Silver Bull Resources is a mineral developer out of Canada with a primary focus on the rich, underdeveloped potential of world-class mining areas like Coahuila State, Mexico, where the company’s Sierra Mojada project just saw the follow-up NI 43-101 Technical Report update (in furtherance of the May 22 report on the project, filed with SEDAR yesterday).
The mineral resource estimate contained in the report (compiled by trusted ally and top international mining consulting firm, SRK Consulting, also out of Canada) shows a sizeable, 39% increase in the open-pittable silver resource in the Shallow Silver Zone (at an economic cut-off grade of 15g/t) that was looked at in the prior report (a whopping 52% increase to the measured and indicated silver resource). With a secondary zinc target that is equally rich, SVBL has quite a mine on their hands at Sierra Mojada and the measured silver figure of 3.688M tonnes (average grade of 57 g/t or 6.714M troy ounces Ag) is a tantalizing prospect indeed (roughly 45M tonnes at 45 g/t indicated, or 8M tonnes at 40 g/t inferred, that’s around 65.4M and 10.4M troy ounces respectively).
The Shallow Silver Zone looks exceptionally feasible and projections for open pit operations at baseline pricing of $22/oz Ag and $1.25/lb zinc (65% and 95% projected recovery of respective resources, baselines derived from London Energy Metals Consensus Forecast) are juicy when taking into account development costs, estimated at $1.50/tonne to mine, $4/tonne to process the silver, and $42/tonne to process the zinc. Cut-off grade projections are based on geological analogs (Coeur D’Alene Mine’s Rochester Mine in Nevada for the silver, which is an oxide silver deposit and Zincore Metals’ Peruvian Accha zinc deposit assessment for the zinc resource).
With some 60% of the mineralized body (98-295 feet thick and as much as 656 feet wide in parts) at or near the surface along strike, open to the east and west, the Shallow Silver Zone has management at SVBL working overtime out of excitement. There is a ripe secondary zinc exploration target (4-6M tonnes at around 8% grading) as well covered in the report, with a hefty amount of historical data (3.7k channel and some 1k long hole measurements) to back up the potential target’s validity. Associate Consultant of Geology for SRK, Dr. Gilles Arseneau, P.Geo., acted as the NI 43-101 Qualified Person for the report.
Open pit metrics for the Shallow Silver Zone are done in a Whittle pit shell and constitute a solid strategic mine planning solution, thanks to the incredibly powerful Gemcom Whittle™ modeling engine. The resources have been estimated using standard geostatistical interpretation (kriging) block modeling in multi-pass with 5 meter cube sections (grade estimates derived from capped 2 meter assay composites, with capping levels at 700g/t Ag for diamond drill holes and 900 g/t for long holes/channel samples). With the measured classification given to resources that have a minimum of 10 composites in the first pass (using a 5x5x20 meter ellipse) and indicated classification given to blocks where a minimum of six composites and three drill holes occurred (60×60 meter ellipse – with the rest classified as inferred), we have a very good portrait of the future production potential from the Shallow Silver Zone.
A portrait that has caught the eye of investors and amplified the buzz about SVBL among shareholders, Silver Bull’s clear strategy to develop the abundant mineralization in this region of Mexico has won them fans across the board and even a rookie can see the component vectors here. Silver Bull is all-in at Sierra Mojada and with their Ndjole and Mevang Exploration licenses in Gabon, Central Africa, as a strong second position, the company has a very attractive growth outlook.
For more information on Silver Bull Resources, please visit the company’s Web site at: www.SilverBullResources.com
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