eResearch Corp. published a 45-page Initiation Report on Silver Bullet Mines Inc. (TSXV:SBMI | OTC:SBMCF) that is available to download for free at www.eresearch.com.
Silver Bullet Mines (“SBMI”) is a Canadian-based silver and copper exploration and development company that went public and raised over C$6.0 million at the end of last year and recently closed a C$2.7 million oversubscribed financing.
SBMI’s main asset is the Black Diamond (“BD”) property near Globe, Arizona, with both silver and copper-gold porphyry prospects.
The BD property is a district-scale exploration package that includes 232 contiguous Bureau of Land Management (“BLM”) mineral claims and 15.5 acres (6.3 hectares) of patented claims, multiple shafts, and over 74 adits from several historical silver mines including the Buckeye Silver, La Plata, McMorris, and Silver Seven mines.
The company’s main focus is restarting production at the Buckeye Silver Mine in 2022. Work is already underway and a 125 ton-per-day mill is being commissioned. The near-term cash flow from mine production significantly de-risks the project.
In 2017, a 5-tonne bulk sample from the Buckeye Mine produced 500 ounces of silver as a proof of concept for the technical viability of the project. SBMI plans to restart the Buckeye Mine and then use the cash flow to explore and develop the other historical mines and prospects in the project area.
Substantial infrastructure associated with the 2017 bulk sample already exists at the Buckeye Mine site, including a septic system, drill pads, a water evaporation pond, a portal, and a 91-metre (300-foot) decline to underground workings. SBMI also owns its mining equipment and recently opened a new in-camp assay lab that should reduce costs and increase efficiencies.
In April, SBMI reported assay results from 44 samples from four underground areas in the Buckeye Silver Mine. Five samples taken from the footwall vein returned the following values: 341.8 ounces per ton (“oz/t”) or 11,718.95 grams per tonne (“g/t”); 336.2 oz/t or 1,152.95 g/t; 674.0 oz/t or 23,108.76 g/t; 706.6 oz/t or 24,226.49 g/t; and 124.4 oz/t or 4,265.18 g/t. The overall average for the remaining 39 samples was 22.91 oz/t or 785.63 g/t silver.
John Carter, CEO of SBMI, commented, "These are exciting numbers and they provide us with a great deal of confidence in our internal grade estimates as we move to production. As any responsible producer would, we will continuously sample and assay as we proceed."
Currently, SBMI does not have a NI 43-101 resource at the Buckeye Silver Mine and the preliminary assay values do not represent a reserve or resource at this time.
The area around Globe, Arizona is well known for its copper projects, including the Pinto Valley Copper Mine owned by Capstone Mining (TSX:CS) and the Resolution Copper Project, which is a joint venture owned by Rio Tinto Group (LSE:RIO) and BHP Group (ASX:BHP). Once the Buckeye Mine is in production, SBMI plans to explore for copper-gold porphyry targets on its property, with a focus on known mineralized showings and around the historical copper mines on site.
SBMI also owns the Washington Mine silver project in Idaho which consists of over 110 acres (45 hectares) and is located on patented mining lands owned 100% by the company.
The Washington Mine first saw production in the late 1800s and mining continued intermittently into the 1930s with a focus on the gold resources. The silver mineralization was blocked out and the previous companies intended to return later to extract it once it was economically viable to do so but never did.
Earlier this year, SBMI took a small, aggregate 80-kilogram bulk sample from eight locations at the Washington Mine that returned, on average, 55.5 oz/t of silver (1,902 g/t).
The company is now moving forward with a contract miner to execute a 1500 to 3000-ton bulk sample this summer for processing at a local mill. Upon completion of the processing of the bulk sample, SBMI intends to start underground development.
SBMI is currently trading at C$0.34 with a market cap below C$21 million but with production imminent at the Buckeye Silver Mine and a bulk sample planned at the Washington Mine, eResearch believes there is the potential for a re-rating once the cash flow starts.
For more information about eResearch's 45-page Initiation Report on Silver Bullet Mines, please visit eResearch's website (www.eresearch.com).
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