VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Dec. 04, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Endeavour Silver Corp. (NYSE:EXK) (TSX:EDR) announces that exploration drilling on the Calicanto property in Zacatecas State, Mexico has discovered high grade silver-gold mineralization assaying up to 2,043 grams per tonne (gpt) silver and 13.2 gpt gold over 2.8 m true width within the Calicanto and Misie vein systems.
Twenty-nine drill holes totaling 7,207 metres (m) of core were drilled to test the subparallel Misie-Karla-Karla HW veins, along which there are a few small historic diggings over a 1000 m strike length on the property, and the Calicanto vein, which saw historic underground mining accessed by several old shafts over an 800 m strike length on the property (view maps here).
Drilling highlights include 2,043 gpt silver and 13.2 gpt gold (2,967 gpt silver equivalent (AgEq)) over a 2.8 m true width (86.5 oz per ton (opT) AgEq over 9.2 feet (ft)) in hole CLT-15 within the Calicanto vein. Another high grade intercept assayed 932 gpt silver and 1.26 gpt gold (1,020 gpt AgEq) over a 2.7 m true width (29.7 opT AgEq over 8.9 ft) in hole CLT-20 within the Misie vein.
Results for 9 material drill holes are summarized in the table below.
| Hole | Structure | From | True Width | Au | Ag | AgEq |
| (m) | (m) | (gpt) | (gpt) | (gpt) | ||
| CLT-04 | Misie | 76.55 | 0.9 | 0.14 | 480 | 490 |
| Including | 77.15 | 0.4 | 0.22 | 1,080 | 1,095 | |
| CLT-05 | Karla | 31.70 | 4.2 | 0.52 | 396 | 433 |
| Including | 38.20 | 0.4 | 2.16 | 1,255 | 1,406 | |
| Hw Karla | 62.25 | 1.0 | 0.05 | 252 | 255 | |
| Including | 62.25 | 0.4 | 0.11 | 593 | 601 | |
| CLT-06 | Karla | 29.20 | 4.1 | 0.14 | 155 | 165 |
| Including | 35.90 | 0.3 | 1.51 | 601 | 706 | |
| Misie | 125.00 | 1.1 | 0.21 | 299 | 313 | |
| Including | 125.00 | 0.3 | 0.59 | 1,020 | 1,061 | |
| CLT-15 | Calicanto | 257.15 | 2.8 | 13.20 | 2,043 | 2,967 |
| Including | 259.65 | 0.5 | 65.70 | 11,751 | 16,350 | |
| CLT-17 | Misie | 137.55 | 1.2 | 0.24 | 193 | 210 |
| Including | 138.50 | 0.5 | 0.50 | 342 | 377 | |
| CLT-19 | Karla | 37.10 | 1.6 | 0.23 | 252 | 268 |
| Including | 38.10 | 0.8 | 0.39 | 311 | 338 | |
| Hw Karla | 62.55 | 1.5 | 0.03 | 208 | 210 | |
| Including | 63.05 | 0.1 | 0.41 | 394 | 423 | |
| Misie | 96.30 | 2.5 | 0.69 | 335 | 383 | |
| Including | 96.30 | 0.3 | 0.67 | 500 | 547 | |
| CLT-20 | Hw Karla | 25.80 | 4.3 | 0.18 | 220 | 232 |
| Including | 28.20 | 0.2 | 1.82 | 880 | 1,007 | |
| Misie | 87.40 | 2.7 | 1.26 | 932 | 1,020 | |
| Including | 88.50 | 0.3 | 6.58 | 3,050 | 3,511 | |
| CLT-26 | Hw Karla | 69.75 | 1.3 | 0.08 | 251 | 257 |
| Including | 71.35 | 0.3 | 0.16 | 388 | 399 | |
| CLT-28 | Misie | 94.70 | 1.5 | 1.20 | 446 | 530 |
| Including | 94.70 | 0.6 | 2.13 | 756 | 905 |
Silver equivalents are calculated at a ratio of 70:1 silver: gold
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Luis Castro, Vice President, Exploration for Endeavour Silver, commented, “We were very encouraged to discover new zones of high grade mineralization within the Misie-Karla-Karla HW and Calicanto veins. Even though only one drill hole intersected high grade mineralization in the Calicanto vein, it has exceptional grades and opens up potential within the vein for drilling next year.
“The Calicanto vein appears to be related to, and is possibly the same vein as, the Mala Noche Footwall Zone, on which our neighbor Capstone Mining intersected 2.2 per cent copper over a 14.4-metre estimated true width in a deep step-out drill hole close to our property boundary, as announced by Capstone on September 12, 2017.
“A new resource estimate for the Calicanto property will be prepared at year-end for release in the 1st quarter of 2018 as part of the El Compas project. With the El Compas mine coming to production in the next few months, and the potential to expand the plant capacity up to double the current proposed mine output, our near term goals at Calicanto are to expand the resources, assess their economic viability, apply for mining permits, and develop a mine plan to utilize the full El Compas plant capacity.”
Godfrey Walton, M.Sc., P.Geo., Endeavour’s President and COO, is the Qualified Person who reviewed and approved this news release and supervised the drilling programs in Mexico. A Quality Control sampling program of reference standards, blanks and duplicates has been instituted to monitor the integrity of all assay results. All samples are split at the local field office and shipped to ALS-Chemex Labs, where they are dried, crushed, split and 50 gram pulp samples are prepared for analysis. Gold and silver are determined by fire assay with an atomic absorption (AA) finish.
About Endeavour Silver – Endeavour Silver is a mid-tier precious metals mining company that owns three high grade, underground, silver-gold mines in Mexico. Since start‑up in 2004, Endeavour has grown its mining operations organically to produce 9.7 million ounces of silver and equivalents in 2016. We find, build and operate quality silver mines in a sustainable way to create real value for all stakeholders. Endeavour Silver’s shares trade on the TSX (EDR) and the NYSE (EXK).
