Silver is on a bit of a retrace and fighting resistance at $35 U.S., but most analysts are still viewing this as a "breather" before silver makes its next leg up. One thing is for certain: silver production in Mexico is still soaring. As the leading silver producing country in the world, Mexico only really had one close competitor; that being Peru, but Mexico still topped the number two producer by 17.5 million ounces in 2010.
China was nearly 30 million ounces behind and rolling in at a distance fourth was Australia, a country that produced 59.9 million ounces in 2010, less than half of the amount of silver that came from Mexico. On the whole, global primary silver supply increased by five percent in 2010, boosting its percentage of total mine production to 30%. Canada just missed the Top 10, placing 11th last year with 18 million ounces coming from the Great White North. Not too shabby for gold’s lesser valued cousin.
Looking to capitalize on increases in silver production from Mexico and Canada, Silver Shield Resources Corp. (TSX-Venture:SSR) is actively drilling on its Mexican properties. The Burlington, Ontario-based junior explorer controls six promising properties in both Mexico (two properties) and Canada (four properties). The company’s La Cumbre Project in Mexico with its wide veins has produced significant results from underground sampling with averages of 518 g/t silver and 5.3 g/t gold. Their other Mexican project, the Jaripo Property, is characterized by a surfaced-traced vein system of over 4,000 metres with widths up to two metres.
Three of the Company’s four Canadian properties are still in early stages of development, but have shown potential for strong reserves. Their latest acquisition, the Lost Dog Property, lies in the West Timmins Area, one of the hottest exploration areas in Canada. Silver Shield’s Welsh Silver Property is the furthest along in development of the Company’s land in Canada.
The Property is in Mickle Township, Larder Lake Mining Division, Ontario, approximately seven kilometres west of the town of Elk Lake. Drilling on the project has produced strong results with intersecting of multiple veins being shown and grades as high as 2,659.5 g/t silver over 0.15 metres (77.6 oz/t).
While that is an impressive figure, today Silver Shield announced results of the completion of a 10-hole, 1,238-metre drill program with stats that topped the prior results. The veins were proven to be a bit narrow, but containing significant amounts of silver. Accompanying the high-grade silver intersections were measurable amounts of copper, cobalt, nickel, arsenic, bismuth, lead, etc.
The Company stated that "While all of the holes intersected mineralized veins, only Drillhole SCL-11-07 returned significant assay values." Clearly, with the richness of the silver in the ground needs further exploration to define the reserves more extensively, but it is difficult to overlook intersects from this particular hole. The press detailed cuts of 1.04 metres from grading 710.42 g/t silver (20.74 opt) including 0.20 metres @ 3,690 g/t silver as well as other minerals and 0.1 metres grading 6,668 g/t silver.
With reserves definitely needing further investigation and the veins more clearly defined, Silver Shield appears to be heading down the right path with the project which caught the attention of investors yesterday. Volume increased five-fold past its three-month average with nearly 375,000 shares changing hands in yesterday’s trading as the shares found their groove; moving up 25% from four cents to a nickel at the closing bell, today the Company is giving back some of those gains as profit taking takes the better of investors.
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