Drilling has indicated that there is plenty of zinc remaining at Variscan’s San Jose mine in Spain following the intersection of multiple lenses of mineralisation.

At the South West Zone, new laterally extensive and high-grade mineralised lenses were intersected above and below the previously mined main gallery with assays returning a top hit of 4m grading 11.99% zinc within a broader 13.2m zone at 5.54% zinc.

There is significant potential for further extensions with Variscan Mines (ASX:VAR) noting that the zone remains open to the south, which paves the way for drilling to find more mineralisation.

Over at the Los Caracoles Trend, the on-trend strike has been extended by more than 180m after drilling intersected mineralised lenses below the main gallery level.

Results such as 3m at 9.1% zinc within a 7m intersection grading at 6.44% zinc are clear signs that infill drilling is merited.

Taken together, the results validate the company’s conceptual model of the San Jose Mine as a multi-layered deposit with vertically stacked, sub-horizontal high-grade mineralised lenses of variable thickness that are consistent with sulphide orebodies in Mississippi Valley-Type lead-zinc districts.

variscan mines san jose drilling section zinc
Plan view of selected mineralised intersections from drilling in the SW Zone and Stope 147 Area of the Los Caracoles Trend. Pic: Supplied

“The discovery of new high-grade mineralised lenses above and below the main gallery in two distinct areas of the mine strongly suggest there is considerable scale and tonnage potential,” managing director Stewart Dickson said.

“The drill results from the SW Zone, where mine activity ceased in the late 1990s, represent a genuine exploration success as we had no historical data to work from.

“They are particularly encouraging as they have discovered high-grade mineralised lenses above and below the main gallery level with the deposit remaining open to the south.”

He added that the discovery of multiple lenses below the main gallery level at Los Caracoles justifies the company’s early assessment that this target merited drilling.

“The increasingly widespread occurrence of mineralisation immediately below the main gallery in many parts of the mine is very important for future drilling and development scenarios. We will be following up these exciting results with our next drill campaign which is scheduled to start this month,” Dickson concluded.

Looking ahead

Variscan plans to carry out follow-up underground drilling during the current quarter to test vertical and lateral extensions of mineralisation, find new lower lying lenses, and infill drilling within identified mineralised lenses.

In addition, it will also carry out a geophysical survey of surface drill targets over the Buenahora licence area and start surface drilling to test step-out extensions near San Jose once its application to do so is granted.

The company also expects to receive and interpret assay results from drilling at the Guajaraz project in Castilla La Mancha.

 

 

This article was developed in collaboration with Variscan Mines, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.

 

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.

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