The first summer after the coming of the new Mining Law in Mexico does not appear promising on the exploration front. No company posted drilling results last week, and only one on this week. Avino Silver & Gold Mines released assays from drilling below the present mining works on the Avino vein. The intermediate sulfidation epithermal mineralization is increasing its copper grade to depth, leading to the interpretation that it might be on a near porphyry copper environment. Currently the mineralization has been tested to 800 m below the surface, and it is still open at depth and along strike.

According to the company, “The Property contains numerous low-sulphidation epithermal veins (including the Avino vein), breccias, stockworks, and silicified zones that grade into a possible “near porphyry” environment within a large caldera setting. This caldera has been uplifted by regional north-trending block faulting (a graben structure) exposing a window of andesitic pyroclastic rocks of a lower volcanic sequence within this caldera. The lower volcanic sequence is overlain by an upper volcanic sequence consisting of rhyolite to trachyte lava flows and extensive ignimbrites. The direction of the increasing copper grade plunges steeply towards the east in the Avino vein. The changing tenor of the mineralization could be reflecting a transition from epithermal to porphyry-style mineralization”.

The company is planning to drill another 2,100 m in three holes during 2023, for a total of 8,000 m in the year.