This morning, Summa Silver (TSX-V:SSVR, OTC:SSVRF) announced drill results from its Mogollon Project near Silver City, New Mexico. The Mogollon property is the largest historic silver producing property in New Mexico, and Summa has had success in demonstrating that an abundance of gold and silver still remains in the ground around the historic mine workings.
Highlights of recent drilling at Mogollon include:
- 23.2 meters averaging 433 g/t silver-equivalent (3.66 g/t Au, 134 g/t Ag) including 1.1 meters at 2,686 g/t silver-equivalent (26.3 g/t Au, 484 g/t Ag) both beginning at 240.5 meters downhole in hole MOG23-16.
- 15.5 meters averaging 250 g/t silver-equivalent (2.29 g/t Au, 60 g/t Ag) beginning at 186.6 meters and 10.3 meters at 234 g/t silver-equivalent (2.12 g/t Au, 59 g/t Ag) beginning at 221.1 meters downhole in hole MOG22-12.
The focus of the recently completed multi-rig drill program at the Mogollon Project was the Queen Vein, testing for un-mined extensions of the Consolidated Mine. Holes MOG22-13, MOG23-14, 16, 18, 17 and 19 were drilled north of the Consolidated mine and holes MOG22-12 and MOG23-15 were drilled south of Consolidated mine. The results to date demonstrate strong grade continuity along the vein and within the complex vein system. These results outline two key areas, north and south of Consolidated, that require additional infill and step-out holes to better constrain plunge orientations and the lateral and vertical continuity of the high-grade mineralized zones.
Summa intends to integrate historic drill results with its own drilling in order to create an updated model for Mogollon. This updated model will help to develop drill targets for a planned fall drill program at Mogollon.
Meanwhile, Summa is preparing to resume drilling at its Hughes Project near Tonopah, Nevada. Hughes is the project that helped to get it all started for Summa. Many readers will know that Tonopah was once the 2nd richest silver district in all of Nevada (2nd to the Comstock Lode). In the first half of the 20th century, the Tonopah District produced 175 million ounces of silver and 1.86 million ounces of gold from 8.8 million tons of rock.
Exploration success by Blackrock Silver and Summa in the last few years has helped to reinvigorate the gold & silver potential of Tonopah. Summa has intercepted high-grade gold & silver at Hughes in multiple drill holes in and around the historic Belmont Mine, including:
- 3,971 g/t AgEq over 2.8 meters in hole SUM21-30
- 1,529 g/t AgEq over 4.3 meters in hole SUM21-31
- 536 g/t AgEq over 18.1 meters in hole SUM20-06
At Hughes, Summa has intersected multiple zones with grades above 1,000 g/t AgEq over a 3.5 kilometer trend. Most of the mineralized zones remain open and several targets remain untested.
The first time I visited Tonopah in August 2020 the wide open area to the east of the historic Belmont Mine really caught my attention. If this was the 2nd richest silver district in the history of Nevada surely it has deep roots that extend out from the ‘tree trunk’.
Summa first tested this area to the east that it calls Ruby with three drill holes in 2020/2021. Hole SUM20-10 returned an intriguing .5 meter intercept grading 1,597 g/t silver equivalent (790 g/t silver and 8.07 g/t gold). Perhaps even more notable was that this same hole, SUM-2010, intersected six zones of mineralization where the most significant hydrothermal alteration on the property seen to date was also drilled. In Nevada, hydrothermal alteration zones are often proximal to gold/silver bearing quartz veins. Simply stated, at the exploration stage the more alteration the better.
In this phase of drilling at Ruby, multiple holes are planned to aggressively step out from the holes drilled in this area in 2020/2021. The 2020/21 holes intersected local zones of mineralization, wide zones of veining, and extensive hydrothermal alteration 1.3 kilometers along strike from the historic mines of the Tonopah district.
Subsequent 3D IP geophysical survey work identified coincident chargeability and resistivity anomalies immediately along strike to the east of the drilled area. The coincident anomalies are interpreted to represent broad zones of sulfide-rich, quartz-dominant hydrothermal-related alteration. Modeling suggests an east-west trend to the structural zone. Drilling will investigate the eastern strike-extent of Ruby mineralization, an exploration target that extends the Tonopah District further to the east.
Summa intends to utilize A pXRF (portable Xray fluorescence) instrument in order to generate close to real-time geochemical data focused on key pathfinder elements (e.g., arsenic, antimony, lead, zinc and copper). Based on these early results, additional holes may be drilled at Ruby.
The yet-to-be drilled coincident chargeability and resistivity anomalies were unknown prior to 2021; they sit approximately one mile along strike from the heart of one of the best silver districts in the US. Although largely lower grade, the 2020/2021 holes that Summa drilled on the periphery of the anomalies returned significant intervals of quartz veining with similar textures to the Tonopah veins:
Drill core from hole SUM21-0049 from 2021 drilling at Ruby
Summa has C$10.5 million in working capital and this phase of drilling at Ruby and other targets including Emerald and Topaz is fully funded. Contracts have been signed for both RC and core drilling rigs, with the commencement of drilling at Ruby expected by the end of May.
Ruby represents one of the few drill targets that could actually prove to be a “game-changer”: Not only for Summa Silver shareholders, but also for the entire Tonopah District. Investors will be paying close attention to drill results from Summa as they are made available later in the summer.
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