Golden Minerals Acquires Navegantes Silver Exploration Project
GOLDEN, Colo., Nov. 15, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Golden Minerals Company (NYSE American and TSX: AUMN) (“Golden Minerals”, “Golden” or “the Company”) is pleased to announce it has acquired the Navegantes project in southern Chihuahua state, Mexico, where recent surface and underground sampling have returned high-grade silver values from a series of epithermal silver-base metal veins outcropping on the property.
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Navegantes sampling highlights:
- 1 meter (“m”) assaying 1,585.5 g/t Ag
- 1.45m assaying 759.2 g/t Ag
- 1.1m assaying 638.9 g/t Ag
- 2.1m assaying 472 g/t Ag
The project consists of six concessions totaling 521 hectares and is located approximately 60km northwest of the San Francisco del Oro-Santa Barbara District where the company’s Santa Maria project is located. Initial sampling and mapping have identified extensive zones of oxidized and leached epithermal quartz veining over an 800m strike length that has delivered high silver grades.
A photo (Figure 1: Navegantes project location) accompanying this announcement is available at: http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/d3fa796c-98b8-4e1a-aade-09ad5f4bd773
Figure 1, “Navegantes project location”, may also be viewed here: http://www.goldenminerals.com/drill_testing.php
Mr. Warren Rehn, President and Chief Executive Officer of Golden Minerals, said; “Navegantes is an exciting prospect that hasn’t been systematically explored even though it is located in an area of several modern major discoveries. We were pleasantly surprised by the high-grade surface silver assays from heavily weathered and leached veins outcropping on the surface.
“This project was identified by our generative exploration team that is searching for under-explored projects in central Mexico to allow the company to add high-quality, early-stage projects that can be advanced quickly to create value for our shareholders.”
A photo (Figure 2: Major mines and development projects close to the Navegantes project) accompanying this announcement is available at: http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/f3575a85-1f34-45cb-b60b-49335b05d9e4
Figure 2, “Major mines and development projects close to the Navegantes project”, may also be viewed here: http://www.goldenminerals.com/drill_testing.php
The mineralization occurs as iron oxides, within quartz veins that range up to 2m in width and are exposed over strike lengths in excess of 800m. Based on historic mines and prospects in the San Francisco del Oro-Santa Barbara and Hidalgo de Parral districts, we believe there exists excellent potential to define significant silver mineralization at depth.
Golden Minerals collected 103 surface and underground chip channel and grab samples from vein exposures, mine workings and mine dumps. Results from this initial sampling program are summarized in Table 1, with surface sample results shown in Figure 3.
| Table 1: Results from the 2018 Navegantes sampling program | |||||
| Channel ID | Vein | Width (m) | Ag (g/t) | Pb (ppm) | Zn (ppm) |
| NAV_U_01 | San Pedro | 1.5 | 14 | 74 | 339 |
| NAV_U_02 | San Pedro | 1.3 | 6 | 33 | 221 |
| NAV_U_03 | San Pedro | 1.2 | 8 | 25 | 145 |
| NAV_U_04 | San Pedro | 2.5 | 73 | 28 | 157 |
| NAV_U_05 | San Pedro | 0.8 | 519 | 1739 | 328 |
| NAV_U_06 | San Pedro | 1.1 | 352 | 1055 | 1295 |
| NAV_U_07 | San Pedro | 1.2 | 178 | 113 | 706 |
| NAV_U_08 | San Pedro | 1.0 | 1586 | 70 | 175 |
| Inc. | San Pedro | 0.7 | 1965 | 69 | 189 |
| NAV_U_09 | San Pedro | 1.5 | 759 | 69 | 79 |
| Inc. | San Pedro | 0.4 | 1600 | 72 | 79 |
| Nav_01 | San Pedro | 1.3 | 85 | 15804 | 1055 |
| Nav_02 | San Pedro | 2.2 | 16 | 125 | 133 |
| Nav_03 | Navegantes | 2.1 | 472 | 22 | 199 |
| Inc. | Navegantes | 0.9 | 608 | 15 | 200 |
| Nav_04 | Navegantes | 2.0 | 201 | 837 | 421 |
| Inc. | Navegantes | 1.0 | 268 | 655 | 186 |
| Nav_05 | Navegantes | 1.5 | 37 | 103 | 95 |
| Nav_06 | Navegantes | 1.4 | 261 | 28 | 218 |
| Inc. | Navegantes | 0.6 | 406 | 33 | 261 |
| Nav_07 | Navegantes | 1.4 | 48 | 257 | 223 |
| Nav_08 | Navegantes | 1.5 | 73 | 851 | 179 |
| Nav_09 | Navegantes | 1.7 | 14 | 325 | 384 |
| Nav_10 | San Pedro | 1.1 | 639 | 31 | 104 |
| Inc. | San Pedro | 0.6 | 1135 | 43 | 165 |
| Nav-16 | Dump Sample | 197 | 7690 | 687 | |
| Nav-17 | Dump Sample | 205 | 5270 | 522 | |
| Nav-18 | Dump Sample | 438 | 4030 | 458 | |
| Nav-19 | Dump Sample | 606 | 2160 | 355 | |
| Nav-20 | Dump Sample | 951 | 4870 | 446 | |
| Nav-21 | Dump Sample | 475 | 469 | 251 | |
| Nav-31 | Dump Sample | 358 | 22 | 209 | |
| Nav-52 | Dump Sample | 285 | 2180 | 637 | |
| Nav-53 | Dump Sample | 211 | 944 | 386 | |
| Nav-51 | New vein | 0.3 | 134 | 1920 | 165 |
| Nav-61 | New vein | 0.9 | 268 | 28 | 147 |
| SP-1 | San Pedro | 0.9 | 278 | 26 | 159 |
Complete results are available on the Golden Minerals website at http://goldenminerals.com/drill_testing.php, as are more detailed surface maps.
A photo (Figure 3: Navegantes sample locations and silver assays) accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/95c1b611-aa49-42c2-9526-78a49e4ab7ed
Figure 3, “Navegantes sample locations and silver assays”, may also be viewed here: http://www.goldenminerals.com/drill_testing.php
Next Steps
Golden is currently conducting additional mapping and sampling on the property to identify prospective targets for follow-up testing by trenching and/or drilling.
About Navegantes
Golden Minerals holds an option to purchase six concessions totaling 521 hectares by paying $0.4M over three years. The property is located in southwestern Chihuahua state, in northern Mexico. The project covers two vein systems (Navegantes and San Pedro-San Francisco) as well as a number of smaller subsidiary veins. The property is located 68km northwest of Grupo Mexico’s Santa Barbara operation (6,000 tonnes per day) and 63km northwest of Frisco’s San Francisco Mine (4,000 tonnes per day). The project is also 61km south of Sunshine Mining’s Los Gatos project. The Navegantes property covers an underexplored epithermal precious silver-base metal district that shows similar mineralization to the adjacent Parral Mining District. The Company, through systematic exploration, hopes to identify significant high-grade mineralization.
Review by Qualified Person and Quality Control
The technical contents of this press release have been reviewed by Warren M. Rehn, M.Sc., a Qualified Person for the purposes of Canadian National Instrument 43‐101. Mr. Rehn has over 33 years of mineral exploration experience and is a QP member of the Mining and Metallurgical Society of America.
To ensure reliable sample results, Golden Minerals uses a quality assurance/quality control program that monitors the chain‐of‐custody of samples and includes the insertion of blanks, duplicates and reference standards in each batch of samples. Core is photographed and sawn in half with one half retained in a secured facility for verification purposes. Sample preparation (crushing and pulverizing) is performed at an independent ISO 9001:2001 certified laboratory in Chihuahua or Zacatecas, Mexico. Prepared samples are direct‐shipped to an ISO 9001:2001 certified laboratory in Canada.
About Golden Minerals
Golden Minerals is a Delaware corporation based in Golden, Colorado. The Company is primarily focused on advancing its El Quevar silver property in Argentina and on acquiring and advancing mining properties in Mexico with emphasis on areas near its Velardeña processing plants.
Forward‐Looking Statements
This press release contains forward‐looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and applicable Canadian securities legislation, including statements relating to the Company’s plans for systematic exploration of the Navegantes claims and the possibility of identifying significant high-grade mineralization. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, including changes in interpretations of geological, geostatistical, metallurgical, mining or processing information and interpretations of the information resulting from future exploration, analysis or mining and processing experience, new information from exploration or analysis, unexpected variations in mineral grades, types and metallurgy, fluctuations in silver metal prices, increases in costs and declines in general economic conditions, and changes in political conditions, in tax, royalty, environmental and other laws in Mexico, and financial market conditions. Golden Minerals assumes no obligation to update this information. Additional risks relating to Golden Minerals may be found in the periodic and current reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission by Golden Minerals, including the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10‐K for the year ended December 31, 2017.
Karen Winkler
Director of Investor Relations
(303) 764-9170
Investor.relations@goldenminerals.com
SOURCE: Golden Minerals Company
