Endeavour Silver Corp. (NYSE: EXK) (TSX: EDR) reports positive results from its ongoing 2019 exploration program on the Parral project in Chihuahua, Mexico.  Endeavour has completed 15 surface and underground drill holes totaling 3,160 meters (m) and 462 underground channel samples in 3 blocks in the Sierra Plata mine on the Veta Colorada vein system to date. 

The Veta Colorada (including the Sierra Plata and El Verde mines) was a past producing mining operation owned by Grupo Mexico that closed in 1991 due to the low silver price. Endeavour acquired the Veta Colorada properties in 2016 along with the past producing San Patricio and Palmilla mines and related silver veins in the Parral district. 

The Veta Colorada is a major silver vein structure that ranges from 1 to 30 m thick (average 5-10 m), was mined on 7 levels down to 300 m depths below surface in places and has been traced for 7 kilometers.

Surface and Underground Drill Results

Endeavour has drilled 6 surface and 9 underground drill holes so far this year, about half of the planned program, to test an area 600 m long by 500 m deep in and around the Sierra Plata mine workings. Every hole intersected strong silver mineralization, mostly adjacent to old workings, indicating that historic mining focused on very high silver grades and left behind significant high grade silver mineralization (view the Veta Colorada longitudinal section here).

Surface drilling highlights include 346 grams per tonne (gpt) silver over 9.6 m true width (11.1 oz per ton (opT) over 31.5 feet) in hole VCS-02.  Underground drilling highlights include 332 gpt silver over 13.1 m true width (10.7 opT over 43.0 feet) in hole VCU-05.  Several of the surface drill holes intersected old mine workings so the reported mineralized intervals represent only a part of the original silver mineralized zones. 

Complete drill results are shown in the following table:

Underground Channel Sample Results

Endeavour sampled 3 blocks on level 7 to test an area 250 m long by 25 m vertically within the north part of the Sierra Plata mine. Only minor work was needed to re-access and make safe the historic main haulage ramp into the mine.  The Company dewatered the lowest mine levels last year, sampled old mine fill on levels 1 to 6, and recognized the opportunity to drill unmined high grade in all mine levels and sample unmined high grade in the lower mine levels.

Channel sampling highlights include 2 samples exceeding 1,000 gpt such as 1,705 gpt silver over 0.55 m true width in channel 7+66 and 1,480 gpt silver over 0.95 m true width in channel 7+69.  The full width of the vein is not exposed in many of the mine workings so the sampling results are only partly indicative of the silver mineralization. 

The highest grade samples in the channels are shown in the following table:

Bradford Cooke, Endeavour CEO commented, “With the success of our ongoing drilling and sampling exploration programs so far this year, management views the Parral Project as having good potential to develop another new high grade silver mine. The Parral Project is our largest exploration expenditure this year and represents an important part of our growth strategy.”

“We have re-conceptualized the development of the Parral Project as a potential two stage mine project due to the readily accessible high grade mineralized blocks we have delineated underground. Given there are several toll mills operating in the Parral district, and we have already applied for a mining permit requiring minimal new surface disturbance, we envisage a first stage, small scale, high grade toll mine averaging around 200-250 tonnes per day to generate cash flow while we evaluate the possibility of a second stage, larger scale, 1,000-2,000 tpd high grade mine that could become a new core asset.  We plan to mine a bulk sample and process it at a local toll mill in Q3, 2019 so that we can prepare a preliminary economic assessment for the stage one mine by year-end.”

Qualified Person

Godfrey Walton, M.Sc., P.Geo., Endeavour’s President and COO, is the Qualified Person who reviewed and approved this news release and supervised the drilling programs in Mexico. A Quality Control sampling program of reference standards, blanks and duplicates is used to monitor the integrity of all assay results. All samples are split at the local field office and shipped to ALS-Chemex Labs, where they are dried, crushed, split and 50 gram pulp samples are prepared for analysis. Gold is determined by fire assay with an atomic absorption (AA) finish and silver by aqua regia digestion and ICP finish, over-limits by fire assay and gravimetric finish.

About Endeavour Silver

Endeavour Silver Corp. is a mid-tier precious metals mining company that owns and operates four high-grade, underground, silver-gold mines in Mexico. Endeavour is currently advancing the Terronera mine project towards a development decision and exploring its portfolio of exploration and development projects in Mexico and Chile to facilitate its goal to become a premier senior silver producer.  Our philosophy of corporate social integrity creates value for all stakeholders.