Drilling Underway at Southern Silver's Oro Project In New Mexico

 

VANCOUVER, BC - Southern Silver Exploration Corp. reported that diamond drilling is underway at its approximately 1,000-hectare Oro Project in the Eureka Mining District of Grant County, New Mexico. The district is part of a belt of major, precious-metal-rich Carbonate Replacement Deposits (CRD's) that extend southward from western New Mexico through east-central Mexico.

This first-phase, 1000-metre drilling program is expected to consist of four holes that will test four separate gold-rich CRD target areas. Target selection was based on dump and rock-chip geochemistry and historic underground mine mapping, with each area described in more detail below. Permits have been approved by the BLM and New Mexico State for ten drill sites, allowing for additional phases of drilling.

Production from CRD's has occurred at the Oro project since the discovery of lead, copper, and silver in 1877 sporadically through the early 1960's. The New Mexico Bureau of Mines estimates production from the Eureka District between 1880 and 1961 at 2.9 million pounds of lead, 1.7 million pounds of zinc, 0.5 million pounds of copper, 0.45 million ounces of silver, and 5,000 ounces of gold. Reported grades are attractive, in the range of 20 oz/ton Ag, 4% combined Zn and Pb, and up to 0.04 oz/ton Au. Small amounts of very high-grade Ag and Cu mineralization have been reported.