Recent drill results from Outcrop Silver & Gold’s (TSXV: OCG) Santa Ana project in west-central Colombia have confirmed wide, high-grade zones inside the Los Mangos vein system.
Highlight hole DH464 cut 3.86 metres grading 433 grams silver per tonne and 2.51 grams gold from 225 metres depth, including 1 metre at 984 grams silver and 3.37 grams gold, Outcrop reported on Wednesday. The project is located near Falan, Tolima Department, about 200 km west of the capital Bogota.
The results are along strike of hole DH459, which cut 18.3 metres grading 736 grams silver and 3.41 grams gold from 193.7 metres depth, one of the highest-grade intercepts ever at Santa Ana, the company reported last week. It included 5.2 metres at 1,809 grams silver and 9.7 grams gold.
“Every new intercept at Los Mangos strengthens the case that the central portion of Santa Ana can add meaningful tonnes and grade in short order,” CEO Ian Harris said in a release. “These results validate our fully funded 24,000 metre drill program, which is laser focused on converting discoveries into ounces for the next resource update.”
Outcrop shares were down 4.7% on Wednesday morning, for a market capitalization of C$75.23 million.
Silver price tailwinds
The latest results from Santa Ana come as silver prices have gained about 14% this year to $32.16 per oz. on Wednesday. The rise has been driven by increasing industrial demand for the precious metal in electronics, solar panels and electric vehicles. Its price has over most of the past year touched highs last seen in 2013.
Another significant intersection at Los Mangos was in hole DH461, which returned 5.27 metres grading 195 grams silver and 0.17 gram gold from 223.5 metres depth, including 0.61 metres at 1,213 grams silver and 0.92 gram gold.
The Los Mangos vein system sits in the southwest area of the 17-km mineralized Santa Ana corridor. It’s located more than 8 km south of the resource area.
Top silver district
The 270-sq.-km Santa Ana project is located in the Mariquita District, known as the country’s biggest and highest-grade silver region. Mining activity in the district stretches back to the 16th century.
Santa Ana hosts 1.22 million indicated tonnes grading 446 grams silver and 2.3 grams gold for 17.5 million contained silver oz. and 88,800 oz. gold, according to a 2023 initial resource. Inferred resources total 966,000 tonnes at 312 grams silver and 1.6 grams gold, for 9.6 million oz. silver and 50,900 oz. gold.
