Sun Silver’s 2026 drilling at Nevada’s Maverick Silver Project reveals broad, high-grade silver and antimony mineralisation beyond the current resource, underpinning resource expansion and development progress.
- 98.3m at 120.3g/t silver equivalent intercept in MR25-235
- High-grade silver zones extend outside current Mineral Resource Estimate
- Extensive antimony mineralisation confirmed with intervals up to 86.9m at 0.10% Sb
- Drilling supports geological model validation and resource classification upgrades
- Scoping Study targeted for late 2026 or early 2027
Drilling Delivers High-Grade Silver Beyond Resource Boundary
Sun Silver Limited (ASX:SS1) has reported a standout drill intercept of 98.3 metres grading 120.3 grams per tonne silver equivalent (AgEq) from 173 metres depth at its Maverick Silver Project in Nevada. Within this broad zone, a 47.6-metre interval hit 200.6g/t AgEq, marking a significant high-grade core. Crucially, these mineralised zones extend beyond the current Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE), highlighting tangible resource growth potential.
The standout hole, MR25-235, also returned exceptional silver assays up to 769g/t and confirmed consistent antimony mineralisation over long intervals, including 86.9 metres at 0.10% Sb with peak assays reaching 1.23%. This multi-element footprint bolsters the scale and complexity of the Maverick system, which hosts both silver and gold alongside antimony.
Validation of Historical Data and Geological Models
MR25-235 was drilled as a twin to a historic 1990 hole (MR102), aiming to verify legacy data quality. Comparison of the two holes showed broadly similar mineralisation profiles, with the 2026 drill results slightly favouring higher silver and gold grades due to modern assay techniques and quality controls. Notably, the 2026 drilling identified antimony zones absent in the historic dataset, enhancing the understanding of Maverick’s mineralisation and validating Sun Silver’s evolving geological models.
This confirmation supports ongoing efforts to upgrade the resource classification from Inferred to Indicated, a key step toward development readiness. The company’s 2026 drill program also targets infill drilling, metallurgical sampling, and step-out holes along open extensions of the mineralised hinge zone, aiming to both increase confidence and expand the resource footprint.
Project Scale and Development Milestones
The Maverick Silver Project is located 85 kilometres from Elko, Nevada, in a top-ranked mining jurisdiction near the prolific Carlin Trend. It currently hosts a JORC Inferred Mineral Resource of 237 million tonnes grading 45.5g/t silver and 0.30g/t gold, equating to 347 million ounces of silver and 2.25 million ounces of gold (539 million ounces silver equivalent).
Sun Silver’s 2026 roadmap includes advancing the resource classification via infill drilling, expanding the resource through step-out drilling, progressing metallurgical testwork to optimise heap leach processing, and completing environmental and technical studies. A scoping study is targeted for release by late 2026 or early 2027, followed by a pre-feasibility study anticipated in 2027, contingent on drilling progress and study outcomes.
Surface Geochemistry Highlights New Exploration Targets
Surface rock-chip sampling has delineated a 2-kilometre-long arsenic-antimony anomaly approximately 4.5 kilometres north of the Maverick deposit, dubbed the Northern Target. This trend exhibits geochemical and alteration signatures consistent with Carlin-style mineralisation, suggesting the broader mineral system remains open and prospective well beyond the current resource boundaries.
Additional sampling along the main mineralised fold hinge indicates the system’s strike extensions remain open both northwest and southeast, supporting the company’s strategy of targeted step-out drilling to capture new mineralised zones.
Implications for Investors and Next Steps
Sun Silver’s latest drilling results reinforce the Maverick Silver Project’s potential to grow both in scale and confidence. The combination of high-grade silver, gold, and antimony mineralisation beyond the current resource, coupled with validation of historical data, provides a solid foundation for advancing development studies and permitting.
Investors should watch for upcoming assay results from ongoing drilling, progress on metallurgical testwork, and the release of the scoping study. These milestones will be critical to refining project economics and advancing Maverick toward production.
Bottom Line?
Sun Silver’s expanding high-grade zones at Maverick underscore the project’s growth potential, but upcoming scoping and infill drilling results will be pivotal to confirming resource upgrades and development viability.
Questions in the middle?
- How will upcoming infill drilling influence the upgrade to JORC Indicated classification?
- What metallurgical recovery rates will be confirmed through ongoing testwork?
- Can the Northern Target anomaly translate into a significant new resource extension?