Pinnacle Silver and Gold (TSXV: PINN) has announced that it has received a permit from Mexico's federal ministry responsible for environmental protection allowing it to begin its surface drilling program at the past-producing El Potrero gold-silver project in Durango, Mexico.
The company says it is not a standard drill permit, but a full environmental permit, also known as a Manifiesto Impacto Ambiental (MIA). In order to acquire the permit, the company had to provide more background and baseline data than is usually required to drill. Although this resulted in a longer approval time, Pinnacle says now that the data has been collected it can be reused when applying for mine, processing plant, tailings storage facility (TSF), powerline extension, water license and auxiliary infrastructure permits — all of which are underway.
“Although this process took longer than a normal drill permit, it was not a waste of time as we would have been required to do the work anyway,” said Robert Archer, Pinnacle’s president and CEO. “Once the first surface drill is properly established on the Dos de Mayo vein targets, we will consider adding a second drill to start on the Estrella vein as we believe that structure has a lot of potential.”
Pinnacle says the surface campaign combined with its ongoing underground drilling will provide a foundation for a mine plan and formal production decision by early 2027.
Surface drilling targets
The permit covers 110 drill sites and is valid for two years. The company’s first-pass drill program is expected to include 48 holes and 5,540 metres.
Fourteen fill-in holes are planned around the historic underground workings, testing parts of the Dos de Mayo vein structure that could not be reached with the underground drill. In addition, nine step-out holes, also at Dos de Mayo, will test the vein for approximately 1,100 metres from the historic mines, an area that has never been drilled.
The campaign will also target the Capulín vein system which lies 200 metres to the southwest of the historic mine workings and parallel to the Dos de Mayo vein. Previous sampling here returned up to 6.27 grams of gold per tonne and 99 grams of silver per tonne over 0.4 metres.
Pinnacle's final target is the Estrella which is 500 metres to the southwest of the historic mines and 500 metres higher in elevation. Seventeen holes are planned. Previous sampling was led by grades of 5.49 grams of gold per tone and 48 grams of silver per tonne over strike length of 12 metres.
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