Advance Metals has recorded its highest-ever silver assay grade at its Gavilanes project in Mexico, with diamond core drilling delivering a stunning one-metre intercept grading 4120 grams per tonne (g/t) silver from just 66.7 metres downhole — a result that is also understood to rank among the best ever returned from the project overall.
The bonanza-grade hit sat within a broader 4.6-metre interval assaying 945g/t silver, 1.4 per cent zinc and one per cent lead, adding meaningful base metal value to an already exceptional precious metals result. The drill hole was designed to chase extensions below a previous high-grade intersection, and the mineralisation it has uncovered remains open both at depth and to the southwest.
Record silver backed by standout zinc-lead zone
Beyond the headline silver number, the same hole produced what the company describes as the most significant high-grade zinc-lead intersection encountered at Gavilanes to date. A 12-metre zone from 98.5 metres downhole returned 21g/t silver, 3.8 per cent zinc and 3.7 per cent lead, which itself contained a higher-grade core of 5.3 metres grading 36g/t silver, 7.7 per cent zinc and 6.3 per cent lead from 102.7 metres.
Managing director and chief executive Dr Adam McKinnon said the result confirmed both the silver potential and the growing importance of base metals at the project. "At over 4,000g/t silver, GV-26-008 returned the highest individual silver assay grade in Advance's program to date and one of the best recorded at the project," he said. "The hole also returned the highest grade zinc-lead interval encountered at the project to date, including 5.3 metres at 14% Zn+Pb — highlighting the potential for significant base metal credits as the mineralised footprint grows."
Gold potential emerging to the south
While silver and base metals dominate the current story, recent drilling to the south of the project is beginning to outline a gold-dominant corridor. Three drill holes have collectively returned gold-focused intersections, with the best result so far coming in at 2.4 metres grading 2.0g/t gold, 21g/t silver, 1.2 per cent zinc and 2.2 per cent lead from a shallow 14.4 metres. The emerging gold zone adds another dimension to what is shaping up as a growing polymetallic system.
Gavilanes sits just 23 kilometres from First Majestic Silver's San Dimas mine in Mexico's Sierra Madre Occidental Volcanic Belt — a world-class operation that has historically produced more than 745 million ounces of silver and 11 million ounces of gold. First Majestic's own technical work has identified more than 125 mineralised quartz veins across the San Dimas property, with individual vein strike lengths ranging from a few metres to over 1.5 kilometres.
Mexico's permitting logjam beginning to ease
The drilling success comes as the broader regulatory environment in Mexico shows signs of improvement. Mexican mining industry body CAMIMEX reports that the country's Economy Ministry has now cleared more than 90 per cent of the mining permits within its remit, while environmental authority Semarnat has approved more than 85 per cent of its backlog. The shift carries considerable weight for a sector where outstanding approvals were estimated just last month to be holding up as much as US$11 billion (approximately A$15.5 billion) in potential investment.
There is, however, an important caveat. Mexico has not granted new mining concessions since 2019, and the current Sheinbaum administration has maintained a cautious approach to opening fresh ground. The easing of the permitting backlog therefore applies primarily to companies that already hold concessions — making it a controlled thaw rather than a full reopening of the sector to new exploration.
For Advance Metals, which is operating within an existing concession at Gavilanes, the improving regulatory backdrop represents a meaningful tailwind as it continues to expand one of Mexico's more exciting emerging silver systems.
