HIGHLIGHTS:

Azure Minerals Limited (ASX: AZS) (“Azure” or “the Company”) is pleased to advise that it has made a significant high grade silver discovery at its Alacrán Project in Mexico.

Four holes drilled at the Mesa de Plata prospect, part of a 14-hole Reverse Circulation (RC) program over the wider Alacrán property, have intersected thick zones of high grade silver mineralisation commencing from surface, and extending to depths of up to 70 metres.

Azure’s Managing Director, Tony Rovira described the results as “exceptional” and said further follow-up work was already being planned on what was potentially a “large, economically significant silver deposit”.

High Grade Silver Zones Intercepted at Mesa De Plata

Mr Rovira, said, “I’m thrilled to be able to present these exceptional results to our shareholders. This is the first drilling program to be carried out at Mesa de Plata, and to find large thicknesses of strong and consistent silver mineralisation starting from surface, including internal zones of very high grade silver, is an excellent achievement.

“This is a significant discovery, and is a credit to the perseverance and technical skills of our team in Mexico.

“Obviously more drilling is required, but with the thickness of the mineralised layer, the high grade of the mineralisation, and its location forming the top of a hill, I believe that Mesa de Plata has excellent potential to be a large, economically significant, silver deposit.”

DETAILS

Azure’s maiden drilling program at the Alacrán Project has discovered a potentially large zone of high grade silver mineralisation at the Mesa de Plata prospect, located in the northwest of the project area (see Figure 1). 

Drilling at Mesa de Plata was targeted at the widespread silver anomalism identified on surface by Azure’s gridded soil sampling and follow-up outcrop sampling programs, where most samples returned silver grades in the 30g/t to 100g/t range, up to a maximum of 213g/t (refer ASX release dated 03/06/15).

The silver is hosted in a flat-lying layer of vuggy silica rock (see Figure 2) that forms the capping on a prominent flat-topped ridge (or mesa, see Figure 4). This mesa extends for at least 500m in strike length, and varies in width from 150m to 400m (see Figure 3).

Based upon its topography, Azure’s Mexican geologists have named the prospect Mesa de Plata, which is Spanish for Silver Table.

Azure’s Induced Polarisation (IP) survey (refer ASX release dated 02/07/15) revealed a strong, electrically resistive, horizontal layer extending from surface to depths of between 40m-60m at Mesa de Plata and in areas further to the east.

This resistivity anomaly was interpreted to represent strongly siliceous rocks that coincided with the surface silver anomalism. Drilling was undertaken to determine whether the anomalous silver was a surface enrichment feature or extended to the depths indicated by the IP survey.

Four vertical RC holes (LM-06 to LM-09) were drilled, spaced between 120m and 160m apart (see Figure 2) along the surface of the mesa. Each hole was drilled to a depth of about 90m and samples were collected over 1.5m intervals.

Drilling demonstrated that the vuggy silica zone extends to between 33m and 70m below surface. The depth to the lower contact, ie the thickness of the vuggy silica layer, is dependent upon the surface elevation of the drill hole collar, as the lower contact has a reasonably consistent elevation, with vertical variations probably due to localised, small-scale faulting (see Figure 2).

In all four drill holes, medium to high grade silver mineralisation is hosted throughout the vuggy silica. Some silver mineralisation is also contained immediately below the vuggy silica layer within the underlying volcanic rocks. The silver mineralisation itself is not visible, however the host vuggy silica rock is easily recognisable in outcrop and in the RC drill cuttings.

Results from the drilling have demonstrated that the silver mineralisation is very consistent throughout the vuggy silica layer. For example within the High Grade Zones, as shown in detail in Table 1, the silver assay for every sample exceeds the lower grade cut-off of 100g/t Ag.

NEXT STAGE AT MESA DE PLATA

The environmental approval which was granted for this first phase of drilling permitted only four drill sites at Mesa de Plata. Azure has commenced a new permitting process to request sufficient drill sites to enable a close-spaced drill program to be undertaken over Mesa de Plata. This environmental permitting process is expected to take between one and two months for approval.

Meanwhile, Azure will continue to undertake further surface exploration to identify new areas prospective for silver mineralisation. The Company has identified other similar-looking mesas to the north and east of Mesa de Plata, within the Alacrán project area, and these have yet to be mapped and sampled. The Company believes there is potential for these to also host significant silver mineralisation, and work in these areas has commenced.

TABLE 1: High Grade Zones at Mesa de Plata – detailed assay information

DRILLING OF OTHER PROSPECTS AT ALACRÁN

In addition to the drilling at Mesa de Plata, Azure drilled another 10 holes to test La Morita (for porphyry-related copper mineralisation), San Simon and Puerto del Oro (for gold-silver mineralisation), and Palo Seco (for zinc-silver mineralisation).

Two holes (PS-01 & 02) were drilled at Palo Seco to test beneath and adjacent to the historical mine workings. Single holes were drilled at Puerto del Oro (LM-01) and San Simon (LM-02) to test for gold-silver mineralisation identified from surface and underground sampling.

Six holes were drilled at La Morita, testing in the vicinity of the old mine workings (holes LM- 03, 03b & 04), the surface copper-in-soil geochemical anomaly (LM-05 & 11), and the buried Induced Polarisation (IP) chargeability anomaly (LM-10).

To date, assays have been received from four holes (PS-01 & 02; LM-01 & 02). Results from the six holes drilled at La Morita are awaited.

TABLE 2: Drill intercepts from RC drilling at Alacrán (other than Mesa de Plata) 

ALACRÁN BACKGROUND

Alacrán is located in northern Mexico approximately 50km south of the USA border. The property covers 54km2 of highly prospective exploration ground in the middle of the Laramide Copper Province. This is one of North America’s most prolific copper-producing districts, extending from northern Mexico into the southern United States. Alacrán lies in close proximity to several large copper mines, including being 15km from the world class, giant Cananea Copper Mine operated by Grupo Mexico.

There is excellent access to and within the property, via a sealed highway from Hermosillo, capital of the state of Sonora, and existing mine roads and ranch tracks. The nearby town of Cananea is a mining-friendly jurisdiction with experienced exploration and mining services, as well as physical infrastructure including roads, railway, airport, electrical power and water.

Commercial and artisanal mining occurred within the project area in the early 20th century, ending in 1913 due to the Mexican Revolution. Since that time, Alacrán has seen only limited exploration and its potential for hosting large porphyry copper deposits and smaller high grade precious and base metal deposits remains largely untested by modern exploration techniques.

The Anaconda Copper Mining Company explored the property intermittently from the 1930’s to the 1960’s. Data relating to this work is held in the Anaconda Geological Documents Collection, part of the American Heritage Centre in the University of Wyoming. Azure has visited the library and retrieved copies of numerous technical reports and maps.

Between the 1960’s and the early 1980’s, the Consejo de Recursos Minerales (Mexican Geological Survey) carried out occasional exploration programs, including drilling 6 holes at the Cerro Alacrán prospect in 1970 and undertaking geophysical surveys over the Palo Seco and La Morita prospects in 1981.

Grupo Mexico S.A.B.de C.V. (“Grupo Mexico”) then acquired the project and drilled 26 holes at Cerro Alacrán in the 1990’s. This drilling, which was restricted to an area of approximately 50 hectares, outlined a large body of near-surface, copper oxide and chalcocite (copper sulphide) mineralisation. The size, grade and the extent of this mineralised body is yet to be defined as a mineral resource to JORC standards.

Minera Teck S.A. de C.V. (“Teck”), a Mexican subsidiary of Canadian company Teck Resources Limited, acquired the property from Grupo Mexico in 2013 and undertook data compilation and limited surface exploration.

Azure Minerals acquired the rights to the project in December 2014 through its fully owned Mexican subsidiary Minera Piedra Azul S.A. de C.V.

Azure has signed an Agreement with Teck to acquire 100% of the property, subject to an underlying back-in right retained by Teck and a 2% NSR retained by Grupo Mexico. Teck is Canada’s largest diversified resource company. Grupo Mexico is Mexico’s largest and one of the world’s largest copper producers.

-ENDS-

For further information, please contact:

or visit www.azureminerals.com.au

Information in this report that relates to Exploration Results is based on information compiled by Mr Tony Rovira, who is a Member of The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. Mr Rovira is a full-time employee and Managing Director of Azure Minerals Limited. Mr Rovira has sufficient experience which is relevant to the styles of mineralisation and types of deposit under consideration and to the activity which he is undertaking to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2012 Edition of the “Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves”. Mr Rovira consents to the inclusion in the report of the matters based on his information in the form and context in which it appears.

Information in this report that relates to previously reported Exploration Results has been crossedreferenced in this report to the date that it was reported to ASX. Azure Minerals Limited confirms that it is not aware of any new information or data that materially affects information included in the relevant market announcement. 

TABLE 4: Drill Hole Information

Original Article with Figures and Images: http://www.azureminerals.com.au/azs//assets/2015/09/[email protected]