Zacatecas Silver (TSX-V:ZAC) has applied for a drill permit at its Cumaro Gold-Silver Project in Sonora, Mexico, after rock chip sampling returned up to 40.6 grams per tonne gold.
The application, submitted to Mexico’s Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT), covers up to 10 drill pads.
The company collected 117 grab samples from outcropping low-sulphidation epithermal veins across about 1.5km of outcrop.
Of these, 39 assayed above 1g/t gold (Au) and 12 above 5g/t Au. Thirty samples returned more than 31.2g/t silver (Ag), with a peak of 253g/t Ag.
The ‘high-grade’ samples came from a contiguous 500m strike length. The veins reach up to 4m wide and are multiphase, with common breccias and iron oxides after sulphides.
More than 10km of veins are known at Cumaro, and the property remains largely unsampled.
Zacatecas says the samples came from the uppermost levels of the system, above the boiling zone where precious metal deposition concentrates.
Many were partially oxidised and leached, which typically suppresses assay values. The company believes ‘higher-grade’ mineralisation may sit untested at depth.
Zacatecas has commissioned high-resolution multispectral satellite imagery to guide further rock chip and channel sampling, which will run alongside permitting.
CEO Eric Vanderleeuw says Cumaro shares traits with the company’s Oso Negro Project.
“Cumaro has the same ingredients we like at Oso Negro — outcropping veins, high-grade surface assays, and a system that has barely been sampled,” Vanderleeuw says.
“We are moving fast on this one.”
Rock chip samples are selective and may not represent the grade of mineralisation. Sampled widths are not true widths, and surface results do not indicate drilling outcomes.
Zacatecas Silver holds seven projects across Mexico, including the Esperanza Gold-Silver Project in Morelos and the Panuco Silver Deposit in Zacatecas.
Write to JC Villarba at Mining.com.au
Images: Zacatecas Silver
