Silvercorp Metals Inc. (TSX:SVM)(NYSE:SVM) has reported drill results on the S2 Vein, part of its 2010 underground diamond drilling program at the Ying Mine, Ying Mining District, Henan Province, China.
The 2010 underground drill program at the Ying Mine intended to investigate down dip extensions of several major production veins (e.g. S16W, S14, S7, S21, and S8) and to drill laterally to define new veins or under-explored veins near these major production veins.
The 2010 drilling program was successful in extending the S2 vein by 285 metres (m), from the 300m elevation level down to the 15m elevation level, and the mineralization remains open to the depth. Several high grade pockets were discovered in the S2 vein which are expected to add resources/reserves that will either extend Ying's mine life or increase current mining capacity as these pockets are close to the existing S14 mining and development tunnels and can be quickly developed into mining stopes.
The S2 vein, with a surface outcrop of 1,700 metres long, occurs at about 100 metres west of the S14 vein. The S2 vein was previously explored locally by some tunnels and drilling above the 300m elevation level and is subject to limited mining. Drilling down dip extension of the S2 vein was made possible from the mining tunnels of the nearby S14 vein. During the year, a total of 11,377 metres in 51 holes were drilled on the S2 vein from the 570m, 490m, 350m, 300m, and 260m levels. The drilling was mainly focused on an area of about 1,000 metres along strike and below the 300m elevation in a down dipping direction.
The highlights of the 2010 underground drilling on S2 Vein are as follows:
- Hole ZK1033 intersected 0.9 metre of the vein grading 1,746 g/t Ag, 19.62% Pb, and 3.15% Zn at the 263m elevation;
- Hole ZK1233 intercepted 2.0 metres of the vein grading 1,593 g/t Ag, 28.79% Pb, and 3.48% Zn at the 203m elevation;
- Hole 14A07 intersected 4.35 metres of the vein grading 331 g/t Ag, 6.89% Pb, and 32.93% Zn at the 15m elevation;
- Hole ZK0812 intersected 1.1 metres grading 991 g/t Ag, 14.47% Pb, and 5.08% Zn at the 284m elevation, including 0.30 metre of massive galena grading 3,124 g/t Ag, 47.53% Pb, and 0.79% Zn;
- Hole ZK14A09 intersected 0.70 metre of massive galena grading 1,148 g/t Ag, 39.47% Pb, and 2.82% Zn at the 302m elevation.
- Hole ZK0222 intersected 0.25 metre of massive galena grading 1,116 g/t Ag, 45.39% Pb, and 15.99% Zn at the 206m elevation;
- Hole ZK02A21 intersected 0.15 metre of massive galena containing 1,581 g/t Ag, 62.24% Pb, and 1.10% Zn at the 264m elevation level.
For 2011 Silvercorp plans to complete 40,000 metres of underground diamond drilling in about 100 holes on the S2 vein to further delineate the newly discovered high grade pockets and test the down dip extension of the vein below the zero metre elevation.
Quality Control
Drill cores are NQ size and drill core samples were taken from sawn half core limited by apparent massive galena sheet contact or shear/alteration contact.
The Company maintains a quality control program to ensure best practice in sampling and analysis of the drill core samples. The samples are shipped directly in securely sealed bags to the Analytical Lab of Henan Non-Ferrous Metals Geological and Exploitation Institute in Zhengzhou, located 225 km by road northeast of the Ying Mine.
The sample preparation consists of drying, crushing, and splitting of the sample to 250 grams, then the sample is pulverized to 200 mesh. Two acid digestion and AA finish are utilized on a 0.5 gram sample for lead and zinc. Titration is utilized as a modified process for higher grade materials. Silver is also analyzed using a two acid digestion on a 0.5 gram sample and AA finish. The lab utilizes a QA/QC system of duplicates, replicates and standards.
Myles Gao, P.Geo, is the Qualified Person on the project under NI 43-101.
Source: Silvercorp Metals Inc.