Silver47 Exploration (TSXV: AGA) has released assay results from a 21-hole auger program at its Hughes Project in Nevada, confirming an inferred resource of 2.74 million silver equivalent ounces sitting at surface.
The program tested the tailings pile left behind by the historic Belmont mine. Every one of the 21 holes returned silver and gold mineralization continuously from surface to the base of the tailings, across an average thickness of 3.3 metres.
The resource itself comprises 1.8 million ounces of silver and 11,000 ounces of gold, grading 44 g/t silver and 0.3 g/t gold, contained within roughly 1.26 million tonnes of fine-grained material.
What makes the deposit unusual is its accessibility. The tailings sit on patented claims covering about 84 acres of private land, directly alongside US Highway 6, which removes much of the disturbance and permitting friction that typically slows near surface projects.
The auger holes, drilled vertically to depths ranging from roughly one to nearly six metres, were spaced across both the western and eastern zones of the impoundment. Many were collared within a metre of holes from earlier 2019 and 2020 work to allow direct comparison.
Metallurgical testing is now underway, including cyanide leach and CIL work at varying grind sizes to gauge recovery. Those results, combined with the assays, are meant to establish whether reprocessing the tailings into domestic silver production is technically and economically viable.
Chief executive Galen McNamara said the findings give the company confidence that the Belmont tailings are consistently mineralized across the entire pile, positioning it to assess a low-disturbance source of domestic supply.
The Hughes work runs alongside a fully funded 10,000-metre drill program launched in June at Silver47’s Red Mountain project in Alaska, where the company is targeting expansion of a 168.6 million ounce silver equivalent resource.
Silver47 last traded at $0.61 on the TSX Venture.
