Great Panther Silver (TSE:GPR)(NYSE MKT:GPL) says it has been successful in underground drilling at its Guanajuato Mine Complex in Mexico, intersecting high grades in the historic Valenciana area and finding two new zones of silver-gold mineralization in the Guanajuatito region.
The drilling at Valenciana included an intercept of a whopping 2,900 grams per tonne (g/t) silver and 26.00 g/t gold over 1.30 metres, while the two new discoveries at Guanajuatito are highlighted by intersections of 1,010 g/t silver and 6.67 g/t gold over 1.10 metres and 1,460 g/t silver and 4.79 g/t gold over 1.15 metres.
"These are significant results in that they demonstrate our ability to make new discoveries at Guanajuato while continuing to expand the size and extent of the known mineralized zones," said CEO Robert Archer, in a statement Tuesday afternoon.
"Furthermore, the Valenciana drilling indicates that there is still un-mined high grade silver-gold mineralization in this historic mine that is worthy of follow up."
Indeed, the company said drilling this year will continue to test the old Valenciana mine area, which extends around 400 metres along strike and 280 metres on the dip.
Meanwhile, drilling in the Guanajuatito area, in the northwest part of the mine complex at Guanajuato, has intersected mineralization both to the northwest and to the southeast of the existing development, Great Panther said, between the 100 and 245 metre levels.
Also at the Guanajuato Complex, the company provided updates on the Cata and Rayas mine regions. At the Cata mine, exploration drilling is ongoing, with the drill program beginning in the fourth quarter of last year and extending mineralization to the northwest.
At Rayas, infill drilling continues, as does ramping down past the 500 metre level, with exploration drilling also a focus in 2013.
The silver miner and explorer is focused on mining precious metals from its two wholly-owned operating mines in Mexico, Guanajuato and Topia.
Great Panther also owns San Ignacio, a development-stage property that covers about four kilometres of strike length on the La Luz vein system, which is parallel to, and five kilometres west of the principal Veta Madre structure that hosts the company's Guanajuato Mine Complex.
The company began exploring San Ignacio in 2010, with 29,789 metres of drilling completed so far on the project, and recent results extending mineralization beyond the limits of the current resource. Production is anticipated to start to ramp up early in 2014.
In January, the Mexico-focused company reported 23% higher production in its fourth quarter compared to a year earlier as efforts to improve operations at both mines start to pay off. This year, the company said it plans to focus its efforts on reducing costs, and preparing for the development and production of its San Ignacio property in 2014.
For the fourth quarter, metal production rose 23% to 672,690 silver equivalent ounces from a year earlier, on the back of a 28% increase in silver output to 453,934 ounces. Gold production was up 24% and lead and zinc output both rose 36%.
Total ore processed increased by 30% to 67,659 tonnes.
Shares of Great Panther Silver rose by almost 2% on Tuesday to $1.55 just before noon.
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