Patriot Resources has hit a suite of metals including silver, lead, zinc, copper and highly anomalous molybdenum in maiden surface sampling at a new target, just two kilometres northeast of its 31.4 million-ounce silver-equivalent Tassa resource in southern Peru.
First-pass work across the Elvira sector of the company's Pachamayo target has identified a 120-metre-long by 20m-wide mineralised opaline silica breccia, with the best rock sample returning 27.7 grams per tonne (g/t) silver, 3000 parts per million (ppm) lead and 2550ppm arsenic.
Another opaline breccia sample assayed 17.6g/t silver with elevated pathfinder elements, including 111ppm antimony and 36ppm bismuth. Sampling of the surrounding altered volcanic tuffaceous rocks also returned encouraging results, with one rock chip grading 1130ppm zinc and 343ppm molybdenum, while another jagged 1695ppm lead and 246ppm molybdenum.
Patriot’s initial sampling at Elvira covered 65 hectares and comprised 38 surface rock samples. The company says the results confirm localised silver and base metal anomalism, well beyond the limits of the current Tassa mineral resource just 2km to the southwest.
Management says the silver-lead-zinc and arsenic-antimony-bismuth-molybdenum association is a typical classic epithermal signature, similar to that noted in the main Tassa zone. It believes the opaline silica at surface is particularly significant, as it typically forms at the very top of these systems, suggesting the mineralisation could be well preserved, with its richest zones potentially lying below the weathering-resistant silica cap.
Patriot Resources chief executive officer and managing director Dominic Duggan said: “First-pass mapping and sampling has uncovered a new silver–base metal mineralised centre."..."It contains a classic epithermal pathfinder suite of arsenic, antimony, alongside bismuth and molybdenum, which may point to a hotter, intrusion-related source.”
The company is now investigating whether the mineralisation at Elvira represents an extension of the main Tassa hydrothermal system or a separate mineralised centre, potentially opening another exploration front within the broader project.
The Tassa project already hosts an impressive JORC-compliant inferred resource of 18.53 million tonnes grading 52.68 grams per tonne for 31.4 million ounces of silver equivalent. The company has also outlined a massive exploration target of 359 to 422 million tonnes grading 48g/t to 57g/t silver equivalent, potentially containing a further 559 to 774 million silver equivalent ounces.
The discovery sits within the company’s 100 per cent-owned Tassa silver-gold project and comes as capital for mine development continues to pour into Peru, with investment in its commodity sector hitting US$3.3 billion in the first half of this year - a whopping year-on-year leap of 42.7 per cent.
Peru holds the world’s biggest silver reserves and ranks among the leading producers of zinc and molybdenum - accounting for roughly 12 per cent and 15 per cent of global output, respectively. The nation also sits high in the world's silver production table, with recent US Geological data placing it third globally, behind Mexico and China.
While awaiting drill permits for its main Tassa resource area, Patriot says it plans to conduct further mapping and sampling across the two kilometre-long corridor between Tassa and Elvira to better understand the potential continuity between the two zones.
With a solid resource already in the bag at Tassa, a massive exploration target in the wings and a possible new mineralised zone now emerging just up the road, Patriot appears to be building serious target potential in one of the world’s premier silver jurisdictions. If this new discovery at Elvira is indeed just the tip of a big shiny iceberg, things could get very interesting once the drill rigs begin probing its depths.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@businessnews.com.au
