First Majestic boosts Navidad gold-silver deposit with new discovery

First Majestic Silver (TSX, NYSE: AG) expanded the high-grade mineralization of its Navidad deposit in northwestern Mexico as it announced a second gold-silver discovery in a year in the Santo Niño vein at the nearby Santa Elena mine. Shares rose.Drillhole EWUG-25-050 at Navidad cut 6.8 metres grading 14.8 grams gold per tonne and 642 grams silver from about 703 metres downhole, Vancouver-based First Majestic said Wednesday. That hole included 5.9 metres at 11.1 grams gold and 215 grams silver from a depth of 569 metres. The project is about 150 km northeast of Hermosillo, the capital of the State of Sonora.“In our view, the higher-than-expected grades results obtained in the resource conversion drilling program supports the case and potential for mine life extension and production scalability,” Scotia Capital mining analyst Ovais Habib said in a note.At Santa Elena, one of the company’s four Mexican mines, exploration drilling about 900 metres south of the processing plant also discovered the Santo Niño vein – a large, epithermal quartz-adularia vein hosting gold and silver within a newly identified fault zone. Confirmed mineralization spans more than 600 metres along strike and about 200 metres down dip, and the upside potential is open in multiple directions, First Majestic said.Santo Niño discoveryAt the Santo Niño vein, hole SE-25-19 drilled a highlight interval of 5.24 metres grading 1.51 grams gold and 81 grams silver from 366.25 metres depth, including 12.34 metres at 1.65 grams gold and 113 grams silver. It also cut 0.43 metres at 27.50 grams gold and 641 grams silver.“The latest intercepts at Navidad and the Santo Nino vein continue to highlight the prospectivity of the land package at the Santa Elena/Ermitaño mine with visibility for resource accretion and mine life extension,” National Bank Financial analyst Don DeMarco said in a note Wednesday.First Majestic rose 0.8% to C$8.61 in Toronto Stock Exchange trading Wednesday morning. That gave the company a market capitalization of about C$4.2 billion. The stock has ranged from C$6.23 to C$11.18 in the past year.Four deposits emergeWith the additions of Navidad and Santo Niño, Santa Elena now hosts four significant gold-silver deposits, including Ermitaño and Santo Niño. This underscores the district’s growing potential, First Majestic said. Gold and silver grades at Navidad are substantially higher than those that were reported in the resource estimate released in March.The four deposits “position the company for future resource expansion and operational growth,” Habib said. “Continued exploration success could further enhance the district’s long-term potential, reinforcing Santa Elena’s role as a cornerstone asset.”Nine drill rigs are active at Navidad. Drilling to the east this year has expanded the Winter vein by 175 metres, and the Navidad vein by 325 metres. The combined structure is now 1.3 km along strike and 450 metres down-dip, which the company says confirms both the lateral continuity and the vertical reach of high-grade mineralization.Of the 23 diamond drill core holes completed so far at Santo Niño, 13 returned significant vein-hosted gold and silver mineralization, First Majestic said. Eleven of those intercepts define a continuous, higher-grade zone in the vein’s western upper levels.Santo Niño sits 2.2 km west-northwest of Ermitaño.Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Mining.com Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Mining.com