Kootenay Silver Will Rehabilitate Historic Underground Work

Kootenay Silver Inc. announced it has signed an agreement with TLASA OBRAS MINERAS to rehabilitate the historic underground works at its Columba Silver Project in Chihuahua, allowing the company to improve its drilling targets and program.

The company explained that the initial activities will evaluate access to the underground works as well as starting its dewatering. Currently, work is being done on the clearing and timbering of the entrance to the underground mine in order to access the main shaft and a secondary inclined shaft will allow the old mine to be drained and its rehabilitation evaluated.

“Getting into the old mine workings and being able to see the F Vein in the old adit is a very exciting step forward for the Columba  property and one more step closer to evaluating the resource and economic potential of the property. To the best of our knowledge this is the first time in 40 years work within the mine has been conducted in the upper levels and likely 100 years since anyone was in the lower levels," said James McDonald, CEO & President.

The company explained that regaining access to the old works will provide information on the extent and development of the mine, the characteristics of the veins, the conditions of the wall rock and the water flows. Additionally, this new data will improve the profitability infill and expansion, deep drilling and bulk samples for metallurgical work.

The work is expected to be completed in 4 months, granting there are no major issues. There is no data available to indicate the current status of the underground works and to verify if there is any risk. Due to the uncertainty, the company will constantly evaluate its ability to proceed with the rehabilitation.

The company announced that in addition to its underground work, it is carrying out its 5,000-meter core drilling program at its Columba project. Currently, the company has published the results of 12 holes (CDH-21-086 to CDH-21-096) of a total of 96 holes. Highlights of the F-vein drilling include “holes CDH-19-041 (650 gpt silver over 7.45m within a wider interval of 159 gpt silver over 39.9 m) and CDH-20-051 (865 gpt silver over 2m within a wider interval of 317 gpt silver over 6 m in a hanging-wall vein adjacent to the F Vein).”