Coeur Mining, Inc. (NYSE: CDE) provided an update on the exploration programs at its Silvertip, Kensington and Palmarejo mines. The Company plans to invest approximately $40 million1 in exploration this year, split evenly between capitalized infill and resource expansion drilling.
Coeur’s $240 million investment in exploration over the last five years has led to strong reserve and resource growth with multiple new discoveries and meaningful extensions to mine lives. Infill-focused drilling programs successfully replaced 1.8 million and 56.4 million ounces of cumulative gold and silver production, respectively, and added an additional 0.5 million ounces of gold and 85.4 million ounces of silver reserves. Expansion-focused drilling programs successfully added 1.8 million and 123.6 million ounces of measured and indicated gold and silver resources, respectively, and an additional 1.8 million and 29.3 million ounces of new inferred gold and silver resources, respectively.
Key Highlights2,3
Camp Creek West – Expansion
Kensington Zone 30 (uppermost) – Infill
Elmira – Expansion
Hidalgo zone (Independencia deposit) – Infill
Zapata zone (Guadalupe deposit) – Infill
La Patria zone (Guadalupe deposit) –Expansion
“Recent assays from the newly discovered Camp Creek West zone of Silvertip are among the best results ever returned at the property and underscore the potential of what we believe is a truly world-class deposit,” said Mitchell J. Krebs, President and Chief Executive Officer. “In addition to the impressive grade and thickness of the Camp Creek West discovery, its location across a fault zone not previously known to contain ore-grade material has the potential to significantly expand the extent of this deposit. Airborne geophysical models also suggest that these zones may extend an additional mile and a quarter (two kilometers) from current drilling positions. In addition, Kensington has recently returned strong grade thicknesses in Kensington Zone 30 as we prioritize further mine life extensions, and new assay results at Palmarejo are among the best grade-thicknesses in several years. These results highlight the compelling opportunities for growth within Coeur’s portfolio and the success of our multi-year exploration investment.”
For a complete table of all drill results, please refer to the following link:
https://www.coeur.com/_resources/pdfs/2022-04-28-Exploration-Update-Appendix.pdf.
Silvertip2,3
Coeur began 2022 with two underground core rigs focused on resource infill drilling within the Discovery and Southern Silver zones, while also logging and shipping core samples from the 2021 season.
Assay results from late 2021 surface drilling to the west of the Camp Creek zone returned one of the highest grade-thickness intervals ever at Silvertip, leading to the discovery of the new Camp Creek West zone (see hole CCF21-PAD03-015). This high-grade silver-lead-zinc zone has been interpreted as a chimney system which occurs within the McDame Formation limestone, in the footwall of the Camp Creek Fault, and is shallower than the Camp Creek zone.
No previous drilling exists on the west side of the Camp Creek Fault, as the typical Silvertip ore host rock was previously assumed to be eroded away. The new chimney system coincides directly with a moderately conductive zone detected in airborne geophysics SkyTEM models performed in 2021. Based on modeling and interpretation of adjacent lines, the zone could potentially extend another 1.5 miles (two kilometers) from the new Camp Creek West discovery hole. New drill sites are being permitted that plan to test extensions north and south of these initial intercepts.
For the remainder of 2022, Coeur expects to continue infill drilling in the Southern Silver and Central zones from underground. An additional surface core rig is expected to be added following the snow melt to perform expansion drilling at Camp Creek West.
Kensington2,3
The 2021 Kensington exploration program focused on infill and expansion drilling along the upper Kensington, Elmira, Johnson and Raven vein structures as well as testing new district targets. During the first quarter of 2022, the Company focused on infill drilling at Elmira and Kensington Zone 30 from underground and recently added a surface core rig at Jualin.
New infill holes into upper Kensington Zone 30 have encountered excellent grade thickness, as demonstrated by hole K21-2050-216-X01A highlighted in the graphic above. These grades are similar to Jualin but are tellurium-type ore typically encountered in the Kensington deposit, which provides the bulk of Kensington’s gold production.
Elmira and the development drift established in late 2020 represent potential areas of future mining at Kensington. The Company plans to continue drilling these areas while focusing on refining the vein shapes through 2022. Coeur declared a maiden reserve for Elmira at year-end 2021 with the goal of mining the deposit beginning in early 2023.
During the remainder of 2022, Coeur plans to (i) prioritize infill drilling at Elmira and Eureka, (ii) continue expansion drilling around the edges of Elmira, Johnson, and Jennifer, (iii) conduct surface expansion drilling at Jualin and the Valentine prospect and (iv) drill at new areas of Kensington Zone 30 and the southern portion of Kensington.
Palmarejo2,3
Several key highlights from the 2021 exploration program include:
Hidalgo zone (Independencia deposit)
North Independencia zone (Independencia deposit)
La Nacion zone (Independencia deposit)
Zapata zone ( Guadalupe deposit)
La Patria zone (Guadalupe deposit)
Guazapares district (greenfields exploration)
In addition, Coeur expects to continue testing new targets in the Guazapares district including the La Carmela zone, which is located immediately to the east and outside of claims subject to the Franco Nevada Stream.
About Coeur
Coeur Mining, Inc. is a U.S.-based, well-diversified, growing precious metals producer with four wholly-owned operations: the Palmarejo gold-silver complex in Mexico, the Rochester silver-gold mine in Nevada, the Kensington gold mine in Alaska and the Wharf gold mine in South Dakota. In addition, the Company wholly-owns the Silvertip silver-zinc-lead development project in British Columbia has interests in several precious metals exploration projects throughout North America.
Conversion Table
1 short ton | = | 0.907185 metric tons |
1 troy ounce | = | 31.10348 grams |
Silvertip – Plan View (Graphic: Business Wire)
Palmarejo – Plan View (Graphic: Business Wire)
Kensington – Plan View (Graphic: Business Wire)
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