Variscan Mines has reported a series of high-grade historic surface drilling results across the Novales Trend at its flagship Novales-Udías Zinc Project in northern Spain, further strengthening the Company’s view that the district hosts significant untapped exploration and development upside.
Plan view of historical underground drilling and face sampling results from the upper levels of the Emilia mine. Image Credit: Variscan Mines
The newly compiled historic drilling dataset highlights multiple high-grade zinc intercepts along the Novales Trend, located within the broader Novales-Udías Project area in the Basque-Cantabrian Basin, one of Europe’s premier zinc provinces and home to the world-class Reocín zinc mine.
The historic results support Variscan’s strategy to rapidly advance the district through a combination of resource growth drilling, mine restart studies and district-scale exploration targeting.
Key highlights from the announcement include:
- Multiple high-grade historic zinc drill intercepts identified along the Novales Trend
- Results extend well beyond the current Mineral Resource Estimate and reinforce the scale potential of the broader Novales-Udías district
- Historic drilling data significantly enhances Variscan’s geological understanding and drill targeting capability
- Data supports upcoming approved surface drilling programs designed to expand mineralization around the San José Mine and along strike
- Novales-Udías Project strategically located approximately 80km from Glencore’s San Juan de Nieva zinc smelter
Variscan has previously advised that it secured approval for a substantial surface drilling campaign comprising 69 diamond drillholes for approximately 13,800 meters across the mining licence areas.
The Company believes the historic drilling results continue to demonstrate the continuity of high-grade zinc mineralization throughout the Novales Trend and further support the potential for resource expansion and future mine development activities.
The Novales-Udías Project is emerging as one of the most advanced zinc development projects in Europe, underpinned by existing mining licences, established infrastructure, historical mining operations and strong regional government support.
Variscan has continued progressing its “Explorer-Producer” strategy in Spain, with ongoing technical workstreams feeding into the San José Mine Re-Start Study and permitting pathway. The Company has also materially expanded its geological database through the acquisition of more than 146 historic drillholes totalling over 52,000 meters across the district.
The project sits within trucking distance of major European smelting infrastructure and is positioned to potentially benefit from increasing focus on critical mineral supply security and domestic European metals production.