Trend Remains Open to the South Contrary to Initial Expectations
Initially, Tocvan Ventures (CSE TOC / WKN TV3/A2PE64) had thought that the high-grade gold and silver mineralization south of the Main Zone of the Gran Pilar project would not extend further. However, this was far from the case: extension drilling expanded the high-grade corridor once again! This gave Tocvan the opportunity to extend the mineralization to the south, increasing the potential for additional near-surface resources.
The company led by CEO Brodie Sutherland, which we had introduced on Goldinvest.de some time ago, is now reporting the remaining results of core drilling on the gold and silver project in the mining-friendly Mexican state of Sonora. Ten drill holes with a total length of 1,167.5 meters were completed in 2025, with 51% of the drilling taking place in the Main Zone, which is held in partnership with Colibri Resource.
Source: Tocvan Ventures
Drilling Highlights
The highlight of the results reported today was 7.2 g/t gold and 80 g/t silver over 2.6 meters as part of a mineralized zone averaging 0.5 g/t gold over 46.9 meters starting at just 54.5 meters hole depth! This drill hole, identified as JES-25-112, is located 70 meters south of the previous drill hole JES-22-62, which yielded 0.8 g/t gold over 108 meters.
JES-25-112 represents the southernmost drill hole to date that has produced significant mineralization, and the trend remains open to the south. Tocvan also notes that the analysis of a duplicate sample from the high-grade zone yielded 18 g/t gold over 1.1 meters. The original sample had only shown 4.4 g/t gold. According to the company, the difference is due to the system containing relatively coarse gold. Tocvan is considering conducting further studies to determine the impact of this variance on the resource estimate.
As the company also reported, drill hole JES-25-111, located 450 meters northeast of the Main Zone within the 4-T Trend, produced a zone of anomalous gold and silver mineralization, including 0.7 meters with 0.8 g/t gold and 24 g/t silver. Hole JES-25-110, located 300 meters from the Main Zone within the North Hill Trend, yielded an anomalous zone that included 7.8 meters with 0.1 g/t gold.
Tocvan CEO Sutherland stated: “Extension drilling south of the Main Zone has expanded the high-grade corridor where we previously thought mineralization would stop. This has opened up the opportunity for us to extend the mineralization further south, thereby increasing the potential for near-surface resources. We are very pleased with the success rate of the core drilling program as it provides important geological information for resource modeling while improving our understanding of high-grade zones and the true size potential of the mineralization. RC drilling continues to progress north of the Main Zone, building on our initial success with drilling in the expansion area. We look forward to keeping our shareholders updated as these results become available. Near-term catalysts include drill results and updates on permitting initiatives for pilot production and aggressive exploration across the expansion area.”
Pilot Plant at Pilar Being Considered
As Tocvan’s management has great confidence in the potential of the advanced Pilar project, they are already drafting a permitting and operational strategy for a pilot plant on the project site. The facility would support a robust test mining scenario and is expected to process up to 50,000 tons of material. A timeline and budget are currently being prepared with the goal of advancing development in early 2025.
Given the record run of the gold price, Tocvan believes that this on-site test operation will provide important economic parameters and highlight the mineralization potential of the area. In 2023, the company had already externally tested a bulk sample, gaining crucial data that demonstrated the potential for recovering both gold and silver using various methods such as heap leaching, gravity separation, and mixed leaching.
