Southern Silver says drilling at Cerro Las Minitas extends Blind Zone at depth

Southern Silver Exploration Corp. (CVE:SSV) reported Wednesday that drilling at its Cerro Las Minitas project in Durango State, Mexico has extended the depth projection of mineralization at the Blind Zone deposit.

The company revealed drill results from two core holes that tested the Blind Zone deposit at depth.

The first returned a 3.7 metre interval grading 159 grams per tonne (g/t) silver, 1.5 g/t gold, 4.1% lead and 4.5% zinc, or 475 g/t silver equivalent in hole 12CLM-032.

The second intersected a 2.6 metre interval averaging 160 g/t silver, 3.7% lead and 2.9% zinc, or 377 g/t silver equivalent from hole 12CLM-062. 

Both holes were drilled in the central part of the deposit beneath previously reported mineralization in drill holes 12CLM-019, which returned 1.3 metres at 126 g/t silver, and 12CLM-022, which hit 1.4 metres at 528 g/t silver.

The company said the drilling continues to extend the projection of the known high-grade mineralized structures to depth.       

Last year, 29 drill holes totaling around 8,030 metres were completed on the project. An additional 33 holes were drilled so far this year, with results received from all outstanding holes.

The company noted Wednesday that geological modeling of the Blind and El Sol deposit has identified "multiple distinct mineralized structures with a 820 metre cumulative strike-length", with a depth projection of up to 300 metres below surface.
              
Southern Silver has scheduled additional core drilling in 2012, with the goal of completing an NI 43-101 compliant resource on these deposits by the fourth quarter of this year.

This will mark the initial milestone toward its goal of delineating a larger, multi-million tonne, high-grade, silver-enriched polymetallic resource on the project.

The company also said Wednesday that the optionors of the Dragoon property in Arizona have agreed to extend the final payment of US$300,000 due at the end of this month to August of next year.

Southern Silver will have earned a 100 per cent interest in this property upon payment, subject to a 2% net smelter return royalty that can be bought back at any time. Geological data done by Freeport McMoRan is being analyzed by Southern's consultants, with the intent to recommend more exploration work on the property.

The Dragoon property was tested for copper mineralization at depth.

At its Oro property in New Mexico, Southern Silver reported that permits have been received for drill testing of up to 14 holes on the Stockpond disseminated gold target, located in the northeast part of the asset.

Chip and grab samples from this target returned between 0.4g/t  to 4.6g/t gold.
Southern Silver has the right to earn a 100 per cent interest in the Oro property by paying $225,000 to private vendors by December 2012.