Recently, Apollo Silver reported that drilling is well underway at its Calico Silver Project, and as scheduled for Phase 2 of the 2022 drill program, 13 reverse circulation (“RC”) drill holes have been finished.
Image Credit: Evgeny_V/Shutterstock.com
The Phase 2 drill program is one portion of the multi-component Calico Technical Program for 2022 that aims to upgrade and increase Apollo Silver’s inferred mineral resource estimate (MRE) of 166 million ounces of silver confined in 58.1 million tons at an average grade of 89 g/ton.
Furthermore, Apollo Silver has begun a preliminary groundwater assessment task, which is intended to measure groundwater depth, quality, and well-pumping capacity. The program will make use of current wells and will involve the incorporation of a new monitoring well on its Waterloo Property, which was just authorized by the County of San Bernardino.
Phase 2 of the 2022 drill program is progressing on schedule and on budget. The commencement of the groundwater monitoring program is an important milestone as we advance the Calico Project. Understanding the nature and availability of groundwater in the Calico Project area will be a critical component of our strategy to secure water resources required to support future development.
Tom Peregoodoff, CEO, Apollo Silver Corp.
“As has been our previous experience with obtaining permits for the drill program, we received the permit to drill a new water well in a very timely fashion from the County of San Bernardino,” Tom Peregoodoff added.
2022 Phase 2 Drill Program
The Phase 2 drilling program at Calico began on September 19th, 2022. Since then, 13 of the planned 39 RC drill holes have been finished, covering 1,829.0 m (6,000 feet). A maximum of 4,300 m (14,108 feet) is presently scheduled under the Phase 2 program.
Thus far, 1,183 samples from 11 drill holes have been transported to ALS Global-Geochemistry in Reno, Nevada, for examination. Akin to the Phase 1 drill program, assay results are estimated to be released to the market regularly as and when they are ready.
The Phase 2 drill program is projected to be completed by late November 2022. Upon receiving all the assay data, an update to the MRE is estimated to start in December 2022 and completion is anticipated sometime in Q1 of 2023.
Groundwater Assessment
In the late 1970s, a former operator of the Waterloo Property (ASARCO) finished a groundwater monitoring well as well as a pumping well on unpatented mill site claims. Apollo Silver has proven that these wells can be accessed and has begun test work.
ASARCO also finished a monitoring well on the Waterloo Property close to the historic Burcham mine, around 800 m to the south of the Waterloo resource site. Apollo Silver has established that this monitoring well is closed off and not accessible and hopes to finish a new monitoring well in this same location to test groundwater close to the Waterloo resource site.
One groundwater monitoring well is present at the Langtry Property, and Apollo is working on finding out if it is accessible and can be utilized for testing. The groundwater test activity and drilling of the new monitoring well will be performed by Desert Empire Drilling of Barstow, California, and is slated for completion in October 2022.
About the Calico Project
Location
The Project is situated in San Bernardino County, California, and includes the neighboring Langtry and Waterloo properties, which cover 2,950 acres. The Project is at a distance of 15 km (9 miles) from the city of Barstow and has a wide private gravel road network covering the property. A commercial electric power supply is available within 5 km (3 miles) of the Project.
Geology and Mineralization at Calico
The Project is located in the southern Calico Mountains of the Mojave Desert, in the southwestern area of the Basin and Range tectonic province. This mountain range extends for 15 km (9 miles) in a northwest-southeast direction and is mainly made up of Tertiary (Miocene) volcaniclastics, volcanics, dacitic intrusions, and sedimentary rocks.
Mineralization at Calico includes high-level low-sulfidation silver-dominant epithermal vein-type and disseminated-style deposits related to northwest-trending faults and fracture zones and mid-Tertiary volcanic activity.
The Project signifies a district-scale mineral system endowment with around 6,000 m (19,685 feet) in mineralized strike length managed by Apollo Silver. Oxidized, disseminated and stockwork-style mineralization is mainly found in the Barstow sedimentary formation and is the subject of the MRE.
Source: https://apollosilver.com/