Sierra Metals Inc. (TSX: SMT) (BVL: SMT) (NYSE AMERICAN: SMTS) today announced drilling results demonstrating high grade polymetallic ore and a new mineralization style of Hydrothermal Breccias located at the Contacto Oriental Zone extension situated within the Central Mine at Yauricocha.

To date, four holes have been executed from the 1070 level of the Yauricocha Mine in the Contacto Oriental Area. These holes have intercepted polymetallic sulphide mineralization containing high-grade zinc and copper zones over significant widths. These results demonstrate the potential for high grade mineralization within the reported area, and more importantly indicate the continued existence of extensive mineralization at depth. These results come as part of an ongoing brownfield drilling program testing priority targets at the Yauricocha Mine, which is located 150 kilometers east-southeast of Lima in the Yauricocha Mining District (Cordillera Occidental), Peru.

Igor Gonzales, President and CEO of Sierra Metals stated: “Today’s results represents further the further potential at the Yauricocha Mine with the identification of high-grade polymetallic mineralization at the Contacto Oriental zone. It also suggests the possibility of even further mineralization at depth, specifically from the Zinc sulphide orebodies which contain significant widths.”  He continued, “The Central Mine area contains several high-grade mineralized areas opening the possibility for further discoveries of additional orebodies along the Yauricocha fault. The Company made a strong commitment to brownfield exploration as part of its growth plan, and results such as the ones released today continue to demonstrate that this investment is paying off with the potential to further grow our mineral resources, and add high value tonnage”.

Alonso Lujan, Vice President, Exploration of Sierra Metals commented: “The location of the new discovery is outside of the Yauricocha Fault contact zone, which is important as it confirms the exploration upside of zones previously unexplored. Prior exploration efforts at Yauricocha were mainly focused on the Yauricocha contact zone.” He continued, “the results reported today from the Contacto Oriental zone demonstrate the existence of high-grade, sulphide mineralized sectors containing mainly copper and zinc as show in table 1 below. Generally hydrothermal breccias are large structures and the discovery of a new style of mineralization represents a new opportunity to further increase resources.”

All reported intercepts are core length as further drilling is required to determine true thicknesses.

A map of the Yauricocha Mine 1070 level (Central Mine) is shown in Figure 1. Figure 2 shows the location of the area explored. Figures 3, 4 and 5 show the cross sections of the drill holes (Please note in figure 5 the width of the Copper sulphide orebody is more than 25 meters).

Table 1 – Selected Drill Hole Assay Results on Contacto Oriental Zone

Quality Control

All samples were dried, crushed and pulverized by the Chumpe Lab at site, pulp samples were shipped by ALS Peru S.A. Lab Chemex) to their laboratory in Lima, Peru.

The quality assurance-quality control program employed by Sierra Metals has been described in detail in the NI-43-101 report for Yauricocha dated December 9, 2016, prepared by SRK Consulting in Denver, which is available for review on Sedar. Standards and blanks are inserted into the sample stream and duplicate samples are sent to the ALS Peru S.A. lab (Chemex) in Lima as per internal quality control procedures. 

Qualified Persons

The technical content of this news release has been reviewed and approved by Gordon Babcock P.Eng., Chief Operating Officer and a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects. 

Americo Zuzunaga, MAusIMM CP (Mining Engineer) and Vice President of Corporate Planning is a Qualified Person and chartered professional qualifying as a Competent Person under the

Joint Ore Reserves Committee (JORC) Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves.

Augusto Chung, FAusIMM CP (Metallurgist) and Consultant to Sierra Metals is a Qualified Person and chartered professional qualifying as a Competent Person on metallurgical processes.

About Sierra Metals

Sierra Metals Inc. is Canadian based growing polymetallic mining company with production from its Yauricocha Mine in Peru, and its Bolivar and Cusi Mines in Mexico. The Company is focused on increasing production volume and growing mineral resources. Sierra Metals has recently had several new key discoveries and still has many more exciting brownfield exploration opportunities at all three Mines in Peru and Mexico that are within close proximity to the existing mines. Additionally, the Company also has large land packages at all three mines with several prospective regional targets providing longer term exploration upside and mineral resource growth potential.