Andean Silver (ASX: ASL) has announced further high-grade results from drilling at its Cerro Bayo silver-gold project in Chile, extending mineralisation beyond the current resource.

The bonanza-grade intersections expand the Pegaso 7 and Cristal extensions at Cerro Bayo and will support a resource update planned for the next quarter.

Cerro Bayo’s current resource is 8.3 million tonnes, grading 342 grams per tonne gold equivalent (AgEq) for 91 million ounces AgEq.

Assay highlights

The best reported assays from Pegaso 7 were 3.2 metres at 864g/t AgEq (511g/t silver and 4.3g/t gold) including 1.4m at 1,871g/t AgEq (1,140g/t silver and 8.8g/t gold) and 5.2m at 259g/t AgEq (115g/t silver and 1.7g/t gold) including 1.5m at 582g/t AgEq (235g/t silver and 4.2g/t gold).

Initial scout drilling at the Cristal prospect – ten years after the last known exploration – defined the target horizon of mineralisation to an 80m vertical extent, incorporating previous high-grade veins observed on the surface.

Highlights included 4.5m at 584g/t AgEq (380g/t silver and 2.5g/t gold) and 2.6m at 600g/t AgEq (120g/t silver and 5.8g/t gold), while drilling also defined a large halo surrounding the Cristal veins with a best result of 153.8m at 62g/t AgEq (8g/t silver and 0.6g/t gold).

Significant extensions

Chief executive officer Tim Laneyrie said the assays would add significant extensions to Cerro Bayo’s known mineralisation.

“Our ongoing drilling at Pegaso 7 and Cristal has yielded impressive results that underscore the quality of the mineralisation and enhance our understanding of core high-grade zones within the Pegaso 7 veining corridor,” he said.

“These results also provide further evidence of the compelling exploration upside at Cerro Bayo, with mineralisation still open in many areas and vast vein systems yet to be tested.”

Third drill rig

Andean has a further 3,500m of drilling to complete at Pegaso 7 and 1,200m of scout drilling left at Cristal, where it is targeting an area 40m above the previously drilled central structure.

Cristal is interpreted to represent a highly prospective juncture of several major district-scale structures controlling mineralised orientations at the Laguna Verde Mine Complex (LVMC) within Cerro Bayo including the Coyita, Dagny and Yasna deposits and resource areas.

The company will mobilise a third drill rig to the site in November to begin targeting extensions of the main lodes within the LVMC.

Mr Laneyrie said extensional drilling would be aimed at “maximising the discovery rate and driving substantial resource growth.”