Tonopah West Resource Expansion & Step-Out Program Commence

VANCOUVER - Blackrock Silver Corp. has commenced a fully funded 10,000 meter drill program on its Tonopah West project located in West Central Nevada along the Walker Lane gold and silver mineral belt. The project hosts a stope optimized inferred maiden resource estimate of 2.9 million tonnes at a block diluted grade of 208 grams per tonne (g/t) silver (Ag) and 2.5g/t gold (Au) for a total inferred mineral resource of 19,902,000 ounces Ag and 238,000 ounces Au, or 446 g/t silver equivalent (AgEq) for 42.6 million oz AgEq.[1] Silver equivalent grade is based on silver and gold prices of US$20/ounce and US$1750/ounce, respectively.

The program consists of reverse circulation (RC) pre-collars with core tails through known mineralized zones. Blackrock has laid out 10,000 meters of drilling with 2,500 meters allocated for step-out and resource expansion drilling and a further 7,500 meters focused on drilling out high-grade structures internal to the resource area.

Andrew Pollard, President and CEO, said, "Representing just 18 months of drilling data, baseline numbers from our maiden inferred resource estimate have established Tonopah West as one of the highest-grade undeveloped silver projects in the world, and we see significant opportunity for expansion, both within and external to the initial resource areas. With a refined model in hand, we have identified upside within the resource areas that should stand to benefit from additional drilling, targeting known, high-grade structures, in addition to infilling from successful step-out drillholes. Fully-financed for this program, drilling has commenced as we seek to grow our resource. We've seen remarkable return on investment via the drill bit thus far, with all-in discovery costs equating to US$0.62 per ounce AgEq. With less than two years of drilling at the project, it's evident we've only just scratched the surface in realizing its true potential."

Expansion drilling to the northwest of the DPB resource shows upside with the intersection of the Denver vein confirmed in drillholes TW22-119 and 120. A new core hole intercepted the Denver vein, assays pending, from 582 to 606 meters (1910 to 1988 feet) down the drillhole. The zone is significantly thicker than the mineralized vein encountered in TW22-119 and -120, and the core indicates the vein is dipping between 55 to 65 degrees to the north. The Denver vein is open to the northwest and approximately one kilometer to the southeast toward the DPB resource area. This discovery has the potential to double the strike length of the Denver vein and increase the resource of the DPB area.

In-fill drilling will focus on two areas within the DPB and along strike in the Victor resource. In DPB, drilling will connect the most western drill section with a zone encountered 260 meters to the west. High-grades in the Denver vein were encountered on cross section 477550E. As an example, drillhole TXC21-045 encountered 2.0 meters grading 3.64 g/t Au and 377.3 g/t Ag or 741.3 g/t AgEq. Drillhole TW21-110 encountered the Denver vein 262 meters to the west and returned 1.5 meters grading 1.46 g/t Au and 157.0 g/t Ag or 303.0 g/t AgEq. Three RC/core holes are planned for this area to connect strike extensions of the Denver vein and help to understand the high grade mineral trends within the veins.

On the south end of the DPB resource, the Denver and Merten veins intersect and form a thick zone of gold and silver mineralization. This area will be followed up with four RC/core drillholes. The mineralization starts within 200 meters of the surface. On the east side of the DPB resource area, one drillhole will be completed to test the eastern extension of the Bermuda vein. The drillhole will be a 50 meter stepout along strike of the vein. At Victor, four drillholes are planned to explore for footwall and hanging wall veins along the main silver-gold trend as well as to identify and capitalize on the high-grade nature of the mineralized vein shoots. These veins did not make the resource calculation because of their narrow geometry. The goal of the drilling will be to determine if mineralized shoots are present that have thicker and higher grade gold and silver within the veins.