Viscount Mining (TSXV:VML) has announced the completion of its successful 4-phased step-out drill program at the Kate deposit, with a mineral resource estimate to follow shortly. Tenneco Minerals leased the property back in 1987, and had previous drill data available. Drilling had been done from 1968, and included results from 11,930 metre in 249 drill holes. Tenneco picked up the drilling with an additional 143 holes totally 7,949 metres. At that point, the company decided to construct a milling operation for the extraction of the silver reserves at Silver Cliff as an open pit mine.

Silver Cliff’s primary deposit was the Kate Silver Resource, with a historical estimate of 50M oz silver (not NI 43-101 compliant). Viscount took control of the property from Tenneco Minerals and started the first post-Tenneco drill program in 2106. The goal was to twin some of the historic drill holes at the Kate deposit with the highest-grade intercepts. Once the company received positive results from the program, ten more holes were twinned in 2017 in an area that was previously overlooked.

Viscount restarted drilling at the Kate in the fall of 2020. The primary goal of Phase 1 was to explore Arseneau’s 2018 assertion about the KSR boundary. Assay findings from holes including 20-03, which revealed 14.9 m of core testing over 703 G/T and 1.5 m testing at 3280 G/T, supported the necessity for a further inquiry into the high-grade zone within the KSR and defined an adjacent higher grade zone.

In 2021, the program moved from exploring higher-grade zone mineralization within a small area to looking at the southern limits of the KSR’s more advanced grade zone. Shortly after completion, soil sampling was undertaken as part of Phase 2’s study in the northeastern KSR. Hole 21-01 drilled during Phase 2 testing revealed 18.6 m of core testing over 147 G/T, with 1.5 m at 1010 G/T. This helped to define the KSR’s higher grade zone better while soil findings assisted in future drilling efforts by providing information on where best to drill.

In 2021, Phase 3 focused on the southward extension of the KSR higher grade zone. Drill holes were also drilled to the northeast and northwest of the existing KSR limits in order to evaluate promising soil sampling anomalies discovered during the previous phase. Positive drilling results from Phase 3 proved that the higher grade zone should be extended to the south, prompting further study on whether or how far to extend it to the north.

In the spring of 2022, we started Phase 4 which only had one goal: to explore if the ore body could expand in different areas. We placed most expansion holes near the West and Northeast boundary with one hole placed in the KSR gap.

Jacob Hooker, Silver Cliff Exploration Manager commented in a press release: “The Kate deposit was the first of 4 historical deposits at Silver Cliff to be drilled by Viscount. With historical information from the Kate being confirmed we will continue to step out the drilling to expand the higher grade zones. We have also been focusing on the historical Passiflora deposit with exciting news forthcoming.”

Jim MacKenzie Viscount CEO stated: “The overall results of the 4 phase drill program at the Kate has been very successful. We were able to confirm the hypothesis that there exists a higher-grade zone within the KSR that had been previously much ignored. Also, drilling has expanded the resource in 3 key directions that remain open to expansion. Now that all four phases are completed, our Independent Geologist is reviewing assays and analyzing the results along with the calculation of the data from the 46 additional holes drilled by Viscount since 2020. These results and selected historic drilling results will be included in an updated NI 43-101 to be released shortly. Our next phase of drilling at the Kate will include some areas to the North-North-West that have shown good potential combined with historical information, but has not been drill tested.”

Silver Cliff Exploration Manager Jacob Hooker commented: “Not only will these results help expand the silver resource, they also have great implications for inexpensive open-pit mining with most of the mineralization being immediately below the surface.”

Now that all four stages are completed, the company’s geologist is evaluating assays and analyzing the findings, as well as the data from Viscount’s 46 new holes drilled since 2020. An updated NI 43-101 will include these results and certain past drilling outcomes.

The above references an opinion and is for information purposes only. It is not intended to be investment advice. Seek a licensed professional for investment advice. The author is not an insider or shareholder of any of the companies mentioned above.