Silver Intercepts At El Rayo Silver Project
TORONTO, ON - Soltoro Ltd. has received results for an additional twelve diamond drill holes at the El Rayo primary silver deposit in Jalisco, Mexico. All twelve holes were completed on the Soledad structure. The Soledad structure is one of three deposits that make up the existing 77.4 million ounce measured and indicated in-pit silver resource. The east-west trending Soledad deposit was recently added to the resource where an initial 13 million ounces of silver has been defined to date. To date at Soledad, two high-grade silver zones (Central and Western) have been identified.
Andrew Thomson, President and CEO said, "Two drills continue to operate at El Rayo with a view to expanding existing resources. Ray11-113 was drilled in the western silver zone at Soledad and confirms that the high grade silver mineralization continues at depth. These results were not included in the current Soledad resource. An associated series of ground and airborne magnetic anomalies has been traced for several kilometres east and west along strike and are slated for drilling in 2012."
Soledad Central: Hole Ray11-101 was drilled to test mineralization at depth on cross-section 565950. The hole intersected a 9.1 m interval averaging 2.3% Pb with anomalous silver, zinc and gold values. Holes Ray11-102, Ray11-105 and Ray11-108 were drilled on cross-section 566,000 to infill along strike and to test the mineralization at depth. Hole Ray11-102 was unable to penetrate the Soledad fault zone and did not reach it's intended target. Holes Ray11-105 and Ray11-108 intersected narrow anomalous silver mineralization but both encountered lead and zinc mineralization with sporadic anomalous gold. These results suggest that mineralization at depth on the Soledad structure may be transitioning from silver-rich to base metal-rich mineralization with possible associated gold. Additional drilling is planned to test this mineralization at depth.
Soledad West: Holes Ray11-100 and Ray11-113 were drilled to test the Western mineralized zone of the Soledad deposit down dip from hole Ray11-73 (33.5 m averaging 198 g/t Ag). Hole Ray11-100 was abandoned in the Soledad fault zone. A larger drill rig was moved onto the same drill pad and was able to pass through the fault zone and intersect a strongly mineralized zone (Ray11-113 - 16.8 m averaging 567 g/t Ag uncut). This extends the mineralization encountered in holes Ray11-73 and Ray11-85 to depth. Further drilling is planned to expand the resource.
Soledad East Extension: Holes Ray11-115, Ray11-116, Ray11-117 and Ray11-119 were drilled to test the Soledad structure along strike to the east. Results from holes Ray11-115, Ray11-116 and Ray11-117 confirm that the structure is present but mineralized intervals are narrow and grades are low. A recently completed ground magnetic survey suggests that the La Soledad structure continues for several kilometers to the east and additional exploration is planned to test these zones.
Corral Veins: Holes Ray11-103, Ray11-104 and Ray11-106 were drilled to test two narrow structures discovered during mapping south of the Soledad deposit. The best interval encountered in these holes is 4.5 m averaging 57 g/t Ag. No further work is planned in this area.
Soltoro released an in-pit mineral resource estimate for the Las Bolas, Highway Zone and La Soledad mineral deposits at its 100% owned El Rayo silver-gold project in Jalisco, Mexico. At the cut-off grade of 20 g/t Ag the Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources are 42,200,000 tonnes at an average grade of 57.11 g/t Ag containing approximately 77.4 million ounces of silver, and 580,000 tonnes of Inferred Mineral Resources at an average grade of 65.51 g/t silver, containing approximately 1,180,000 ounces of silver.
The Company has two diamond drills operating at the El Rayo silver project with the objective of expanding the existing NI 43-101 silver resource. Soltoro has optioned several of its properties in Jalisco State. The Company continues to actively advance its Chinipas, La Tortuga, El Santuario and Peûa Grande projects.