Blackrock Silver has begun deploying drill rigs for two resource expansion drilling initiatives at the Tonopah West project, situated along the Walker Lane Trend in Nevada’s Nye and Esmeralda Counties, US.
The exploration programme spans 17,100m across various sites.
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The first phase, known as the Eastern Expansion Programme, involves drilling 9,100m over 20 holes.
It aims to investigate shallow mineralisation along the Pittsburg-Monarch fault.
The 2025 Eastern Expansion Programme at Tonopah West identified at least three mineralised structures oriented north-west, which appear to offset the southern caldera margin towards the north-east.
Drilling during this programme revealed substantial vein intervals of gold and silver along these parallel structures, highlighting the significance of the Pittsburg-Monarch fault and its footwall splays.
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By GlobalDataThe second phase of drilling, the Northwest (NW) Expansion Programme, will focus on the Denver and Paymaster veins, which remain open along strike and down dip.
This programme entails 8,000m of reverse circulation (RC) and core drilling across ten holes.
The objective is to explore further along the strike of these veins and down dip, where previous open-ended intercepts suggested potential for expansion.
An additional step-out hole of 800m will attempt to validate findings from a recently completed seismic geophysical survey in the region.
To optimise costs while ensuring high-quality data collection, Blackrock Silver will employ a hybrid drilling method that combines RC pre-collar techniques with core tail drilling.
This approach aims to penetrate through non-mineralised rock layers before reaching valuable vein zones.
In tandem with its drilling efforts, Blackrock Silver is advancing hydrology studies necessary for future project development.
As part of this initiative, five piezometer wells have been installed to assess water conditions within the proposed decline and testing areas.
The data acquired will support permitting processes for exploration decline, test mining and bulk-sample extraction, which is set to begin by the second half of 2027.
Blackrock president and CEO Andrew Pollard said: “With our updated mineral resource estimate and preliminary economic assessment on Tonopah West on track for delivery by the end of March 2026, we are excited to get the drills back to continue to test the extents of silver and gold mineralisation at our deposit with a fully funded 17,000m, two-phased expansion programme now officially under way.
“Guided by recent seismic data, an 800m step-out is the highlight of our NW Expansion Programme, where the bulk of drilling is targeting extensions of the Denver and Paymaster vein sets.”
