Key Highlights

  • About 11,000 metres of drilling has identified multiple new high-grade shoots outside the current resource.
  • The Temer 4 prospect returned 1.7 metres at 1,269g/t silver equivalent, including 489g/t silver and 9.4g/t gold.
  • The new shoots sit about 1 kilometre from the existing processing plant, which could lower access costs if converted to resources.
  • Results will feed a resource update due in the first half of 2027.

Andean Silver (ASX:ASL) reported results from about 11,000 metres of drilling at its Cerro Bayo Silver-Gold Project in southern Chile on 9 November 2026. The company said it had identified multiple new high-grade shoots outside the current resource, about 1 kilometre from the existing processing plant, and that they remain open.

The results will feed into a resource update due in the first half of 2027.

The key intercepts

Maiden drilling at the Temer 4 prospect defined a vein over 350 metres of length and 100 metres of depth. The best intercept there was 1.7 metres at 1,269 grams per tonne silver equivalent, including 489g/t silver and 9.4g/t gold.

At Dagny, drilling found hangingwall shoots named the Lucia Veins, which extend over 600 metres and to 300 metres below surface. One intercept returned 1.6 metres at 1,102g/t silver equivalent.

At Condor, 3.5 metres at 527g/t silver equivalent was intersected near surface. Drilling at Delia SE is complete, and all results from that area will also be included in the update.

Understanding silver equivalent

Silver-equivalent grades combine silver and gold into a single figure using assumed prices and recoveries. In the Temer 4 example, gold contributes a large share of the equivalent grade. Investors should look at the individual metal grades when assessing the results, because the equivalent figure will change with metal prices.

The intervals are also narrow, at less than 4 metres in each highlighted case. Narrow veins are typical of epithermal silver-gold systems and can be mined profitably, but they require selective underground Mining methods.

The existing resource

Cerro Bayo hosts indicated and inferred resources of 20 million tonnes at 211g/t silver equivalent for 136 million ounces of silver equivalent. The current drilling is intended both to grow the resource and to upgrade more of it into the measured and indicated categories, which carry greater confidence.

Managing Director Matthew Allen said the strategy was to keep growing the resource, noting the company had numerous mineralised veins to drill and an abundance of new targets to test.

The restart angle

Cerro Bayo is a former producing operation with an existing plant. Allen said the drilling would help underpin production restart studies, which aim to demonstrate the project's value and the potential Economics of resuming production.

Proximity to the plant is significant. New shoots within about a kilometre of existing infrastructure could, if converted into resources and reserves, be accessed at lower cost than remote deposits.

Funding

The company held about $70.5 million in cash at the end of the September quarter. That gives Andean Silver capacity to continue growth drilling and fund feasibility work without an immediate need to raise capital.

Qualifications

New shoots outside the resource are not yet part of any estimate, and the upcoming update will determine how much they add. Restarting a dormant operation requires permits, refurbishment and a positive study, none of which has yet been completed.

Southern Chile's Aysén region, where Cerro Bayo is located, has a history of silver and gold mining, and the project's existing infrastructure includes a plant and underground development. Restarting dormant operations has become a popular strategy for juniors because it can shorten timelines compared with greenfield projects. Andean Silver's work programme is aimed at building a resource large enough to support a restart case that lenders and investors would consider credible. The 2027 resource update will be that strategy's first test.

What comes next

The next milestones are completion of drilling for the resource update, publication of the updated estimate in the first half of 2027 and progress on restart studies. Andean Silver released a Noosa Mining Conference presentation on 11 November, and further drilling news is likely as it tests the targets Allen described.