Patriot lands 31.4 million-ounce Peruvian silver prize

With the ink finally dry, Patriot Resources has taken on full ownership of the Tassa silver-gold project in southern Peru, snapping up a high-grade, silver-dominant asset that already carries a substantial resource with plenty of room to grow. 

Tassa comes with a JORC inferred mineral resource of 18.53 million tonnes for 31.4 million silver-equivalent ounces at a grade of 52.68 grams per tonne (g/t), comprising a none-too-shabby 25.5 million ounces of contained silver, giving Patriot immediate leverage to any increase in the precious metal price. 

The company has framed the deal against a supportive long-term silver outlook, pointing to supply constraints and sustained industrial demand growth as the backdrop for its push into the sector. 

Notably, mineralisation at Tassa begins mainly from surface and remains open in all directions, a combination that implies strong potential for a range of low-strip development options, while also keeping the door wide open for resource expansion.

Stretching across a 2.8-kilometre structural trend, the silver-rich system remains lightly drilled, raising the prospect the current resource is just an early snapshot of a much larger epithermal prize.

The project’s high-grade credentials are underlined by earlier standout drill intercepts that included 60m at 224.20g/t silver from 24m depth, featuring a 16-metre slice at 383.9g/t silver and a 24-metre section at 291g/t silver. 

A second hole struck 37 metres at 113.5g/t  silver and 1.5g/t gold from 154 metres, including an 8.7-metre stretch at a hefty 321g/t silver. That intercept was reinforced by a third hole pulling up 16 metres at 152.9g/t silver, along with a six-metre gold hit grading 2.55g/t from 201 metres.

Within the existing resource, the project’s S2 zone is shaping up as the obvious growth engine, averaging about 102g/t silver equivalent. It has been flagged as a priority target, remaining open along strike and at depth. 

Patriot Resources chief executive Dominic Duggan said: “The completion of the Tassa acquisition secures a high-grade, silver-dominant asset with a 31Moz AgEq JORC resource for Patriot. Mineralisation remains open in all directions across a 2.8 kilometre trend, highlighting the substantial growth potential that remains within this system that will be target by an initial drill campaign”. 

Patriot’s planned phase one campaign for the year is geared towards systematically infilling and extending the existing drilling pattern, already defined high-grade corridors. The company is also planning to hit exploration hard,  chasing interpreted structural positions that could host additional mineralisation outside the limits of the current resource model.

Tassa comes with some handy homework already done, thanks to earlier work by Bear Creek Mining and Teck Resources, whose modelling suggests the current resource may only skim the surface of a much larger mineralised system.

Straight out of the blocks, Patriot is planning to get boots on the ground at Tassa, rolling straight into mapping and surface sampling to fine-tune its next round of targets.

Those activities will run in parallel with permitting, community engagement and agreements, followed by the company’s phase-one drilling campaign later in the year to extend and upgrade the resource base. 

Patriot has now got its hands on the keys to a silver system that’s already big enough to matter, rich enough to excite and open enough to keep the story rolling. 

If the company’s phase one drilling does what it is designed to do, Tassa could quickly shift from being a great entry point to a hard-to-ignore growth play - and that’s exactly the kind of runway that is likely to get the market sitting up and looking. 

Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@businessnews.com.au