VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 03/14/14 -- Prospero Silver Corp. (TSX VENTURE: PSL) ("Prospero" or the "Company") announces that Silver Standard Resources Inc. ("Silver Standard") has decided not to proceed to the second year of drilling/evaluation pursuant to an option to joint venture agreement entered into in March 2013. Silver Standard completed a 15-hole 5,135 meter diamond drill program the results of which were provided in a news release dated March 3, 2014.
Before drilling, Silver Standard completed an IP survey and rock geochemistry over the project in Q3 2013. This survey identified three new areas of geophysical interest in the eastern La Puerta and India Bonita target zones. The diamond drilling program mounted in Q4 2013 and Q1 2014 was directed at these new targets as well as testing previously drilled areas which had carried encouraging results.
The targets, which had previous work, include:
-- The extension to depth of the old Santa Rosa mine of the approx. 600g/t
silver found in earlier drilling;
-- The extension to the northwest of the Santa Rosa trend;
-- A deep chargeability anomaly under the limestone plateau located in the
western zone, and
-- The extension to the east of the Santa Rosa East skarn zone.
Tawn Albinson, Prospero's Mexico City based President/CEO, said, "In discussions with the Silver Standard team at PDAC they noted that their goal was to identify the potential for 100 million ounces of silver. Evidently review of all the data has led them to conclude this first phase of drilling did not meet that expectation."
The drilling results from the 15-hole program are found below and shown on the attached surface map of the central portion of the San Luis del Cordero project.
Albinson notes, "Silver Standard was not encouraged to pursue further the high grade material in the Santa Rosa vein because of low tonnage potential. The focus ended up on the skarns in the Santa Rosa East skarn and a continuation of this contact." He added, "Cordero has seen an aggregate of 10,400 metres of drilling since 2007 which could allow calculation of a preliminary resource using an external Qualified Person. While the results Silver Standard turned up did not support the size potential they seek, Prospero firmly believes a still sizeable amount of ounces can be defined in the lower grade areas of the skarns and potentially a small standalone operation in the higher grade Santa Rosa area- or a combination of the two."
Prospero will continue to seek JV partners for Cordero for the silver potential and, in addition, explore further the deeper copper potential, which has been identified by other potential JV partners.
Discussion of results
The Santa Rosa vein and the Santa Rosa East skarn zones dip steeply to the south towards the shoulder of the intrusive body, which appears, in general, to dip to the north. The deeper holes drilled under the Santa Rosa vein (hole SSLC-13-20 and SSLC-14-31), and the Santa Rosa East skarn (hole SSLC-14-32) encountered mostly intrusive phases and multiple dikes that are related to a complex intrusive/sediment contact zone. The deeper holes encountered some weakly mineralized quartz and calcite veins, which are likely a late vein-forming event. The position of the deeper feeder zones of the Santa Rosa vein and the blind-to-surface Santa Rosa East skarn remain uncertain, and could be controlled by the north dipping intrusive/sediment contact zone. In this case it would be necessary to test the as yet unexplored deeper extension of this contact zone with drill holes directed from north to south rather than from south to north (which is the direction in which most holes have been drilled to date).
Hole SSLC-13-28 was drilled under alluvium covered ground to the north of La Puerta zone to investigate an IP anomaly. This hole encountered multiple quartz porphyry dikes and skarn and quartz veins with an intersection 24 meters in length with a grade of 20 g/t Ag 0.29% Cu, and 0.92% Zn. It indicates the porphyritic dikes and skarn mineralization persist further north than previously mapped at the surface.
Hole SSLC-13-30 was drilled towards the south to test the large La Puerta skarn (700 meters long, 130 meters wide) and also encountered quartz porphyry dikes and vein zones with significant silver values (62 to 72 g/t Ag). The skarn was not reached indicating it dips stepper than anticipated. Drill holes positioned closer to the skarn will be required to test La Puerta target at depth.
Most of the known mineralization in the San Luis Cordero project occurs along a horseshoe shaped zone that wraps around a sizable intrusive body 2.5 km long and approx. 1.5 km wide. Drilling to date has focused on the 2.5 km long northern border of the intrusive. The full length (1.5 kms) of the south-eastern flank of the intrusive body (from the Canal Zone in the SW to the La Puerta skarn to the NE) remains unexplored (see attached diagram) and has the potential to host Santa Rosa East skarn type ore bodies in the closer to surface environment, as well as for deeper skarn and/or porphyry style mineralization. Highly differentiated intrusive phases, including a broad swarm of quartz feldspar porphyry dikes and both prograde and retrograde stages of primarily silver-copper mineralization occurring close to the intrusive/sediment contact zone, all indicate a favorable environment to identify new mineralized zones.
Prospero drilled PSLC-17 in 2011 in the zinc rich "Canal zone". The intersection was 4.29 meters of 11.5% Zn, 96 g/t Ag and 0.4% Cu and no holes were drilled in this recent program. As noted above, all subsequent drill efforts focused on the northern border of the intrusive body.
The geologic level of the San Luis del Cordero porphyritic intrusives, skarns and veins remains high when compared to copper-rich skarn/porphyry deposits in Mexico. Exploration for potential deeper and more sizable copper-dominant mineralization will require deeper focused drilling.
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WIDTH
DDH VEIN TARGET FROM TO (mts)(i) Ag g/t Cu % Zn %
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SSLC-13-20 Sta. Rosa vein 270.90 273.35 2.45 No significant values
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Sta. Rosa E
SSLC-13-21 skarn 137.45 157.15 19.70 142.4 0.68 1.09
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including 141.00 144.05 3.05 386.0 0.53 1.39
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SSLC-13-22 Sta. Rosa vein 172.35 177.95 5.60 196.4 0.16 0.36
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including 172.35 173.85 1.50 433.0 0.32 0.56
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SSLC-13-23 Sta. Rosa vein 138.90 141.00 2.10 544.0 1.02 6.57
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including 139.90 141.00 1.10 834.0 1.74 10.45
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Santa Rosa
SSLC-13-24 vein? 11.08 12.10 1.02 115.0 0.14 0.98
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Sta. Rosa E
SSLC-14-33 skarn 196.55 198.45 1.90 275.0 1.44 1.15
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including 197.05 197.65 0.60 843.0 4.16 1.51
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and Skarn 144.32 147.45 3.13 23.9 0.45 1.16
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Sta. Rosa E
SSLC-14-34 skarn 137.30 139.70 2.40 185.0 2.09 1.82
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including 137.30 137.85 0.55 1020.0 6.59 0.23
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India Bonita IP
SSLC-13-25 anomaly 145.50 147.00 1.50 110.0 0.07 0.10
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India Bonita IP
SSLC-13-26 anomaly 248.87 251.95 3.08 16.5 ---- 0.53
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WIDTH
DDH VEIN TARGET FROM TO (mts)(i) Ag g/t Cu % Zn %
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Western deep IP
SSLC-13-27 anomaly no significant values
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La Puerta north
SSLC-13-28 IP anomaly 381.25 383.65 2.40 37.8 0.92 0.75
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Skarn & quartz
and veins 452.05 476.15 24.10 20.5 0.29 0.92
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including " " 455.02 456.25 1.23 54.3 0.85 3.08
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including " " 467.40 470.05 2.65 48.5 0.80 2.83
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Western deep IP
SSLC-13-29 anomaly no significant values
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La Puerta
SSLC-13-30 dikes-veins 236.00 236.90 0.90 72.5 0.02 0.04
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and " " 244.70 250.90 6.20 67.0 0.03 0.05
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and " " 270.70 271.90 1.20 62.5 0.07 0.14
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Santa Rosa
SSLC-13-31 vein? 215.00 216.55 1.55 104.0 0.82 0.14
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and 220.60 222.65 2.05 38.9 0.08 0.22
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SSLC-14-32 Skarn 205.20 206.35 1.15 44.3 0.21 0.31
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Sta Rosa E
and Skarn? 350.75 352.15 1.40 22.7 0.68 0.02
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and " " 359.10 359.85 0.75 21.5 0.34 0.01
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-- Widths represent intersected lengths. It is estimated most widths are
within 70% of true widths. True widths will be reported at a later date
once drill hole cross sections are interpreted.
Tawn Albinson, M.Sc., President of the Company, is a Qualified Person, as defined in NI 43-101, and is responsible for the technical content of this press release. A quality control program is adopted to ensure best practices in the sampling and analysis of drill core. Samples are shipped in sealed bags to ALS-Chemex Laboratory preparation facilities in Chihuahua City (ISO 9001). Shipments include intermittent standards and blanks. Sample pulps are shipped to ALS-Chemex Laboratories in North Vancouver, B.C. for analysis. All samples were assayed by multielemental ME-ICP41, and gold by ICP21 (Inductively Induced Plasma-Atomic Emission Spectroscopy) which consists of a 30 gram fire assay with an ICP-AES finish. Silver, lead, zinc and copper values in excess of 100 ppm, 1%, 1%, and 1% respectively were repeated with aqua regia digestion and with ICP-AES (Code OG46).
About Prospero Silver Corp.:
Prospero is a Canadian resource company with the majority of its staff based in Mexico and who work for its wholly owned subsidiary MineraFumarola, SA de CV (Fumarola). Prospero's objective is to quickly evaluate the properties currently optioned for their suitability to provide size potential and/or amenability for strategic joint ventures.
Forward-Looking Statement Cautions:
This news release contains certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation, relating to the closing of a non-brokered Private Placement. Although the Company believes that such statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts; they are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "believes," "intends," "estimates," "projects," "aims," "potential," "goal," "objective," "prospective," and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will," "would," "may," "can," "could" or "should" occur, or are those statements, which, by their nature, refer to future events. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from these forward looking statements include, but are not limited to, variations in the nature, quality and quantity of any mineral deposits that may be located, the Company's inability to obtain any necessary permits, consents or authorizations required for its planned activities, and the Company's inability to raise the necessary capital or to be fully able to implement its business strategies. The reader is referred to the Company's reports, publicly available through the Canadian Securities Administrators' System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval (SEDAR) at www.sedar.com, including the risk factors discussed in Prospero's November 27, 2009 prospectus. Except as required by securities laws and the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange, Prospero disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
To view the map associated with this press release, please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/Prospero_Silver_Corp_Map.pdf.
Contacts:
Prospero Silver Corp.
William Murray
Chairman
(604) 288-7813
Prospero Silver Corp.
Kirk Gamley
Contact Financial
(604) 561-3642
