As silver soars, Argent fires up the drill rig for deep exploration

• As the silver price soars to record highs, Argent Minerals is firing up the drill rig at its Kempfield project
• Diamond hole AKDD210 will be sunk along strike from a high-grade intersection drilled in maiden diamond hole AKDD208
• Argent aiming to grow 142.8Moz silver equivalent resource in NSW

Special Report: Argent Minerals is back on the ground, launching a new drill drive to follow up the stellar grades seen in the first diamond drill program at its Kempfield project.

A diamond drill rig is now boring into ground to the north of hole AKDD208, where it has been collared along strike from the successful first diamond hole.

It’s targeting high grade positions in the Lode 200 zone of Argent’s (ASX:ARD) Kempfield resource in New South Wales, which already contains 63.7Mt of ore at a silver equivalent grade for 142.8Moz AgEq.

That makes it one of the largest undeveloped polymetallic silver projects in Australia, with significant lead and zinc credits.

The previous hole AKDD208 struck some stellar silver intersections, including:

• 145m at 87.66g/t AgEq (52.7g/t Ag, 0.17% Pb & 0.65% Zn) from 20m including
  • 22m at 247.24g/t AgEq (177.5g/t Ag, 0.35% Pb & 1.36% Zn) from 76m; and
• 42.6m at 102.02g/t AgEq (48.64g/t Ag, 0.22% Pb & 1.1% Zn) from 225.4m including
  • 7.3m at 324.4g/t AgEq (108.5 g/t Ag, 0.82% Pb, 4.49% Zn & 0.2 g/t Au) from 225.4m.

“Following the recent high-grade results from the maiden diamond drilling at Kempfield, including mineralisation up to 324.4 g/t silver equivalent, we have quickly appointed the drilling contractor from the city of Orange and securing approvals to advance our drilling programme,” Argent managing director Pedro Kastellorizos said.

“The new drill hole will be collared along strike from the most recent drilling, which confirmed both the depth continuity and strength of mineralisation. Importantly, several of these high-grade zones occur near surface, providing potential for early-stage mining and selective extraction.”

Silver boom

The new drill drive could not be better timed.

Silver prices in London overnight rose to US$52.50/oz as traders run short of bullion, driving lease rates as high as 30% amid a crunch on physical supplies.

That’s $80/oz Aussie – close to double the previous AUD high in 2011.

At the same time, there are few options to gain exposure to the silver price on the ASX.

One is Argent, which is among the more advanced exploration plays in the market.

“The recent assay results confirmed the presence of thick, robust silver zones, significantly increasing the potential to expand the mineral resource and support future development studies at a time of record silver prices in AUD terms,” Kastellorizos said.

“We look forward to advancing these initiatives as we continue to position Kempfield as one of Australia’s premier silver–polymetallic projects.”

This article was developed in collaboration with Argent Minerals, 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.