Adriatic Metals has unearthed more high-grade silver and zinc in three step-out holes near its cornerstone Rupice multi-commodity deposit in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Diamond hole BR-12-21 returned a broad 24.7 metre hit going 514 grams per tonne silver equivalent about 145m north-west of the company’s 12 million tonne resource grading 149 g/t silver, 1.4 g/t gold and 4.1 per cent zinc.
The 24.7m strike from 295.1m contains 181 g/t silver, 9.0 per cent zinc, 4.6 per cent lead, 0.9 g/t gold, 0.3 per cent copper, 67 per cent barium sulphate and 0.1 per cent tin.
Another new hole, BR-16-21, returned a 7.1m intercept at a remarkable 1,123 g/t silver equivalent, confirming continuity of the mineralised zone to the north-west of the Rupice deposit.
Notably, zinc grades alone in the 7.1m strike clocked in at 11.3 per cent, with silver in the intercept grading 662 g/t.
The nearby BR-19-21 also hit mineralisation to deliver a 15.8m intercept grading 508 g/t silver equivalent from 346.2m.
Management says the stratigraphic sequence and mineralisation style in the newly intercepted mineralised zone, now named ‘Rupice Northwest’, appears to be akin to the Rupice deposit itself.
The resource defined at Rupice so far lies along 650m of strike. It forms part of a broader resource base at Adriatic’s Vares project.
Adriatic recently released a cracking set of numbers from a definitive feasibility study, or “DFS” evaluating the potential of bringing Vares into production.
The study projected an average EBITDA of US$281.1 million per year in the first five years of concentrate production.
A sensational net present value after tax of US$1.06 billion was estimated in the study, with an extraordinary internal rate of return of 134 per cent after tax.
The DFS envisaged capital costs of US$168m to bring the project to life, with a pay-back period of only 0.7 years.
Adriatic Metals Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Paul Cronin said:“The extensional drilling completed to date demonstrates that excellent exploration potential still remains at Rupice. While extending the known mineralised zone by 145 metres, BR-12-21 also shows a thickening of the massive sulphide mineralisation to the north. We plan for drilling to continue through winter, alongside the civil earth works underway for the Rupice Underground Mine surface infrastructure.
Given the thickness and continuity demonstrated at Rupice Northwest, the recent drilling results, and ongoing exploration activities are expected to extend the current 10 year mine plan at Rupice, as well as offering potential optionality to alter the current mine plan to access the higher grade areas earlier in the mine life.”
Adriatic now plans to ramp-up exploration and definition drilling to better define the mineralised strike within the Rupice Northwest area.
Interestingly, mineralisation at the southern and south-eastern parts of Rupice also remains open, according to the company.
It says geotechnical drilling at the project is coming to a close and once concluded will improve rig availability for further exploration drilling at Rupice in the new year.
Adriatic has already delivered some eye-catching numbers in its DFS at Vares and now appears to be well on its way to growing the mineralised envelope as the rich multi-commodity hits at Rupice Northwest flow in.
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By Matt Birney
