Aftermath Silver Ltd (TSX-V:AAG, OTCQX:AAGFF, FRA:FLM1) CEO Ralph Rushton talked with Proactive about progress on the company’s Phase 3 drilling program, resource confidence upgrades and ongoing pre-feasibility study work at its flagship silver project.
Proactive: Welcome back inside our Proactive newsroom. Joining me now is Ralph Rushton, CEO of Aftermath Silver. Ralph, it’s great to see you again. How are you?
Ralph Rushton: I’m good, thank you. Just back from a critical metals conference in Las Vegas.
I’m sure there was plenty of interest in your project. You’re out with some drill results from the Phase 3 program. These results relate to infill drilling. Can you explain what that means?
As engineering advances, it becomes increasingly important to have confidence in the resource estimate. Sometimes additional infill drilling is required to reach the statistical confidence engineers need to plan a mining operation. That’s what we’ve been doing. We’re also conducting metallurgical drilling to recover samples for test work, but the primary objective is upgrading confidence in the resource around the planned starter pits.
These results cover the final 15 holes from a 90-hole, 15,000-metre program. Where was this drilling focused?
The drilling was focused in the middle to slightly western side of the deposit. There are historical mine workings, open pits and tunnels in that area that indicate higher-grade mineralization. Historically, miners targeted the areas with the strongest silver mineralization. Our objective is to maximize early silver and copper production to support revenues and achieve rapid project payback.
How important are the grades you’re seeing in these areas?
The project benefits from silver and copper credits in addition to manganese, giving us three potential revenue streams. Since the early stages of mining are crucial for debt repayment and project economics, it makes sense to focus on higher-grade regions of the deposit.
I noticed you’ve mobilized a second drill. What’s next?
We have two programs underway. One is geotechnical drilling, which helps engineers understand rock quality, fracture patterns and pit stability. We also have another rig coming on to explore a potential high-grade copper target on the eastern side of the project. We previously reported a historical intercept of about 156 metres grading roughly 1.1% copper and 290 grams per tonne silver. We want to follow that up. We also have another target located several miles southwest of the main project area.
You’re also working on a pre-feasibility study. What’s the latest update?
We’re on schedule, perhaps about a week behind where we originally planned, and we’re currently on budget. Our target is to complete the pre-feasibility study in the first quarter of next year, hopefully in January. The work is being led by DRA, with support from several consulting groups covering different aspects of the project.
Great update as always. Thanks for your time.
Thanks very much.
Quotes have been lightly edited for clarity and style