Silver Bull boosts Shallow Silver Zone open pittable resource by 39% at Sierra Mojada

Silver Bull Resources (TSE:SVB)(AMEX:SVBL) Tuesday said a new NI 43-101 report currently being completed will show a 39 per cent increase in the open pittable resources at the Shallow Silver Zone at its Sierra Mojada project in Mexico.
SRK Consulting is currently working on the updated technical report, which Silver Bull said will boost resources to 72.13 million ounces of silver in the measured and indicated category and 10.49 million ounces of silver in the inferred category.
The results reported Tuesday were pulled from the upcoming technical report, which is expected within the next 45 days.
"We are extremely pleased with this report and feel this is a big step forward for the company," Silver Bull's president and CEO Tim Barry said.
"This is the third report we have completed on the Shallow Silver Zone in just over one year, during which time we have more than doubled the silver ounces in the ground.
"Moving forward, in addition to our drill program focused on expanding the silver resource further, we have an extensive metallurgical program underway on both the silver and the zinc, which when complete will allow the company to move to the next stage of completing a Preliminary Economic Assessment on the Shallow Silver Zone."
The Shallow Silver Zone at Sierra Mojada is an oxide silver deposit hosted along an east-west trending fracture-karst system.
The mineralized body averages between 30 to 90 metres in thickness, is up to 200 metres wide and remains open in the east and west directions.
Approximately 60 percent of the current 3.8 km strike length is at or near surface before dipping at around 6 degrees to the east.
"We are also confident that with minimal additional extra core drilling targeting high grade areas highlighted by the historical channel and long holes, we can quickly prove up a sizable zinc resource in the Red and White Zinc zones," added Barry.
At a 15 g/t cutoff grade for the silver, the company said the updated resource report represents a 39 per cent increase in the open pittable resource of the Shallow Silver Zone previously reported by Silver Bull in November 2011.
It also represents a 52 per cent increase in the number of silver ounces in the measured and indicated category at the zone.
The mineral resource estimate for the Shallow Silver Zone contained in the SRK report includes a measured silver resource of 3.688 million tonnes at an average grade of 57.0 g/t, equivalent to 6.714 million troy ounces of silver; an indicated silver resource of 45.175 million tonnes at an average grade of 45.0 g/t, equivalent to 65.419 million troy ounces of silver; and an inferred silver resource of 8.162 million tonnes at an average grade of 40.0 g/t, equivalent to 10.496 million troy ounces of silver.
In addition to the silver and zinc resources, Silver Bull said the SRK report will also contain an additional "zinc exploration target" ranging between 4 million tonnes grading 8.4% zinc and 6 million tonnes grading 8.0% zinc, which sits directly below and adjacent to the Shallow Silver Zone.
Vancouver-headquartered Silver Bull Resources' flagship asset is the Sierra Mojada project, located 150 kilometres north of the city of Torreon in Coahuila State, Mexico. It is highly prospective for silver and zinc.
Silver Bull also owns three mineral exploration licences in Gabon, Africa, two of which are currently under joint venture with AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE:AU). These licences are prospective for gold, manganese, and iron ore.
The full technical report for the Shallow Silver Zone is expected within the next 45 days. Further details can be found on the Silver Bull Resources homepage: http://www.silverbullresources.com
The company said that in order to establish a "reasonable prospect of economic extraction in an open pit context", the reported silver resource falls within an optimized Whittle pit shell that uses an average silver price of US$22 per ounce, with an estimated recovery of 62 per cent and a $1.25 per pound of zinc, with an assumed recovery of 95 per cent.