Unico Silver (ASX: USL) is expanding its Joaquin silver project in Argentina, announcing its second major discovery this month. New drilling at Joaquin has identified a mineralised zone southeast of the La Morocha deposit, following a promising gold and silver find last week in a step-out program at the nearby La Negra prospect. Unico Silver is focused on the exploration and development of silver projects in Argentina. The company aims to become a leading silver producer in the region.
These two discoveries have extended mineralisation beyond the boundaries of a 2013 foreign mineral resource estimate (MRE) into the underexplored Cerro Puntudo property. This property contains a historical estimate of 16.7 million tonnes at 136 grams per tonne silver equivalent (AgEq) for 73 million ounces AgEq in the La Negra and La Morocha deposits. Unico completed three diamond drill holes for 622 metres to test southeast extensions of the La Morocha structure, with assays of 69 metres at 163g/t AgEq (0.9g/t gold, 94g/t silver) from 124m, including 8.5m at 656g/t AgEq (3.9g/t gold, 342g/t silver) from 163.5m.
This new zone, named La Morocha SE, displays a strike 350 metres long, with a vertical extent of 175m and a thickness ranging between 35m and 45m. Mineralisation at La Morocha SE remains open to the south and at depth. Earlier this month, the La Negra discovery marked a significant breakthrough, with best assay results of 90m at 144 g/t AgEq (1.3g/t gold, 40g/t silver) from 10m. Drilling has now confirmed at least 2km of strike along the La Negra structure.
The drilling successes support Unico’s “Plus150” strategy, targeting more than 150 million ounces of pit-constrained, free-milling silver-equivalent resources across the Joaquin and Cerro Leon projects. Managing director Todd Williams said the success in intersecting wide zones of oxide gold and silver mineralisation at La Morocha SE comes as the company focuses on releasing a new MRE in early 2026. He added that the latest discovery further demonstrates the potential of the Cerro Puntudo tenement, fully consolidated since acquiring the project from Pan American Silver in August 2024.
