Fortuna Silver Mines Inc. (NYSE: FSM) (TSX: FVI) is pleased to announce the discovery of the Yessi vein, a new blind mineralized structure, at the San Jose Mine in Mexico.

Paul Weedon, Senior Vice President of Exploration, commented, “Drilling by the mine geology team recognized a new blind zone of alteration and brecciation, resulting in the intersection of 1,299 g/t Ag Eq over 9.9 meters in drill hole SJOM-1387, and 621 g/t Ag Eq over 5 meters in drill hole SJOM-1391. This new zone has been named the Yessi vein.” Mr. Weedon continued, “Extension drilling intersected the Yessi vein approximately 200 meters further east of the Victoria Mineralized Zone, highlighting the potential size and strength of San Jose´s mineralized system.” Mr. Weedon added, “Drilling continues with additional holes planned along strike to the north and south to further define the extent of Yessi´s mineralization.”

Yessi vein drilling highlights include:

• SJOM1387: 1,299 g/t Ag Eq over an estimated true width of 9.9 meters
• SJOM1391:     621 g/t Ag Eq over an estimated true width of 5.0 meters
• SJOM1396:     483 g/t Ag Eq over an estimated true width of 0.7 meters

Three drill holes totaling 1,118 meters were completed from an underground platform after infill drilling on the Victoria Mineralized Zone intersected alteration and brecciation towards the original planned depth in drill hole SJOM-1387. The resulting 200-meter extension returned intervals of up to 90 meters of brecciation, alteration, and zones of mineralization (refer to Figure 1). These holes support the interpretation of the Yessi vein, which represents the easternmost limit of mineralization intersected at San Jose to date and which does not have any surface expression, highlighting the regional prospectivity.  

A review of the geochemical signature of the Yessi vein indicates a potentially different phase of mineralization with respect to the other San Jose mineralized structures, containing a higher gold to silver ratio and low levels of base metals. Further work is planned to better understand the relationship between the Yessi vein and the broader mineralized system at the San Jose Mine.

Additional drilling is currently underway to define the strike extent and geometry of the Yessi vein. Mineralization remains open along strike to the north and south, and at depth. Refer to Appendix 1 for details of the Yessi vein drill holes and assay results.

Figure 1: Cross section A – A’ looking north showing recent drilling results.

Quality Assurance & Quality Control

Following detailed geological and geotechnical logging, drill core samples are split on-site by diamond sawing. One half of the core is submitted to the internal laboratory located in the CMC facilities. The CMC laboratory has been accredited by the Standard Council of Canada (ISO 17025: 2017) for preparation, drying, gravimetry, fire assay, Inductively Coupled Plasma, and Atomic Absorption processes. The remaining half core is retained on-site for verification and reference purposes. Following preparation, the samples are assayed for gold and silver by standard fire assay methods and for silver and base metals by Inductively Coupled Plasma and as well as three acid digestion at the same internal laboratory. The QA-QC program includes the blind insertion of certified reference standards and assay blanks at a frequency of approximately 1 per 20 normal samples as well as the inclusion of duplicate samples for verification of sampling and assay precision levels.

Qualified Person

Paul Weedon, Senior Vice President of Exploration for Fortuna Silver Mines Inc., is a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 being a member of the Australian Institute of Geoscientists (Membership #6001). Mr. Weedon has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical information contained in this news release. Mr. Weedon has verified the data disclosed, and the sampling, analytical and test data underlying the information or opinions contained herein by reviewing geochemical and geological databases and reviewing diamond drill core. There were no limitations to the verification process.

About Fortuna Silver Mines Inc.

Fortuna Silver Mines Inc. is a Canadian precious metals mining company with five operating mines in Argentina, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Mexico, and Peru. Sustainability is integral to all our operations and relationships. We produce gold and silver and generate shared value over the long-term for our stakeholders through efficient production, environmental protection, and social responsibility.