Ongoing Drilling Already Shows Further Potential

The plan is set: After Canadian silver company Summa Silver Summa Silver (TSXV SSVR / WKN A2P4EE) recently announced the resumption of drilling on its Hughes project in Nevada, the company now reports that initial resource estimates for both Hughes and the Mogollon project in New Mexico will be presented in early next year.

In our opinion, this could open some eyes in the market for CEO Galen McNamara’s company, as it seems the market has not yet recognized (or acknowledged) that Summa has already conducted drilling of significant scale. As the company emphasizes once again, the resource estimates will be based on 40,000 (!) meters of drilling, distributed across 60 drill holes on the Hughes project and 22 drill holes on the Mogollon project.

Historical Data Can Be Incorporated into Initial Resource Estimate

With the help of its own drilling, Summa Silver was also able to confirm the results of numerous historical drill holes and underground channel samples taken by previous operators. A true treasure trove of data that will now be incorporated into the initial resource calculations.

However: These calculations will be based solely on the results of completed drilling and will not yet include the results of ongoing exploration activities or the discovery-oriented drilling program at Hughes. This means that additional potential is already clearly identifiable.

On the Hughes project, according to Summa, the resource estimation will focus on defining the size and grades of significant gold mineralization in the Murray, Belmont, and Ruby target areas. The highlights of the drilling conducted there:

• – 3,912 g/t AgEq (2,276 g/t Ag, 21.8 g/t Au) over 2.8 m (Belmont, SUM21-30)
  – 522 g/t AgEq (286 g/t Ag, 3.10 g/t Au) over 18.5 m (Belmont, SUM20-06)
  – 1,494 g/t AgEq (913 g/t Ag, 7.86 g/t Au) over 4.3 m (Belmont, SUM21-31)
  – 444 g/t AgEq (253 g/t Ag, 2.53 g/t Au) over 6.1 m (Murray, SUM21-40)
  – 1,450 g/t AgEq (813 g/t Ag, 8.41 g/t Au) over 3.0 m (Ruby, SUM23-59)

On the Mogollon project, the resource estimation will primarily focus on defining the extent and grades of the strong silver and gold mineralization originating from the Queen vein. Here, Summa drilled, among others:

• – 426 g/t AgEq (123 g/t Ag, 3.70 g/t Au) over 31.5 m (consolidated, MOG22-05)
  – 640 g/t AgEq (306 g/t Ag, 4.26 g/t Au) over 9.9 m (Consolidated, MOG22-10)
  – 433 g/t AgEq (134 g/t Ag, 3.66 g/t Au) over 23.2 m (consolidated, MOG22-16)
  – 1,133 g/t AgEq (421 g/t Ag, 8.81 g/t Au) over 1.65 m (Eberle, MOG23-21)
  – 393 g/t AgEq (64 g/t Ag, 3.92 g/t Au) over 7.4 m (South Queen, MOG23-20)

Interestingly, the resources for both projects will be calculated by independent experts from RESPEC, who have also prepared the calculation for the Tonopah West deposit of Blackrock Silver, whose project borders Hughes.

Perhaps not as “sexy” as drill results but of equal importance in this context is metallurgy, which, simply put, determines how much of the discovered metal can actually be recovered. There’s good news on that front as well, as tests conducted so far have shown high average recovery rates of 90% for silver and 97% for gold on the Hughes project. For Mogollon, the values were even higher at 97% for silver and 98% for gold.

Since Summa Silver completed the last drilling program, the company’s technical team has summarized the data from the past four (!) years of exploration activities to create a geological model. Summa now wants to use this to inform the market as soon as possible about the number of ounces drilled. As CEO McNamara explains, the work done so far on both Hughes and Mogollon has demonstrated a massive scale that now allows Summa to measure itself against its peer group. In any case, McNamara continues, both districts represent a truly unique opportunity due to their primary focus on silver, world-class grades, excellent metallurgy, and top-tier jurisdiction.

The excitement is therefore building, and the company’s shareholders can hardly wait for 2025 and the resource estimates. In the meantime, the new drilling program at Hughes is progressing. Four drill sites have already been cased at the Ruby discovery, and a core drilling rig is currently on site, advancing the first core-tail hole towards the various horizons. According to Summa Silver, the chip samples from the RC pre-drilling show extensive strong hydrothermal alteration, as expected.