PROJECTS / Cerro Las Minitas, Durango, Mexico

The Cerro Las Minitas Property, comprising 17 concessions and totalling 10,980 hectares, lies within heart of the Faja de Plata (Belt of Silver) of north central Mexico. The belt is one of the most significant silver producing regions in the world, with current reserves/resources and historic production in excess of 3 billion ounces of silver. Little modern exploration has been conducted at the Cerro Las Minitas project with significant exploration potential for Skarn and Carbonate Replacement (CRD) deposits, as well as for silver-rich veins over the largely gravel covered 25km strike length of the property. The geology of the property is similar to that of major Mexican Carbonate Replacement Deposits (CRDs) such as Santa Eulalia (45Mt of 310g/t Ag, 7.1% Zn and 8.2% Pb) and Skarn deposits such as San Martin (60Mt of 118g/t Ag, 0.9% Cu and 3.9% Zn) and represents an exciting new exploration opportunity in one of the world’s most prolific mineral districts.

Exploration

Small scale mining has been active on the property since colonial times and has identified several types of silver, lead and zinc enriched massive sulphide bodies distributed along the margins of the central intrusion. Historical work focused almost entirely on areas of obvious surface mineralization leaving much of the contact zone untouched by modern exploration.Southern Silver has initiated a multi-facetted exploration program to examine not only the immediate area of historical mining, but the entire 10,980 hectare project. Regional data compilation, airborne magnetic surveys and preliminary site visits have identified several possible targets for follow-up.Ground IP geophysical surveys and detailed mapping and sampling of surface exposures and trenches in the area of the historic mining have been used refined targeting in preparation for drill testing.A 3,000 metre Phase I drilling program began in early March of 2011.