PROJECT UPDATE: Southern Silver Updates on FMEC’s First Year of Exploration at Cerro Las Minitas

Today’s market environment has forced many juniors to enter ”survival mode,” putting their projects on hold until prices improve. Those still moving forward are for the most part able to do so as a result of innovative partnerships.

One such company is Southern Silver Exploration (TSXV:SSV), which a year ago gave Freeport-McMoRan Exploration Corporation (FMEC) the right to earn an indirect 70-percent interest in its Durango, Mexico-based Cerro Las Minitas property. Under the agreement, FMEC has been funding and directing exploration at the project for the past year.

Today, the company released an update on the progress it has made during that time. Happily for Southern, the results look promising. Most notably, FMEC has drilled 3,445 meters in eight holes, with highlights including:

• a 9.2-meter interval averaging 401 g/t silver, 8.5-percent lead and 5.1-percent zinc (777 g/t silver equivalent) from a shallow intercept on the Blind zone
• a 55.2-meter interval averaging 41 g/t silver, 0.7-percent lead and 5.3-percent zinc (202 g/t silver equivalent) intersected at over 500 meters below surface in the El Sol zone
• a 13.9-meter interval averaging 135 g/t silver, 2.4-percent lead and 1.3-percent zinc (250 g/t silver equivalent), including a 2.4-meter interval averaging 545 g/t silver, 10.3-percent lead and 3.8-percent zinc (942 g/t silver equivalent) from the South Skarn target

In terms of fulfilling the conditions outlined in last year’s agreement, FMEC has paid Southern $700,000 in option payments, funded exploration costs of $769,103.05 on the project and provided $1,218,000 to Southern as option payments.

FMEC plans to continue exploration at Cerro Las Minitas in the coming year, with 4,000 meters of core drilling set to start this month. Initially, work will occur at seven sites that were drilled earlier. “The proposed drilling will continue to test the lateral extensions of the El Sol and Blind zone mineralization and includes one hole on the recently acquired EL Sol concession … which could extend the on-strike potential of the previously identified zones of mineralization by upwards of 800 metres,” today’s release states.

Securities Disclosure: I, Charlotte McLeod, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article. 

Editorial Disclosure: Southern Silver Exploration is a client of the Investing News Network. This article is not paid-for content.

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