Silver Mines (ASX:SVL) progresses Bowdens Silver Project in March quarter

• Over the March quarter, Silver Mines (SVL) focussed on progressing the development of its Bowdens Silver Project in New South Wales
• Bowdens is said to be the largest undeveloped silver deposit in Australia and is forecast to produce 66 million ounces of silver, 130,000 tonnes of zinc and 95,000 tonnes of lead across its 16.5-year mine life
• Silver Mines submitted a mining lease application late last month and undertook diamond drilling which remains ongoing
• Unfortunately, COVID-19 resulted in a drilling program at the Barabolar Project to be put on hold, so SVL is undertaking desktop work until drilling can begin
• In terms of expenditure, Silver Mines spent just under $2.2 million on exploration activities and a hefty $1.03 million on staff and admin costs
• But, the materials stock managed to raise $30 million through a placement which led to it having a healthy cash balance of $32.6 million
• Company shares are up a slight 2.22 per cent and trading at 23 cents

Silver Mines (SVL) has released an exploration update for the March quarter which was largely spent at the Bowdens Silver Project in New South Wales.

According to the materials stock, the Bowdens Silver Project is the largest undeveloped silver deposit in Australia.

Silver Mines’ plan for the project is for it produce 66 million ounces of silver, 130,000 tonnes of zinc and 95,000 tonnes of lead across its 16.5-year mine life.

Over the March quarter, the company progressed consultations with relevant Government departments, local communities, and other interested stakeholders. A significant part of this process was completing a mining lease application which was submitted in late March.

Silver Mines also undertook diamond drilling at Bowdens which yielded positive results including 26.1 metres at 252 g/t of silver equivalent and 10.1 metres at 460g/t of silver equivalent.

Diamond drilling is ongoing with two rigs onsite to continue testing high-grade silver targets and extensions to the current resource. Due to the success of the program thus far, the company is planning to carry out additional drilling and exploration.

In addition, Silver Mines received final results from a 4000-metre drilling program undertaken at the Tuena Gold Project last year.

Pleasingly, final data encountered more gold mineralisation including an intercept of four metres at 6.88g/t gold from 98 metres with a peak grade fo 25g/t gold.

The company is compiling the results from this initial program to guide follow-up drilling to test the extents of gold.

Unfortunately, COVID-19 caused a planned drilling program at the Barabolar Project to be put on hold. However, the project remains a compelling target area so SVL is continuing desktop studies until exploration begins.

In terms of expenditure, Silver Mines spent just under $2.2 million on exploration activities and a hefty $1.03 million on staff and admin costs.

Positively, the company got a $30 million funding boost in February through a capital raise. The placement was launched to support the development of the Bowdens Silver Project.

Thanks to the capital raise, Silver Mines rounded off the quarter with around $32.6 million in cash.

Company shares are up a slight 2.22 per cent and trading at 23 cents at 11:56 am AEST.