Black Bear Minerals (ASX:BKB)’s fresh analysis of historic core at the Shafter Silver Project in Texas has returned 9.1m @ 1,043g/t Ag from 116.4m, including 0.6m @ 2,990g/t Ag.
That internal interval is 133% higher grade than the original assay, while contained silver across the broader intercept increased by 30%.
More than just silver
The re-analysis also picked up something the old dataset largely ignored, other metals.
Assays returned up to 0.8g/t Au and 30% Pb, with zinc also present across the system. Historically, most samples were tested for silver only.
That gives Black Bear a broader question to answer at Shafter.
Was the historic silver story understating the full metal endowment?
Figure 1: Topographic map of the Shafter Project displaying holes with received assays (black callouts) in relation to the Foreign Mineral Resource Estimate.
The archive is getting bigger
The company has now extended its re-assay program across all available legacy drill campaigns after twin holes and check sampling repeatedly returned higher silver grades than the historic data.
That work feeds directly into the planned maiden JORC Mineral Resource and the Rapid Mine Restart Study.
CEO Dennis Lindgren said the latest results continue to show upside in both silver grade and the broader polymetallic system.
What’s next
Black Bear will keep re-logging and re-assaying historic core, while also sampling old mine workings and reviewing exploration drilling across Shafter.
The company is also working to convert Shafter’s 17.57Moz foreign silver estimate into a JORC-compliant resource.
Sometimes the next discovery does not come from a new hole, it is already sitting in the core shed.
