demonstrates the scale and multi-element potential of the Maverick mineralised system,” Dornan says.
A second hole, MR26-226, intersected 26.3m @ 52.6g/t AgEq from 249.9m, including 2.5m @ 100.6g/t AgEq from 271.3m and 6.6m @ 59.3g/t AgEq from 281.5m.
MR25-235 was drilled as a twin of historical hole MR102, completed by Angst in 1990, to test information held in the project’s legacy database.
Sun Silver says the holes returned broadly comparable grade distributions over intervals of around 100m. The new hole showed a slight bias towards higher AgEq grades and was completed using modern analytical and quality-control procedures.
The company’s 2026 program combines infill drilling intended to support conversion of the existing inferred resource to the indicated category, metallurgical core collection, and step-out drilling targeting open extensions.
Sun Silvers says it is also advancing heap-leach test work, geotechnical and hydrogeological programs, environmental studies, and mine planning. It is targeting a Scoping Study by the end of 2026 or early 2027, followed by a Prefeasibility Study in 2027.
The timing of both studies remains dependent on drilling progress and associated technical work.
Separately, surface sampling has outlined a 2km-long antimony and arsenic anomaly around 4.5km north of the current resource. Sun Silver says the alteration and geochemical signature are comparable with surface samples above the Maverick deposit.
Maverick hosts a JORC inferred MRE of 237 million tonnes @ 45.5g/t Ag and 0.30g/t Au for 347.2 million ounces (Moz) of contained silver and 2.25Mt of contained gold.
Write to France Pinzon at Mining.com.au
Images: Unsplash
