TNM Drill Down: Contango tops silver assays for past month

Canada, the United States and Mexico yielded the best silver results from Aug. 17 to Sept. 15, data compiled by The Northern Miner show. Holes from Contango Silver & Gold (TSX, NYSE-A: CTGO), Sun Silver (ASX: SS1) and Minaurum Silver (TSXV: MGG) topped the list.

Drill holes are ranked by grade times width.

Kitsault Valley

Standout hole DV26-515 at Contango’s Kitsault Valley project in northwest British Columbia cut 66.4 metres grading 161 grams silver per tonne from 98.7 metres depth in the Torbrit zone, Contango said Sept. 15. That amounts to a width x grade value of 10,862, first among global miners for the period.

Contango recently expanded its 2026 exploration program to 50,000 metres from 40,000, with five rigs turning. Drilling has focused on infill and step-out expansion around established mineral resources, as well as testing multiple high-priority regional targets. 

Assays for most of the 2026 drill program remain pending, Contango said.

Drilling at Torbrit and the nearby North Star deposit has confirmed the pair form a connected mineralized system. Step-out drilling into the gap between the two deposits successfully intersected mineralization, demonstrating the continuity of mineralization below the valley bottom, Contango said.

A subsequent resource update, released Sept. 22, boosted Kitsault Valley’s indicated tonnage by 84% to 7.66 million tonnes and the indicated metal content by 93% to 89.6 million silver-equivalent ounces.

Located in B.C.’s Golden Triangle, Kitsault Valley sits on a land package that covers about 1,000 sq. kilometres.

Maverick

Hole MR25-235 at Nevada’s Maverick project cut 98.7 metres grading 65.7 grams silver and 0.67 grams gold from 173 metres depth, including a high-grade 47.6-metre interval of 119.6 grams silver and 1.05 grams gold, Sun Silver said Aug. 19. That represents a width x grade value of 6,458.

MR25-235 was drilled as a twin hole to verify the tenor of mineralization from a reverse circulation drill hole completed in 1990. The historical hole had a portion of pulps re-analysed by Sun Silver, but most of the assays are from the historical database.

Employees also identified an 86.9-metre antimony zone that wasn’t apparent from the old drill hole, with only silver and gold analysed. The associated zone averages 0.1% antimony, with grades up to 1.2% antimony, Sun Silver said.

Located about 85 km from the mining town of Elko, Maverick is surrounded by several large gold and silver operations — including Barrick Mining’s (TSX: ABX; NYSE: B) Carlin mine.

Sun Silver describes 2026 as a pivotal year for the advancement of Maverick. Among other priorities, crews are working to expand the resource through targeted step-out drilling and advancing both metallurgical test work and environmental permitting. A prefeasibility study is being targeted for 2027.

Alamos

Hole AL26-230 at the Alamos project in Mexico cut 17.1 metres of 306 grams silver from 358.4 metres depth in the Quintera zone, Minaurum Silver said Aug. 25. That represents a width x grade value of 5,233.

Crews have been intersecting wide zones of high-grade mineralization in the footwall of the historical mine workings at Quintera, strengthening the company’s confidence in future resource growth, CEO Darrell Rader said when the drill results were announced.

Located about 1,300 km northwest of Mexico City, Alamos is one of two projects that Minaurum is developing. The other is the Lone Mountain zinc-lead-silver-gold project in Nevada.

Alamos is estimated to hold 5.37 million inferred tonnes grading 202 grams silver, 0.21 gram gold, 0.43% copper, 0.67% lead and 1.33% zinc, according to a January 2026 resource. Contained metal was pegged at 34.8 million oz. silver, 35,640 oz. gold, 51 million lb. copper, 114.8 million lb. lead and 237.8 million lb zinc.

Minaurum is planning to release an updated resource by year-end.