Leading the pack is Yoquivo, with a foreign estimate of 17.23 million ounces at a punchy 570g/t silver equivalent, supported by the 60.6-million-ounce Guadalupe y Calvo project and the Gavilanes silver system, rounding out a portfolio with real scale and grade.
Yoquivo lies 210 kilometres west–southwest of the Mexican city of Chihuahua and is considered a low-sulphidation epithermal system, typical of the Sierra Madre Occidental volcanic belt. Mineralisation consists of several quartz veins in four principal vein systems, with individual systems mapped and sampled over 3,000m strike lengths and ranging from 0.2m to over 5m in width.
In particular, the central Pertenencia vein system comprises at least seven parallel quartz veins, vein breccias and stockwork zones with minor calcite veining and sulphides. The mineralised system has been mapped at surface and confirmed by drilling over at least 1800 metres of strike, with continuity extending roughly 300 metres down-dip.
Although the veins are sulphide-poor, with pyrite and less common silver minerals making up less than 5 per cent of the veins, previous metallurgical test work by Golden Minerals suggested samples respond well to flotation with high gold and silver recoveries – a potential boost for project economics.
Ongoing drilling will also test additional targets, including the nearby Dolar vein system, which comprises northeast–southwest-striking quartz veins, vein breccias and stockwork zones. The Dolar system has a known strike extent of about 1,850 m and recent rock chip sampling jagged peak grades of 1595 g/t silver equivalent.
Advance has flagged a stretch target that, if successful, would double its 100-million-ounce silver-equivalent position to a JORC-compliant 200-million-ounce position over the next 18 months.
With silver holding above US$80 (A4120) an ounce and gold still near record highs, the company is drilling in the right place at the right time.
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