Silvercorp Metals Inc. (TSX: SVM) (NYSE American: SVM) is pleased to report assay results from its ongoing diamond drilling program at the TLP mine within the Ying Mining District, China (Figure 1).

Highlights (all intersections are in core lengths)

High-grade intercepts of Ag mineralization in the Surface Zone (SF Zone):

• Surface hole ZKTDB0102 intersected 2,186 grams per tonne silver, 6.80% lead, 0.35% zinc, 0.11 g/t gold (“Au”), and 0.43% copper over a 2.29 metre interval of vein T1W2 at the 1,014 m elevation
• Surface hole ZKTDB0207 intersected 948 g/t Ag, and 0.47% Pb over a 0.55 m interval of vein T28E at the 1,104 m elevation; and 1,453 g/t Ag, 4.58% Pb, 1.69% Zn, and 0.53% Cu over a 0.66 m interval of vein T1 at the 1,097 m elevation
• Underground hole ZKT0839 intersected 1,646 g/t Ag, 2.92% Pb, 1.53% Zn, and 0.33% Cu over a 0.60 m interval of vein T14E at the 912 m elevation; and 1,045 g/t Au, 7.03% Pb, 0.58% Zn, 0.09 g/t Au, and 0.12% Cu over a 1.13m interval of vein T16E2 at the 897 m elevation, and
• Underground hole ZKT1008 intersected 938 g/t Ag, 7.97% Pb, 0.62% Zn, 0.12 g/t Au, and 0.17% Cu over a 1.73 m interval of vein T14E at the 918 m elevation

High-grade Ag intercepts at the Production Zone (P Zone):

• Underground hole ZKG1830 intersected 5,955 g/t Ag, 1.53% Pb, 0.98% Zn, 0.05 g/t Au, and 0.21% Cu over an 0.60 m interval of vein T22E2 at the 757 m elevation; and 1,737 g/t Ag, 12.60% Pb, 0.9% Zn, and 0.20 g/t Au over a 0.59 m interval of vein T16W at the 743 m elevation
• Underground hole ZKG0324 intersected 442 g/t Ag, 9.65% Pb, 0.13% Zn, 0.10 g/t Au, and 0.09% Cu over a 3.24 m interval of vein T15W at the 773 m elevation, and
• Underground hole ZKT1317 intersected 661 g/t Ag, 1.07% Pb, 0.68% Zn, 0.44 g/t Au, and 0.71% Cu over a 1.94 m interval of vein T1W1 at the 638 m elevation; and 1,004 g/t Ag, 2.43% Pb, 6.22% Zn, 0.70 g/t Au, and 0.20% Cu over a 0.52 m interval of vein T1 at the 631 m elevation

From June 16 to December 31, 2023, a total of 23,742 m in 180 diamond drill holes, including 157 underground holes and 23 surface holes, were completed at the TLP mine. Assay results for 158 holes have been received, of which 101 holes intersected mineralized vein structures. Selected assay results are presented in Table 1 below.

This drilling program has been focused on two target areas: 1) silver-lead vein structures in the resource area at higher elevations, close to surface (SF Zone), which have seen limited exploration; and 2) infill drilling in the production area (P Zone), particularly above or below previously-mined stopes, where production stopped due to higher than modelled variability in grades, thicknesses, and attitudes of the vein structures (Figure 2).

     1)      Drilling Near-Surface Ag-Pb Vein Structures within SF Zone

In addition to the 23 surface drill holes, which account for over 12.8% of the drill holes in this program, many underground holes drilled also targeted the vein structures at higher elevations above 900 m elevation. High-grade Ag-Pb vein structures intersected include the T1 series, T2, T3, T14 series, T15 series, T16 series, T23 series, T26 series, and T28 series (Table 1).

     2)      Drilling Above or Beneath Previously-Mined Stopes within P Zone

Most holes drilled during this period targeted blocks of known Ag-Pb vein structures that were previously missed due to limited drilling or tunneling, or changes in thickness, strikes and dips of the pay-zones in veins within the resource areas below the 900 m elevation. The high-grade intercepts are mainly associated with the northwest-dipping T1 series, T2 series, T3 series, T11 series, T15 series, T16 series, T23 series, and T31 series, and the east-dipping T14, T22 series, and T28 series. These intercepts are expected to significantly expand and upgrade resources. Since the ramps and access tunnels are already in place, these defined high-grade blocks could be quickly developed and mined.

Table 1: Selected intercepts at the TLP mine in the reporting period

Quality Control

Drill cores are NQ size. Drill core samples, limited by apparent mineralization contacts or shear/alteration contacts, were split into halves by sawing. The half cores are stored in the Company’s core shacks for future reference and checks, and the other half core samples are shipped in securely sealed bags to the Chengde Huakan 514 Geology and Minerals Test and Research Institute in Chengde, Hebei Province, China, 226 km northeast of Beijing, the Zhengzhou Nonferrous Exploration Institute Lab in Zhengzhou, Henan Province, China, and SGS in Tianjin, China. All three labs are ISO9000 certified analytical labs. For analysis, the sample is dried and crushed to minus 1mm and then split into a 200-300 g subsample which is further pulverized to minus 200 mesh. Two subsamples are prepared from the pulverized sample. One is digested with aqua regia for gold analysis with atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS), and the other is digested by two-acid digestion for analysis of silver, lead, zinc and copper with AAS.

Channel samples are collected along sample lines perpendicular to the mineralized vein structure in exploration tunnels. Spacing between sampling lines is typically 5 m along strike. Both the mineralized vein and the altered wall rocks are cut by continuous chisel chipping. Sample length ranges from 0.4 m to more than 1 m, depending on the width of the mineralized vein and the mineralization type. Channel samples are prepared and assayed with AAS at Silvercorp’s mine laboratory (Ying Lab) located at the mill complex in Luoning County, Henan Province, China. The Ying lab is officially accredited by the Quality and Technology Monitoring Bureau of Henan Province and is qualified to provide analytical services. The channel samples are dried, crushed and pulverized. A 200 g sample of minus 160 mesh is prepared for assay. A duplicate sample of minus 1mm is made and kept in the laboratory archives. Gold is analysed by fire assay with AAS finish, while silver, lead, zinc and copper are assayed by two-acid digestion with AAS finish.

A routine quality assurance/quality control procedure is adopted to monitor the analytical quality at each lab. Certified reference materials, pulp duplicates and blanks are inserted into each batch of lab samples. QA/QC data at the lab are attached to the assay certificates for each batch of samples.

The Company maintains its own comprehensive QA/QC program to ensure best practices in sample preparation and analysis of the exploration samples. Project geologists regularly insert CRM, field duplicates and blanks to each batch of 30 core samples to monitor the sample preparation and analysis procedures at the labs. The analytical quality of the labs is further evaluated with external checks by sending approximately 3-5% of the pulp samples to higher level labs to check for lab bias.  Data from both the Company’s and the labs’ QA/QC programs are reviewed on a timely basis by project geologists.

Guoliang Ma, P. Geo., Manager of Exploration and Resource of the Company, is the Qualified Person for Silvercorp under NI 43-101 and has reviewed and given consent to the technical information contained in this news release.

About Silvercorp

Silvercorp is a Canadian mining company producing silver, gold, lead, and zinc with a long history of profitability and growth potential. The Company’s strategy is to create shareholder value by 1) focusing on generating free cashflow from long life mines; 2) organic growth through extensive drilling for discovery; 3) ongoing merger and acquisition efforts to unlock value; and 4) long term commitment to responsible mining and sound Environmental, Social, and Governance practices.

SVM Map (CNW Group/Silvercorp Metals Inc)