Unico Silver (ASX:USL) has upgraded its resource for the Cerro Leon Project in Santa Cruz, Argentina, leading a “clear pathway” to host a global resource of more than 250 million ounces silver equivalent.
The project’s global resource is now marked at 31 million tonnes @ 161 grams per tonne silver equivalent for 162 million ounces, representing a 73% increase in ounces from the previous resource estimate of 93 million ounces in May 2023.
Managing Director Todd Williams describes the updated resource as a “defining milestone” for the company.
“We’ve grown Cerro Leon from a legacy asset into a district-scale silver system, now hosting 162 million silver equivalent ounces,” Williams says.
“This includes over 45 million ounces of open pit, free-milling material — surpassing the upper end of our PLUS 150 Exploration Target set for the Cerro Leon project in June 2025.”
The maiden estimate for free-milling resources is marked at 8.1 million tonnes @ 171g/t silver equivalent for 45 million ounces silver equivalent.
“Importantly, 67% of those free-milling ounces are now in the indicated category, giving us a solid foundation for the maiden Scoping Study,” Williams adds.
With another 30,000m of drilling currently ongoing at the Joaquin Project, Unico intends to further advance its global resource.
The company recently completed a $25 million capital raise to fund exploration across its projects, streamlining the resource upgrade program, as reported by Mining.com.au. An updated resource estimate for Joaquin is due to return shortly.
Unico Silver is a silver and gold explorer offering the largest landholding in Santa Cruz, Argentina, spanning five projects offering a total resource base of 160 million silver equivalent ounces.
Write to Maddison Elliott at Mining.com.au
Images: Unico Silver
