Things are getting serious! Aztec Minerals (TSXV AZT / WKN A2DRF0 ) has completed the first seven drillings at its Tombstone gold and silver project in the US state of Arizona. And the drill cores are already in the lab, so the company expects to find out within the next four weeks if they were successful!
The seven completed drill holes have a total length of 1,242 meters, which are part of a 3,200-meter reverse circulation (RC) drilling program. In total, Aztec Minerals plans to drill 5,000 meters at Tombstone, and also intends to penetrate to greater depths with diamond core drilling.
With the completed drillings, the company led by CEO Simon Dyakowski has investigated the southern extension of the north-trending main zone of the Contention structure. This includes the historic Contention Mine, where both open-pit and underground mining took place.
Aztec Minerals Prepares for Deeper Drilling
Aztec Minerals designed two of the seven RC drill holes so that they can be continued with core drills. The objective is to test a deeper sulfide mineralization beneath the near-surface oxidized gold and silver target zone Contention, which was indicated by a previous study.
According to the company, five of the drill holes were consistently oxidized and contained hematite-rich, silicified hydrothermal breccias, consisting of quartz-feldspar porphyry veins and clastic sedimentary fragments of the Bisbee Group – which is typical for the mineralization of the Contention Mine!
In our view, it is also promising that the deepest drill hole to date (201 meters, 173 meters vertical depth) remained in oxidized and mixed oxidized material over its entire length. Furthermore, Aztec Minerals conducted a drill hole southwest of the main Contention pit. With this, they aimed to test for obliquely cutting mineralization structures and indeed encountered two separate structures with quartz-carbonate alteration.
In addition, Aztec Minerals has continued surface sampling in the newly staked claim areas as part of its exploration program, where potential for mineralization is seen both near the surface and at depth.
Aztec Minerals’ Tombstone Project
Aztec’s Tombstone Project covers a large part of the historic gold and silver district of the same name in Cochise County, Arizona. With its drilling, Aztec Minerals targets near-surface zones that were identified as prospective for high-grade, oxidized gold and silver mineralization by drillings from late last year.
Among other things, the company made a new discovery of high-grade silver and gold mineralization in the southern extension of the trend, with drill hole TR24-16 demonstrating a total of 569 g/t silver equivalent (290 g/t silver, 3.48 g/t gold) over 25.8 meters! This was also the highest silver grade Aztec Minerals has drilled to date at the Tombstone Project.
The company had also shown with last year’s RC drillings that the oxide gold and silver mineralization remains open in all directions, which, according to Aztec, underscores the potential for an expansion of the known, near-surface silver and gold mineralization near the Contention Zone.
Aztec Minerals Tests Mineralization Potential with Deep Drilling
As Aztec Minerals further explains, the deep oxidation and alteration from TR24-16 supports the hypothesis that a large anomaly at depth is potentially mineralized. They now intend to verify this by advancing deeper at the location of drill hole TR24-13, as historical drilling data indicates a Santa Fe Mining drill hole that showed an interval of 7.14 meters with 6.54% lead, 2.57% zinc, 0.61% copper, and 32 g/t silver at a depth of 656.5 meters.
Conclusion: In our view, Aztec Minerals is pursuing two equally promising approaches at Tombstone – the expansion of the near-surface high-grade silver and gold mineralization, and the investigation of the deeper potential beneath it. Now, the results of the geochemical analysis of the samples already sent to the lab are due in the coming weeks. Should these be positive, it could provide additional momentum to the stock in the current environment, as it has already gained significantly since its April low. It is also interesting that Aztec now holds 85% – up from 78.7% previously – of the project. The joint venture stakes have been recalculated, so partner Dragoon Resources LLC now holds only 15% – down from 21.3% previously.
