Drilling Returns High Grades and Wide Widths IN New Zone at Defiance Silver’S Zacatecas Project
DRILLING RETURNS HIGH GRADES AND WIDE WIDTHS IN
NEW ZONE AT DEFIANCE SILVER’S ZACATECAS PROJECT
FOR RELEASE: APRIL 28th, 2020 TSXV: DEF
OTCQX: DNCVF
FRA: D4E
Defiance Silver Corp. ("Defiance" or the " Company") is pleased to provide an update to the
ongoing drill program, including a newly -discovered zone of mineralization in the heart of the
Veta Grande vein system at the Zacatecas silver project.
Summary of Results
• DDSA-21-35 – Intersected high-grade silver, including 1.57 metres of 1340 g/t AgEq (from
248.70m-250.27m) within a wide intercept of 18.55m of 149 g/t AgEq (from 241.35m-
259.90m).
• DDSA-21-36 – An a ngled step-out drill hole from DDSA -21-35, which intersected
multiple zones of silver mineralization including 4.73 metres of 386 g/t AgEq (from
193.80m-198.53m) within a wide zone of mineralization returning 23.5 metres of 148 g/t
AgEq (from 188.05m-211.55m).
• DDSA-21-37 – A drill hole designed to test the vein in a previously undrilled section
returned multiple high -grade results , including 1.85 meters of 1157 g/t AgEq (from
270.45m-272.30m) within a wider intercept of 8.22m of 33 3 g/t AgEq ( from 270.45 to
278.67).
• DDSA-21-38 – A step-out hole from DDSA -21-37 returned 9.56 metres of 180 g/t AgEq
(from 266.4m-275.96m).
Chris Wright, Chairman & CEO, commented: “This zone of high- grade mineralization within
the Veta Grande structure highlights the near -term exploration and resource building potential
for the project. We have always felt the principal structures were inadequately tested both along
strike from previous drilling and also at depth. All holes reported in this release include zones of
silver, gold, and base metal mineralization. We are encouraged by these results, some of which
are the highest-grade silver results that Defiance has drilled to date at San Acacio . Follow-up
drilling in this zone will be aimed at defining the structure up -dip, and systematically stepping
down-dip to test the vertical profile of the Veta Grande structure. We look forward to releasing
additional results this year as they are received.”
Cross Sections
Figure 1- Cross Section of drill hole DDSA-21-35
Figure 2- Cross section of drill hole DDSA-21-37
Discussion of Results
The drill holes reported in this release were designed to test the northwestern portion of the
historic San Acacio mine area (Figure 4, Figure 5). Hole DDSA-21-35 was an infill hole within a
zone that has historical drill holes (Figure 1). The other three holes – DDSA-21-36, 37, and 38 –
drilled into a zone without substantial historical drilling and with poorly understood geology.
Previous generations of miners and explorers were not successful in locating the Veta Grande
system in the area to the east of DDSA- 21-35. It is evident from historical long sections of the
mine that whilst there were tunnels probing this area, no significant workings were developed.
A 1995 series of short drill holes along the trend of the outcropping Veta Grande vein also failed
to return significant results. A zone of more than 250m of strike length remained untested at
depth due to uncertainty regarding the location or presence of the vein system in this area (Figure
3).
Defiance Silver used historical data to compile a 3D model of the veins and undertook a surface
mapping program to help constrain the geometries of the veins and potential faults in the area.
Hole DDSA-21-36 was designed to drill from an area with good control into an area with poor
control, using the modelling as a guide. DDSA-21-36 drilled through a faulted zone, into historic
workings with only moderate alteration or mineralization, and then into several unmined,
mineralized zones. The top of the widest zone of high-grade mineralization in DDSA-21-36 was
approximately 15m below the workings and is believed to have been missed by the historic
workers due to the small offset in elevation, likely the result of faulting.
Using the updated modelling and the structural data collected from oriented core drilling in hole
DDSA-21-36, holes DDSA-21-37 and DDSA-21-38 were planned to follow up this newly located
zone of mineralization along strike. Both holes DDSA-21-37 and DDSA-21-38 encountered wide
zones of veinlet arrays and multiple vein zones (Figure 2). In both holes, as well as in DDSA-21-
36, the lower vein zone [Veta Grande] is not a simple vein but is a polyphase breccia with
volumetrically significant sulfide material. Clasts of particular importance i nclude dark sulfide-
matrix breccias and pieces of quartz -sphalerite-silver sulfide vein material. These polyphase
breccias are observed in a number of other drill holes across the property.
The highest-grade silver mineralization is typically associated with honey -coloured sphalerite,
argentiferous galena, variable silver sulfides, and spatially correlated with amethyst. The highest-
grade gold mineralization is typically associated with pyrite, brown to red -coloured sphalerite,
and occasionally with hematite. The hanging wall mineralization tends to express as a more
conventional vein to veinlet array morphology while the Veta Grande often occurs as a breccia
with vein-type textures and gangue.
San Acacio hosts a current inferred mineral resource estimate containing 16.97 M oz silver (17.76
M oz AgE q) grading 181.94 g/t silver (192.5 g/t AgEq) with a 100 g/t AgEq cut off (see the
Technical report titled: Technical Report and Resource Estimate, San Acacio Silver Depo sit,
Zacatecas State, Mexico by Giroux and Cuttle dated September 26, 2014, which is available on
Sedar and the company’s website here).
Long Section of Drilling
Figure 3 – Schematic long section showing Veta Grande results, limits of current resource estimate and
underground workings.
Table of Results
Table 1 – Silver equivalent is calculated using the following formula: Silver-Equivalent (AgEq) =
[(Au_ppm x 56.26)+(Ag_ppm x 0.80)+(Pb_ppm x .0016)+(Zn_ppm x 0.0026)]/ 0.80. Metal price
assumptions are Au:$1750, Ag:$25, Pb: $0.75, Zn:$1.2. 100% recovery has been assumed for all metals.
At this stage of the project, no metallurgy has been completed, and the reader is cautioned that 100%
recoveries are never achieved. True thickness is assumed to be 50%-80% of downhole width.
Drill Hole Information
Table 2 – All coordinates in WGS84 Zone 13N.
The current drill program , a continuation of the previously numbered drill holes, commenced
with hole DDSA-20-33. Defiance is currently drilling DDSA-21-45. This news release contains
the results from 4 holes (DDSA -21-36 to 38) for a total of approximately 1496 metres . T he
company has drilled approximately 5600m of HQ3 drill core to date in the current program.
Figure 4 – Drill hole collar locations on the Veta Grande vein system.
Next Steps
1) Increasing the 5,000 metre drill program to 10,000 metres.
2) Additional district -scale surface exploration, including mapping and sampling at the
Lucita project.
3) Core re-logging of the historical drill holes.
4) Permitting for additional exploration holes as a follow up to the property- wide surface
geochemistry and mapping program at San Acacio.
5) Permitting for phase 1 drilling at Lucita.
Figure 5 – Zacatecas project and reported drill holes in yellow.
Blue diamonds represent completed drill holes to date in current program.
Discussion of QAQC and Analytical Procedure
Samples were selected based on the lithology, alteration, and mineralization characteristics;
sample size ranges from 0.25 – 2m in width. All altered and mineralized intervals were sent for
assay. One blank, one standard, and one duplicate were included within every 20 samples.
Standard materials are certified reference materials [CRMs] from OREAS and contain a range of
Ag, Au, Cu, Pb, and Zn values. Blanks, standards, and duplicates did not detect any issues with
the analytical results.
Samples were analyzed by ALS Chemex Laboratories. Sample preparation was performed at the
Zacatecas, Mexico , prep facility, and analyses were performed at the Vancouver, Canada,
analytical facility. All elements except Au and Hg were analyzed by a multi-element
geochemistry method utilizing a four -acid digestion followed by ICP -MS detection [ME-
MS61m]; mercury was analyzed after a separate aqua regia digest by ICP -MS. Overlimit assays
for Ag, Pb, and Zn were conducted using the OG62 method (multi-acid digest with ICP-AES/AAS
finish). Gold was measured by fire-assay with an ICP-AES finish [50g sample, Au-ICP22].
San Acacio History
Zacatecas State continues to be the top producer of silver in Mexico and is one of the reasons
Mexico remains the world’s largest silver -producing region. The Zacatecas -Fresnillo Silver Belt
is one of the most prolific silver producing areas in the world. Production at the San Acacio mine
dates to at least 1548 when Spanish colonialists mined mainly bonanza oxide ores, typically
grading in excess of 1kg/tonne Silver. The various veins were mined intermittently until the mid-
1800s when an English company drove the ~2km Purisima tunnel to allow for deeper
underground access and drainage. From the late 1800s until the Mexican Revolution in 1920,
mining consisted of intermittent production from bonanza grade ores. During the Mexican
Revolution, heavy fighting in the Zacatecas region led to the halt of most mining endeavors. In
the mid 1920’s, a cyanide plant targeting silica rich ores and a floatation plant for complex Pb-Zn
ores were built with varying success until the transition from oxide to sulphide rich ores made
for recovery complexities. In the mid 1930s the first tonnage estimate was created on the
property, although the project sat mostly idle save for some stope and adit rehabilitation at
Purisima and Refugio. Production was largely dormant except for some s mall processing done
by CIA Fresnillo in the late 1930s to early 1940s. In the mid- 1990s Silver Standard Resources
Inc. began a systematic exploration and evaluation program targeting an open pit silver mine
consisting of backfill, remaining stopes and silica-rich hanging wall and footwall mineralization
of the Veta Grande structure. This entry by a publicly-listed company kicked off nearly 3 decades
of exploration, development, and bulk-scale processing.
Defiance Silver has been exploring the project since 2011 and has focused primarily on identifying
near-term mine resources. Drilling by previous operators as well as Defiance Silver from 2009 to
early 2017 confirmed the presence of significant mineralizing events that provide evidence for a
long-lived mineralizing system. Drilling in late 2017 and early 2019 outlined complexities in the
structural geology of the area and identified significant “down dropped” and rotated structural
blocks as the company tested the Veta Grande at similar elevations where it was encountered by
earlier mining and drilling.