Unico Silver (ASX:USL) has identified shallow oxide mineralisation at the Breccia Puntudo prospect within the Joaquin Project in Argentina from the prospect’s first drilling focus.
Ongoing drilling across the Joaquin Project will cover a total of 30,000m, returning assays from 56 holes across 7,823m, focusing on the Breccia Puntudo prospect, as well as infill and step-out drilling at La Negra SE and La Morocha SE.
Assays from Breccia Puntudo returned intercepts including 28m @ 284 grams per tonne silver equivalent from 61m, including 13m @ 513g/t silver equivalent from 67m; 20m @ 277g/t silver equivalent from 57m; and 6m @ 992g/t silver equivalent from 56m, including 3.2m @ 1,800g/t silver equivalent from 58.1m.
Unico has two drill rigs currently operating at Breccia Puntudo, targeting resource expansion and new discoveries along the corridor. The prospect hosts a mineralised trend that extends over 3km of strike and has experienced limited drilling.
Meanwhile, the company has completed drilling at the La Negra SE prospect, which has extended mineralisation beyond the current resource.
Assays from La Negra SE include 38m @ 195g/t silver equivalent from 4m, including 15m @ 407g/t silver equivalent from 19m; 65m @ 165g/t silver equivalent from 86m, including 30m @ 242g/t silver equivalent from 92m; and 21m @ 221g/t silver equivalent from 164m, 9.2m @ 403g/t silver equivalent from 174.5m.
Hole JDD161-26 at La Negra SE returned 27m @ 162g/t silver equivalent from 215m, including 6.6m @ 509 silver equivalent from 233.2m in the deepest hole drilled to date at La Negra SE.
La Morocha SE has delivered ‘wide’ silver-gold intercepts to date, with assays returning 77.6m @ 94g/t silver equivalent from 114m and 83m @ 99g/t silver equivalent from 48m.
Unico says it expects to return a resource estimate for the project shortly, which will support a Prefeasibility Study.
Managing Director Todd Williams says Unico’s exploration and development workstreams at Joaquin has made “strong progress” thus far.
“Step-out drilling targeting extensions to the southeast is ongoing, with assays pending for several key holes,” Williams says.
“In parallel with exploration success, Prefeasibility Study workstreams are progressing well. Geotechnical samples from the Q4 2025 drill campaign are currently undergoing laboratory testing, with results expected to support open-pit design parameters by the end of March.
“In addition, 14 composites from Joaquin and Cerro León oxides have been dispatched to Nevada for comminution testing to support front-end flowsheet design.
“Phase two environmental baseline studies are scheduled to commence in April and represent the final field campaign required to support the provincial environmental impact assessment approval process.”
Unico Silver is a mineral explorer focused on discovering silver and gold deposits in Argentina’s Santa Cruz region.
Write to Maddison Elliott at Mining.com.au
Images: Unico Silver
