Andean Silver, Midas Minerals and Iltani Resources
Brought to you by BULLS AND BEARS
Doug Bright
Bulls N’ Bears Big Hits examines notable drilling successes recently reported to the ASX, led by Andean Silver in Chile, Midas Minerals in Namibia and Iltani Resources in Queensland.
From the sweep of 14 contenders in a mixed week for ASX drilling news, three companies stood out for very different reasons: silver-gold fireworks, copper breadth and a rare indium twist.
So let’s dive in.
ANDEAN SILVER (ASX:ASL)
Project: Cerro Bayo silver-gold project, Chile
Hit: 2.4 m at 15,558 g/t silver equivalent
Andean Silver is taking the top step of the podium this week after posting the highest honors ever returned from its Cerro Bayo silver-gold project in southern Chile, and has achieved such good success that it will be hard to ignore in any field.
The company’s headline from the Trinidad lode totaled 2.4m with a silver equivalent grade of 15,558 grams per tonne (g/t), consisting of 1882 g/t silver and 164.8 g/t gold. It contained 1.4m at a stunning 25,340 g/t silver equivalent comprising grades of 3045 g/t silver and 268.6 g/t gold. Even though the cuts are tight, the notes are magnificent.
Surprisingly, success came from the first drilling in Trinidad in more than 10 years; this result gave a useful sense of rediscovery rather than just another fill line in a well-trodden part of the mining complex.
Andean says the figures show a strong continuity of mineralization at the Laguna Verde mining complex in Cerro Bayo; here accelerated drilling aims to transform inferred resources into measured and specified categories for future feasibility and reworking.
Beyond the immediate bumper headline, the Trinidad trend raises a bigger question. The company says that despite historic drilling tests to only about 150 meters vertically, the area now shows potential for transformation and growth in more than 800 metres.
This leaves Andean with few obvious pursuit paths. Future drilling is expected to follow mineralization at the Trinidad mine site and test extensions outside the existing resource, including mineralization 400 meters north of the main Trinidad mine area.
One hole showed continued mineralization beyond the interpreted veins and outside the reported resource, with a separate 2.5 meter strike grade equivalent to 500 g/t silver. Historic drilling more than 15 years ago also returned nearby gold-silver intersections, giving the company more targets to rethink existing infrastructure.
Andean says its 12-month strategy over the course of the 330-square-kilometer Cerro Bayo project has shifted from a mostly exploration-focused approach to a mix of resource growth, resource definition and restart planning. This includes brownfields around the Laguna Verde and Cerro Bayo mining complexes, broader target generation and regional exploration, as well as infill drilling to support updated geotechnical and metallurgical studies.
The company also stated that feasibility-level studies will begin, with the option to add to the existing four-machine fleet if necessary to support the planned 2026 and 2027 programmes.
The broader Cerro Bayo project currently carries a reported resource of 20 million tonnes at 211 g/t silver equivalent, corresponding to 136 million ounces of silver equivalent. This provides more context for Trinidad’s latest hit than a one-hole wonder, especially with resource growth drilling planned across the wider region for the first time in almost two decades.
From Big Hits’ perspective, Andean’s problem is a good one. The intercept was so high-order that it was nearly self-selecting, even without the large width that usually makes comparisons easier. The note won the draw this week.
MIDAS MINERALS (ASX:MM1)
Project: Otavi copper project, Namibia
Hit: 52 million from Spaatzu at 1.19 per cent copper, 8.7 g/t silver and 1.93 per cent lead.
Midas Minerals took second place with the week’s cleanest large drill hit after analysis at the Spaatzu site in Namibia confirmed a thick copper-silver-lead interval in the northern flank of the Merwe dome.
One hole returned 1.19 per cent copper, 8.7 grams/t silver and 1.93 per cent lead over 52 meters from 148 metres; This includes 1.87 per cent copper from 30 meters and 12.7 grams per tonne of silver from 152 metres.
Other useful hits included 33 million at 0.76 per cent copper, 17.8 g/t silver and 1.69 per cent lead from 18 metres, and 16 million at 0.76 per cent copper, 26.8 g/t silver and 2.36 per cent lead from 205 metres.
The hit is located 300 meters west of the company’s previous exploration pit at Spaatzu. It extends the copper-silver-lead-manganese mineral corridor to an area of at least 800 meters and enables geophysical targets with induced polarization to be mapped for an estimated two kilometers.
Midas also reanalyzed a historic Nexa diamond hole at Spaatzu; This hole went from 0.2 meters to 97.8 meters with 17.6 percent manganese, and 16.6 meters with 35.3 percent manganese. This isn’t the main reason why this conclusion was chosen as Big Hits, but it does add a useful polymetallic layer to the Otavi story.
The larger geological environment also provides more room for attack. Spaatzu is located above the 2.5 kilometer copper soil anomaly on the northern flank of the Merwe dome, a structurally complex base metal environment in the Otavi Highlands of Namibia.
Midas says that the drillings indicate copper-silver mineralization following a fault in the west-northwest direction, and that higher grades are developed in places where these structures cut suitable rock units. The system appears to bear both structural and layered styles, with sharper copper-silver zones located adjacent to more widely dispersed copper-lead mineralization.
Manganese adds another layer. The company says high-grade manganese oxide veining occurs near the surface around the top of the dome, close to high-grade copper-silver mineralization, giving Spaatzu a larger polymetallic footprint than copper alone.
Midas says more drilling is needed to define the entire mineralization and better understand the structural and lithological controls at Spaatzu.
The company has six drilling rigs operating on Namibian soil, including diamond drilling aimed at improving its understanding of local structural controls at Spaatzu, with further results expected.
The appeal for this week’s pitch is simple. Midas delivered a thick, readable brass beat and intense tracking backed by scales.
ILTANI RESOURCES (ASX: ILT)
Project: East West, Queensland
Hit: 1 m with 192 g/t silver, 925 g/t indium, 1.8 percent lead and 13.9 percent zinc.
Iltani Resources rounds out the top three with the best critical mineral color of the week, built around narrow but indium-rich silver-based metals at its Orient West mine in North Queensland.
Prominent interception from reverse circulation (RC) drilling returned 1 meter with 192 g/t silver, 925 g/t indium, 1.8 per cent lead and 13.9 per cent zinc for the equivalent of 1390 g/t silver from 104 metres.
Supporting hits in the other two holes included 1 m with 358 g/t silver, 213 g/t indium, 7.6 per cent lead and 7.3 per cent zinc from 49 m, and 1 m with 46 g/t silver, 811 g/t indium and 12.9 per cent zinc from 242 m.
Importantly, the one-metre peaks lie within larger mineralized envelopes, including an intercept returning 17 meters with 37 g/t silver, 88 g/t indium, 0.5 per cent lead and 1.5 per cent zinc from 97 metres.
Indium grades across the seven reported broad intercepts ranged from 40 g/t to 180 g/t, giving more weight to the overall result than a single bright vein.
Orient is within Iltani’s wider Herberton development, where it owns 370 square kilometers of apartments on a historic mining site known for its tin, tungsten, copper and silver-lead-zinc workings.
The Herberton-Mount Garnet region has more than 2,400 registered mines and minerals, giving the project useful context at a regional scale beyond the latest drilling results.
Iltani describes Orient as Australia’s largest known silver-indium deposit and says recent drilling continues to strengthen the project’s potential as a supplier of indium-rich concentrate. This is important because indium is often recovered as a byproduct of processing zinc, lead and tin, making its supply much less sensitive to demand than many base metals.
The soft metal with a low melting point is best known for indium tin oxide, a transparent conductive coating used in touch screens and flat panel displays. It also plays a role in high-speed semiconductors, thin-film solar cells, specialist solders, and even some high-performance aircraft engine bearings.
Iltani has completed 65 RC drillings of 12,297 m in East West and East within the scope of the 110-hole program planned so far. The company says it expects a steady flow of analysis in the coming months, as samples are routinely sent for analysis and results are pending.
Iltani is continuing infill drilling at Orient West to bring high-quality core to a 50m section interval before testing extensions to the northeast and southwest. Approximately 900 m of known mineralized strike, based on historical studies and outcrop sampling in the northeast direction, remain to be extensively drill tested.
Two RC drilling rigs are on site and drilling is also ongoing at Orient East before further testing is carried out on VTEM geophysical targets and other areas in the southwestern region of Orient West. The planned Orient program is expected to last up to two months.
Iltani’s results reflect an interesting mix of quality, technology suitability, criticality and tight supply that gave the company the extra push it needed to earn the final Big Hits podium.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: mattbirney@bullsnbears.com.au
