Summa Silver Corp. (TSXV: SSVR) (OTCQX: SSVRF) announced that it has commenced an exploration drill program at the high-grade silver-gold Hughes Project near Tonopah, Nevada (the “Hughes Project”).
Highlights
- Drilling has commenced: A reverse-circulation drill rig has been mobilized to site and is currently advancing the first hole of the program. A core rig is also on-site and will be drilling core tails on select holes.
- High-Potential Targets: Five targets will be tested and a minimum of seven holes are planned. Targets were selected based on thorough interpretations of geophysical, geochemical, and geological mapping data acquired by the Company (see attached figures).
- Additional Drilling at the Ruby Discovery: Representing the extension of the Tonopah District and located 1.3 km east of the Belmont Mine, this discovery will be tested with aggressive step-outs.
- Mineralization already intersected at Ruby: The three holes drilled by the Company at Ruby in 2020 and 2021 all intersected zones of quartz veining, alteration and intermittent mineralization with features strikingly similar to the ore bodies in the heart of Tonopah district (see previously released core photos from SUM21-49 here and the Company’s press releases dated December 17, 2020 and March 3, 2022).
- New Targets include Emerald, Diamond, Sapphire, and Topaz: These four new target areas, which were previously unrecognized, represent significant discovery opportunities just outside of the historic Tonopah mining district.
- Fully Funded: The Company remains fully funded with approximately $10.5 million in working capital.
Hughes Exploration Drill Program
The focus for this phase of exploration drilling is on testing previously undrilled epithermal vein targets identified by Summa over the course of multiple ground-based exploration programs (Figure 1). The targets are all east of the historic Tonopah mining district and will be tested using both reverse circulation (RC) and core drilling methods in a minimum of seven holes.
Four Main Target Areas
Ruby: The Ruby discovery has been drilled by the company in three holes completed in 2020 and 2021 (see Figures 1 and 2). The area is characterized by a broad zone of pyrite-rich, phyllic alteration transitioning to strong argillic + silica alteration peripheral to a wide zone of strong epithermal-related gold and silver mineralization hosted in quartz-rich breccias and veins. All three holes intersected zones of local mineralization highlighted by hole SUM20-10 which intersected 469 g/t silver equivalent (258 g/t Ag and 2.63 g/t Au) over 2m (see the Company’s press release dated December 17, 2020). 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. Modelling suggests an east-west trend to the structural zone. Drilling will investigate the eastern strike-extent of Ruby mineralization and the exploration target is an extension of the Tonopah district.
Emerald: The Emerald target is centered on an outcropping zone of polymictic, carbonate-rich hydrothermal breccia (see Figure 3). The zone is spatially associated with a broad arsenic-in-soil geochemical anomaly and proximal to a property-scale, north-trending normal fault. The breccia occurrence is interpreted to represent the paleosurface and/or upper-level expression of a low-sulfidation epithermal vein system. Drilling will target the breccia at depth to test the gold and silver potential of the system below the paleosurface.
Topaz, Diamond and Sapphire: These targets comprise a series of coincident soil and geophysical anomalies with local zones of outcropping chalcedonic quartz-cemented breccias. Zones of near-surface and coincident high-chargeability and high-resistivity anomalies located proximal to magnetic lineaments are interpreted to represent epithermal vein-hosted targets. Reconnaissance-style RC holes will test three targets over a 2 kilometer east-west trend.
At Ruby, two holes are planned to be drilled with RC (reverse circulation) pre-collars followed by core tails through the target zones. At the other targets, four holes are planned to be drilled via RC. A pXRF (portable Xray fluorescence) instrument will provide 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.
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