Editor Resource ReviewKootenay’s Promontorio Silver Project. The Time Is Now
Kootenay’s Promontorio Silver Project. The Time Is Now
By Kevin Moe
Editor Resource Review
There is no question, developing a major precious metals deposit takes time, but for those that are successful, the payoff can be staggering. Enter TSX.V–Listed Kootenay Silver Inc. (Symbol: “KTN”) To date, Kootenay has spent almost six years and over $35 million systematically advancing its historic Promontorio Silver project in Sonora, Mexico.
It is an investment in time and money that appears to be well spent. Coming off the heels of the Company’s largest and most expansive drill programs in the history of the Promontorio project, we are going to soon find out just how big this silver deposit has become.
From the outset, the objective of the Kootenay’s multi-phase strategy on Promontorio has been to develop a silver resource in the 50 to 150 million ounce range. In other words, delineate a deposit that is on par with several other neighboring precious metal producers that have come on stream in Mexico’s emerging Sierra Madre region in recent years.
Taking any precious metals project from the early stage of exploration to full commercial production is a daunting task, but certainly not one that key management of Kootenay is foreign to. Kootenay CEO and Chief Geologist James McDonald has been a driving force behind the success of several juniors, including Canadian-based Alamos Gold Inc. (160K oz. gold annually) where he currently serves on their Board and technical committee. McDonald could see the potential to build Promontorio into something special early on.
Says McDonald “Just being able to acquire an advanced project and a former producer such as Promontorio really gave us an edge up from the start. It was a highly sought after project at the time and for good reason. We understood it was going to take time and a substantial amount of funding to build a silver resource, but we also had a considerable amount of evidence and historic data that led us to believe we were on the right track. We knew if the results were there, the rest was simply going to be a process.”
Ensuing results would indeed set the stage. Practically straight out of the gate, a 54-hole drill program on Promontorio hit pay dirt when a series of high-grade assays returned over broad intervals led to the discovery of the initial Pit Discovery Zone. Some of the eye-popping results from drilling included 18.4 meters grading 950 g/t and 151 meters grading 162 g/t silver equivalent. Equally exciting at the time, the deposit remained open to the West, North, East and to depth. Clearly, the process to begin building Promontorio into a substantial silver entity had begun.
The scope of Promontorio’s real intrinsic potential started to come to light in late 2010, when an independent resource calculation conducted on the project by AGP Mining Consultants revealed Promontorio’s Pit Discovery Zone, which represents only a small portion of the 79,000-hectare property, contained an indicated and inferred resource totaling over 10 million ounces of silver, with substantial amounts of lead and zinc.
Backed by its newly established 43-101 silver resource and a $6 million non-brokered financing led by Toronto-based Sprott Asset Management and a consortium of institutional investors, McDonald and team immediately stepped up activities on Promontorio launching an aggressive 10,000 meter infill and step-out drilling program.
The drill campaign focused on establishing continuity of silver mineralization within the Pit Discovery, Southwest and Northeast Zones, situated within the property’s central 1km mineralized corridor. Once again, the drill program was a resounding success returning a series of high-grade results over broad intervals, highlighted by grades such as 51 meters grading 237 g/t silver Equivalent, including 526.2 g/t silver Equivalent over 18 meters and 34 meters grading 146 g/t silver Equivalent.
Supported by continued stellar results and a rapidly growing silver resource, late last year Kootenay launched an all out assault on the Promontorio deposit, through the initiation of a 25,000 meter, follow up in-fill drill and resource definition program. The recently concluded, multi-phase program, which was designed to dramatically boost the size of its existing 43-101 silver resource, represented the Company’s largest and most comprehensive drilling campaigns conducted on Promontorio to date.
Similar to results from its previous multi-phase drill campaigns, a series of high-grade assays would lead the way. Drilling results from each phase of the program would prove to be highly successful, consistently returning multiple intervals of widespread silver mineralization, containing numerous high-grade zones. Initial highlights from drilling included 873 gpt Silver Equivalent over 18 meters in the Northeast Zone and 150 gpt Silver Equivalent over 17 meters in the Southwest Zone, with more good news to follow.
The program was successful establishing continuity of silver mineralization up to 300 meters between the Pit Discovery and the Southwest extension Zone, to form one large continuous zone. In addition, a series of broadly spaced holes indicated continuity of silver mineralization over 200 meters of strike in the North East Zone, in an area of the property which is double the size and strike length of the current 43-101 resource.
Adding to the excitement, the recent definitive recognition by Kootenay’s technical team that Promontorio silver mineralization is hosted in a large diatreme complex has significant geologic implication, as these types of systems can typically be very large in size and result in discovery of numerous deposits. Examples of prolific discoveries in Mexico hosted in diatreme systems include the Pitarrilla Silver-Lead-Zinc deposits in Durango and the Peñasquito Silver-Gold-Lead-Zinc mine located in the northeast of the State of Zacatecas in north-central Mexico.
For Kootenay and team results from the 25,000 meter program couldn’t have been better.
In a recent breaking development, Kootenay announced the Company has engaged the services of Colorado-based SRK Mining Engineering Inc. to provide an updated National Instrument 43-101 independent resource calculation on Promontorio. The much anticipated resource estimate, expected to be released within the next 8 weeks, will establish just how large this emerging silver deposit has become.
There is no question Kootenay management believes Promontorio is a mine in the making. McDonald and team are targeting a silver resource at Promontorio that is double or triple the size of its existing 43-101 resource. Reaching that threshold would undoubtedly be a milestone development for the Company and could push the total contained value of its silver deposit to over $1 billion dollars, a figure commensurate with other elite precious metals producers operating in the Sierra Madre region.
One thing that is for certain, if results from the upcoming 43-101 independent resource study come in true to form, as many industry insiders and followers are banking on, it promises to be a golden summer for Kootenay and its corporate stakeholders.
Every process in life takes time, but then again, Rome was not built over night either.
https://www.kootenaysilver.com/s/Promontorio.asp