Mr. Godfrey Walton reports
ENDEAVOUR SILVER DRILLING INTERSECTS HIGH GRADE SILVER-GOLD-LEAD-ZINC MINERALIZATION IN THE SAN PATRICIO VEIN SYSTEM ON THE PARRAL PROPERTY; PROVIDES POSITIVE RESULTS FOR METALLURGICAL TESTING AT PARRAL PROPERTIES
Endeavour Silver Corp.'s exploration drilling on the Parral property in Chihuahua state, Mexico, has intersected high-grade silver-gold-lead-zinc mineralization assaying up to 1,660 grams per tonne silver, 0.72 g/t gold, 6.52 per cent lead and 14.45 per cent zinc over 2.3-metre true width within the San Patricio vein system.
San Patricio drill results
Twenty-one drill holes totalling 8,846 m of core have been drilled to test the San Patricio vein below small historic mine workings over a 1,400 m strike length. Three mineralized areas were intersected, of which the largest and central zone now measures 600 m long by 250 m vertical (starting 150 m deep) by one to three m true thickness, still open to the south and at depth.
Drill hole SPT-20, at the bottom south end of the central mineralized zone, is the best hole drilled to date, intersecting three parallel veins, all of which carry strong polymetallic mineralization. Drilling highlights include the aforementioned 1,660 g/t silver, 0.72 g/t gold, 6.52 per cent lead and 14.45 per cent zinc over 2.3 m true width (50.0 ounces per ton AgEq (silver and gold only, excluding base metals) over 7.5 feet).
Luis Castro, vice-president, exploration, for Endeavour Silver, commented: "We are very encouraged to discover these new zones of high-grade polymetallic mineralization within the San Patricio vein system. Hole 20 suggests the vein system blossoms into three parallel veins of higher grades moving to the south and at depth where the central mineralized zone is wide open for expansion.
"Last year on the Parral property, we conducted verification drilling within the Remedios-Argentina zone, one of three historic resource areas in the Veta Colorada vein system, as well as stepout drilling to discover new high-grade resources within the Palmilla vein system. That allowed us to release a maiden resource for the Parral property in February this year (see Endeavour news release dated Feb. 7, 2018).
"We continue to drill the San Patricio vein system where another 10 holes totalling 5,000 mare planned. Another 3,500 m will be drilled to test the Orion vein located 850 m west of San Patricio and the south extension of Veta Colorada in the San Joaquin area. At Veta Colorada, underground drilling in the Sierra Plata and El Verde areas will test the extent of mineralization to depth."
Results for the first 11 material drill holes at San Patricio are summarized in the table.
PARRAL DRILL RESULTS
Hole From True width Au Ag AgEq Pb Zn
(m) (m) (g/t) (g/t) (g/t) (%) (%)
SPT-01 384.90 2.5 0.12 256 265 3.023 0.826
Including 384.90 0.7 0.12 368 377 6.550 0.783
SPT-02 339.40 2.1 0.05 303 307 0.438 0.462
Including 339.40 1.5 0.06 331 336 0.400 0.517
SPT-03 329.05 1.3 0.12 127 136 0.769 1.900
Including 329.05 0.5 0.10 187 194 0.761 2.590
SPT-05 393.90 1.1 0.43 136 169 2.946 8.731
Including 395.25 0.4 0.75 265 321 6.320 12.500
SPT-07 297.20 1.0 0.22 678 695 3.538 0.935
Including 297.45 0.3 0.22 1,655 1,671 9.140 0.426
SPT-09 425.65 1.0 0.08 329 335 0.258 0.447
Including 424.65 0.4 0.04 627 630 0.172 0.388
SPT-10 336.60 1.6 0.02 149 151 0.636 0.536
Including 336.85 0.5 0.04 246 249 1.055 1.000
SPT-15 211.15 3.1 1.08 91 172 1.255 7.282
including 217.65 0.2 1.01 130 205 1.375 8.560
SPT-18 445.50 2.0 0.57 151 194 2.719 2.619
Including 446.00 0.4 0.44 295 328 6.470 3.460
SPT-19 304.25 3.0 0.24 689 707 1.619 1.072
Including 307.25 0.3 0.12 2,550 2,559 2.710 0.855
SPT-20 432.20 1.6 0.27 293 313 3.552 7.591
Including 433.25 0.4 0.26 564 584 8.020 16.750
438.30 3.2 0.10 165 173 0.310 0.626
Including 442.65 0.2 0.45 593 627 1.320 2.040
449.60 2.3 0.72 1,660 1,714 6.519 14.451
Including 451.55 0.3 0.28 6,910 6,931 9.310 15.150
Silver equivalents are calculated at a ratio of 75:1 silver:gold, excluding base metals.
Veta Colorada-Palmilla metallurgical results
Endeavour also announces that metallurgical testing of drill core samples from the Veta Colorada (Sierra Plata, El Verde and Remedios-Argentina zones), Palmilla and Cometa veins on the Parral property indicates excellent metal recoveries by flotation and leaching. Cometa is the only vein with significant lead and zinc best suited for flotation, the other veins contain primarily silver and minor gold best suited to leaching.
Silver recoveries achieved up to 91-per-cent recovery by whole rock leaching of Remedios-Argentina core, up to 91-per-cent recovery by flotation of Cometa core, and up to 98-per-cent recovery by flotation and leaching of the float tails of El Verde core.
PARRAL METALLURGICAL TEST RESULTS: SILVER
Ag recovery
Oxidation Head CN on CN on Total
Zone ID state grade g/t whole ore Flotation tail (flot+CN)
Sierra Plata PAR18-01 Oxide 304 40% 32% 22% 47%
El Verde PAR18-02 Mixed 325 87% 83% 88% 98%
Remedios-Argentina PAR18-03 Mixed 340 91% 71% 83% 95%
Palmilla PAR18-04 Oxide 231 88% 68% 83% 94%
Cometa-San Juanico PAR18-05 Mixed/sulphide 61 47% 91% - -
PARRAL METALLURGICAL TEST RESULTS: GOLD
Ag recovery
Oxidation Head CN on CN on Total
Zone ID state grade g/t whole ore Flotation tail (flot+CN)
Sierra Plata PAR18-01 Oxide <0.01 - - - -
El Verde PAR18-02 Mixed 0.07 - - - -
Remedios-Argentina PAR18-03 Mixed 0.06 - - - -
Palmilla PAR18-04 Oxide 0.21 92% 53% 86% 93%
Cometa-San Juanico PAR18-05 Mixed/sulphide 0.42 64% 86% - -
Only the Sierra Plata oxide zone core returned subpar silver recoveries and additional mineralogical studies are needed to understand why the recoveries are less than 50 per cent. Testing for gold returned 93-per-cent recovery by flotation and leaching of float tails on Palmilla core and 86 per cent by flotation of Cometa core. The optimal grind size for all ore types is 80 per cent passing 76 microns, and recoveries decline at finer grinds.
In summary, metallurgical testing confirms that all mineralized zones except Sierra Plata return excellent metal recoveries by either leaching, or flotation or flotation followed by leaching of the float tails.
Godfrey Walton, MSc, PGeo, Endeavour's president and chief operating officer, is the qualified person who reviewed and approved this news release and supervised the drilling programs in Mexico. A quality control sampling program of reference standards, blanks and duplicates is used to monitor the integrity of all assay results. All samples are split at the local field office and shipped to ALS-Chemex Labs, where they are dried, crushed, split and 50-gram pulp samples are prepared for analysis. Gold is determined by fire assay with an atomic absorption (AA) finish and silver by aqua regia digestion and ICP finish, overlimits by fire assay, and gravimetric finish.
About Endeavour Silver
Corp.
Endeavour Silver is a mid-tier precious metals mining company that operates three high-grade, underground, silver-gold mines in Mexico. The company is forecasting 20-per-cent production growth to 10.2 million to 11.2 million oz silver equivalent in 2018. Endeavour is currently developing its fourth high-grade, underground, silver-gold mine in Mexico and has a compelling pipeline of exploration and development projects to facilitate its goal to become a premier senior silver producer.
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