Silver Bull Resources, Inc. (TSX:SVB)(NYSE MKT:SVBL) ("Silver
Bull") is pleased to provide 2012 year-end review and road map for
the 2013 calendar year ahead. The Silver Bull management team is
focused on advancing the company's flagship Sierra Mojada
silver-zinc project, located in the historic Sierra Mojada mining
district in Coahuila State, northern Mexico.
2012 saw significant volatility and uncertainty of the global
markets which overshadowed the strong progress the Silver Bull team
made at Sierra Mojada.
2012 Technical Achievements
-- Completed 19,400 meters of surface drilling - aimed at defining and
extending the Centenario and Shallow Silver Zone. Mineralization remains
open to the north, south, east and westerly directions of the deposit.
-- Discovered a massive sulphide zone grading 16.98% zinc, 5.45% lead and
57.29g/t silver over 8.45 meters in a previously undrilled area 500
meters to the north of the Shallow Silver Zone. Management believes this
sulphide discovery presents an exciting exploration target of potential
deep rooted "feeder structures" that likely emplaced much of the
secondary oxide mineralization seen at the Shallow Silver Zone.
-- Released a third NI43-101 resource update on the project in July 2012,
increasing the size of the silver resource to 72.1Moz silver in the
"measure and indicated" category, and 10.4Moz in the "inferred"
category. This represented a 39% increase in the resource size over a
period of 6 months of drilling.
-- Increased the understanding of the genesis of the mineralization seen at
Sierra Mojada allowing us to better model the deposit and identify areas
with high prospectivity for exploration.
-- Completed a 6,500 meter underground twinning drill program, using
company owned drill rigs, aimed at confirming a historical drilling data
set of over 2,700 long holes (a type of rock chip drill used by previous
management teams) amounting to 39,000 meters of drilling that defined a
high grade silver and high grade zinc zone. The 2,700 long hole data set
had been severely restricted or discarded from the July 2012 NI43-101
resource report. Assay results to date have confirmed a variability of
less than 4% overall between the new core drill holes and historic long
hole data. Management is confident the twinning program will have a
significant impact on the upcoming NI43-101 resource calculation for
both the silver and zinc ore bodies and due for completion in Q1 2013.
-- Conducted an ongoing full-scale metallurgical program focused on
processing the silver and zinc rich ore at Sierra Mojada. Preliminary
metallurgical results included Bottle Roll tests simulating an agitated
leach circuit recovered up to 89% silver with average recovery of 83%
using samples from the Centenario Zone (represents approx. 1/3 of the
silver mineralization seen at Sierra Mojada). Pyrometallurgical test
work on the zinc oxide mineralization achieved up to 98.9% removal of
zinc from a waelz kiln via fuming at a 1,300 degree roasting temperature
- producing an almost pure zinc oxide concentrate (approx. 80% zinc
concentrate).
2012 Corporate Achievements:
-- Management successfully collected $3.4M USD of historical value added
tax balances from the Mexican government dating back to 2007, which
helped fund exploration activities through the challenging capital
markets environment of 2012.
-- Completed negotiations with various mineral claim owners, tying together
the remaining mineral titles in the area to allow for future development
of the mineralization at Sierra Mojada.
-- Strengthened ties with the local communities by providing access to
water for farmers' livestock throughout drought conditions, holding
regular community events, and contributing to a local mining museum. We
also remain the largest employer of local people in the area.
The Road Forward in 2013
Silver Bull is quickly moving towards a number of key project
milestones in 2013.
-- Q1 2013: NI43-101 Resource Update
-- Q3 2013: Maiden Preliminary Economic Assessment
In Q1 2013 Silver Bull will release its 4th NI43-101 resource
update on the project, which will include drill results from the
2012 underground twinning program. The objective of the program was
to twin approximately 15% of the historic 2,700 long hole data set
that equated to 39,000 meters in order to increase the confidence
of this data. Management deemed this to be a very important program
as the data defines a high grade silver and a high grade zinc zone,
each with a strike of over 1.5km, expected to add considerable
ounces and an increase in grade to the resource.
The final hole from the twinning program was completed in mid
December 2012 and the company is awaiting assay results from the
laboratories at ALS Chemex in North Vancouver, BC, Canada. To date,
the company has released 9 of 10 sets of holes from the high grade
silver zone and 1 of approximately 5 sets of holes from the high
grade zinc zone.
Based on the updated resource report figures, management will
proceed to complete the maiden Preliminary Economic Assessment on
the Sierra Mojada project in Q3 2013. The maiden PEA will
incorporate ongoing work on metallurgical optimization, hydrology,
and geotechnical studies; in addition to detailed mine plan
studies. After completion of the preliminary economic assessment,
the remainder of 2013 will be dedicated to mine feasibility study
programs in contemplation of an initial feasibility study on the
project in 2014.
Exploration Upside
Sierra Mojada remains a project with significant upside
potential. The Shallow Silver Zone and Zinc Zone are considered to
be a small component of a much a larger Carbonate Replacement
Deposit (CRD) type system, typical of northern Mexico. Our geologic
team has highlighted a number of high quality exploration targets
that will be pursued in 2013 in the context of the financial
markets.
Palamos Negros: A historic mining zone 9 kilometers to the west
of the Shallow Silver Zone and also hosted on the Sierra Mojada
fault. Positive geochemical results paired with extensive historic
mine workings (similar to those seen at the Shallow Silver Zone)
make this an exciting prospect that has never been drilled.
Massive Sulphide Zone: Further exploration is warranted to
better define the massive sulphide discovery made in 2012. Follow
up work will include borehole geophysics to generate parameters for
follow up drilling.
Shallow Silver Zone Infill & Extensional Drilling: The main
zone of mineralization remains open in all directions and warrants
additional step out drilling to define the boundaries of
mineralization. High grade silver mineralization (100+g/t Ag)
hosted in east-west trending structures within the Shallow Silver
Zone has been demonstrated to extend via extensive channel sampling
from underground. Reconditioning of underground workings will
enable drilling of these extensions with the company owned Termite
drill rigs that have been used in the 2012 twinning program.
Outlook for 2013
We at Silver Bull remain extremely bullish on the fundamentals
for both silver and zinc. The world's financial troubles are not
likely to go away anytime soon and silver (along with gold) will
continue to be a haven for wealth preservation. Furthermore, with
the imminent closing of a number of major zinc mines expected in
the next 3 years, coupled with both a lack of new zinc mines coming
on line to replace this lost production and an expected increase in
zinc demand we see a tightening in the zinc supply over the short
to medium term.
At Sierra Mojada we are fortunate to have exposure to both the
precious and base metal space. In addition to the growing silver
resource, Silver Bull controls a very significant zinc resource
sitting less that 500 meters from a functioning railway - there are
not many of these in the world.
It is also not insignificant that many countries around the
world are becoming less and less viable for mining and exploration
activities due to increasing political risk. Mexico however is not
one of these countries and remains one of the top mining
jurisdiction in the world.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your
ongoing support of Silver Bull Resources and we look forward to the
continued development of the Sierra Mojada during 2013. We invite
you to stay informed about Silver Bull by contacting us by email at
info@silverbullresources.com or by calling 1-604-687-5800.
The technical information of this news release has been reviewed
and approved by Tim Barry, MAusIMM, a qualified person for the
purposes of National Instrument 43-101.
On behalf of the Board of Directors
Tim Barry, MAusIMM, Chief Executive Officer, President and
Director
Cautionary Note to U.S. Investors concerning estimates of
Measured, Indicated and Inferred Resources: This press release uses
the terms "measured resources", "indicated resources", and
"inferred resources" which are defined in, and required to be
disclosed by, NI 43-101. We advise U.S. investors that these terms
are not recognized by the United States Securities and Exchange
Commission (the "SEC"). The estimation of measured and indicated
resources involves greater uncertainty as to their existence and
economic feasibility than the estimation of proven and probable
reserves. U.S. investors are cautioned not to assume that measured
and indicated mineral resources will be converted into reserves.
The estimation of inferred resources involves far greater
uncertainty as to their existence and economic viability than the
estimation of other categories of resources. U.S. investors are
cautioned not to assume that estimates of inferred mineral
resources exist, are economically minable, or will be upgraded into
measured or indicated mineral resources. Under Canadian securities
laws, estimates of inferred mineral resources may not form the
basis of feasibility or other economic studies.
Disclosure of "contained ounces" in a resource is permitted
disclosure under Canadian regulations, however the SEC normally
only permits issuers to report mineralization that does not
constitute "reserves" by SEC standards as in place tonnage and
grade without reference to unit measures. Accordingly, the
information contained in this press release may not be comparable
to similar information made public by U.S. companies that are not
subject NI 43-101.
Cautionary note regarding forward looking statements: This news
release contains forward-looking statements regarding future events
and Silver Bull's future results that are subject to the safe
harbors created under the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform
Act of 1995, the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the
"Securities Act"), and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as
amended (the "Exchange Act"), and applicable Canadian securities
laws. Forward-looking statements include, among others, statements
regarding measured, indicated and inferred resource estimates, the
timing of the next resource update, the ability to demonstrate a
high correlation and increase the confidence of the long hole data
set, the ability to incorporate the long hole data set in the next
resource update and the ability to delineate a zinc resource in the
zinc exploration target, the exploration of potential deep rooted
"feeder structures" as a result of the sulphide discovery, timing
of the preliminary economic assessment, the ability to increase
ounces and grade of the resource, timing and potential completion
of the feasibility study, potential of the Shallow Silver Zone to
be a small component of a much larger CRD system, the exploration
potential of Palamos Negros, the expectation of an increase in
demand and tightening zinc supply in short to medium term, Mexico's
continued favorable political risk environment and ability to
remain a top mining jurisdiction. These statements are based on
current expectations, estimates, forecasts, and projections about
Silver Bull's exploration projects, the industry in which Silver
Bull operates and the beliefs and assumptions of Silver Bull's
management.
Words such as "expects," "anticipates," "targets," "goals,"
"projects," "intends," "plans," "believes," "seeks," "estimates,"
"continues," "may," variations of such words, and similar
expressions and references to future periods, are intended to
identify such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking
statements are subject to a number of assumptions, risks and
uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control, including such
factors as the results of exploration activities and whether the
results continue to support continued exploration activities,
unexpected variations in ore grade, types and metallurgy,
volatility and level of commodity prices, the availability of
sufficient future financing, and other matters discussed under the
caption "Risk Factors" in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the
fiscal year ended October 31, 2012 and our other periodic and
current reports filed with the SEC and available on www.sec.gov and
with the Canadian securities commissions available on
www.sedar.com. Readers are cautioned that forward-looking
statements are not guarantees of future performance and that actual
results or developments may differ materially from those expressed
or implied in the forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking
statement made by us in this release is based only on information
currently available to us and speaks only as of the date on which
it is made. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any
forward-looking statement, whether written or oral, that may be
made from time to time, whether as a result of new information,
future developments or otherwise.
Contacts: Silver Bull Resources, Inc. Matt Hallaran Investor
Relations +1 604 336 8096info@silverbullresources.com
www.silverbullresources.com
Silver Bull Resources (TSX:SVB)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2024 to Apr 2024
Silver Bull Resources (TSX:SVB)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2023 to Apr 2024