Santa Ana: a structural model finds a blind shoot

Drilling intersected what Outcrop Silver has designated “Shoot 7” in a zone the company selected because it fit a spacing pattern observed between three previously discovered shoots along the same structure. Hole DH648 returned 9.16 meters (5.28 meters estimated true width) grading 127 grams per ton silver and 0.70 grams per ton gold, equivalent to 188 grams per ton silver, including a higher-grade section of 0.40 meters (0.23 meters ETW) grading 1,930 grams per ton silver and 8.65 grams per ton gold, equivalent to 2,693 grams per ton silver.

Figure 1. Plan view of the Santa Ana vein showing the drill holes reported in this release. (Image courtesy Outcrop Silver)

Table 1. Santa Ana drill hole assay results. (Image courtesy Outcrop Silver)

Outcrop Silver has traced the Santa Ana structure, the namesake vein of the company’s primary project, along 1.7 kilometers of strike and 350 meters of dip. The company describes it as a shear zone with a pinch-and-swell geometry, in which the widest, highest-grade intervals occur where the structure bulges. Applying that pattern, geologists targeted a swell located roughly 300 to 400 meters from the previously identified San Juan shoot — the same spacing the company had already measured between the structure’s other shoots — and drilling confirmed ore where the model predicted it.

Shoot 7 has no expression at surface. It is the fourth ore shoot identified along the Santa Ana structure itself, following the Roberto Tovar shoot near the project’s colonial-era underground workings, the San Juan shoot (see news release dated January 5, 2021), and the San Antonio shoot (see news release dated June 15, 2021).

Figure 2. Geological cross-section A showing the Santa Ana vein. (Image courtesy Outcrop Silver)

Figure 3. Longitudinal section of the Santa Ana vein showing drill pierce points. (Image courtesy Outcrop Silver)

This release reports assay results from seven holes at Santa Ana and its splay structures in total. Three of them — DH553, DH560 and DH656 — returned narrower intercepts ranging from roughly 100 to 560 grams per ton silver equivalent along the structure and its splays, detailed in the full assay table.

Separately, holes DH645, DH648 and DH650 each intersected a splay structure along the hanging wall of Santa Ana. Hole DH652 returned the single highest grade in the release within one of those splays: 0.30 meters (0.22 meters ETW) grading 5,196 grams per ton silver and 8.51 grams per ton gold, equivalent to 5,947 grams per ton silver. Outcrop Silver said the hanging-wall splays point to additional high-grade structure at depth that its existing geological model does not yet account for.

Las Maras: the high-grade core holds at depth, then narrows in one hole

The company also released results from five holes at Las Maras, a near-vertical, historically high-grade target where the current program was designed to test whether that grade holds up down-dip. Hole DH637 returned the strongest result: 2.86 meters (2.30 meters estimated true width) grading 1,760 grams per ton silver and 5.14 grams per ton gold, equivalent to 2,214 grams per ton silver — the widest high-grade interval yet reported at the target — including 0.30 meters (0.24 meters ETW) grading 4,285 grams per ton silver and 8.18 grams per ton gold (5,006 grams per ton silver equivalent) and 0.51 meters (0.41 meters ETW) grading 4,185 grams per ton silver and 15.27 grams per ton gold (5,533 grams per ton silver equivalent).

Figure 4. Plan view of the Las Maras target showing the drill holes reported in this release. (Image courtesy Outcrop Silver)

Figure 5. Geological cross-section B showing the Las Maras vein system. (Image courtesy Outcrop Silver)

Figure 6. Geological cross-section C showing the Las Maras vein system. (Image courtesy Outcrop Silver)

Table 2. Las Maras drill hole assay results. (Image courtesy Outcrop Silver)

A splay structure along the hanging wall of Las Maras also returned high-grade results: hole DH624 intersected 0.30 meters (0.21 meters ETW) grading 3,386 grams per ton silver and 10.99 grams per ton gold, equivalent to 4,355 grams per ton silver. Hole DH640, the deepest hole drilled at the target to date, intersected a narrower interval of the structure with lower silver grades at that specific point. Outcrop Silver said it is incorporating that result into its geological model rather than treating it as evidence the target is closing off, citing the strength of DH637 along the same trend. Holes DH630 and DH653 returned additional results consistent with the structure’s continuity.

Figure 7. Longitudinal section of the Las Maras vein showing drill pierce points. (Image courtesy Outcrop Silver)

Background: a rebuilt leadership team and a resource update due this month

Outcrop Silver — known as Outcrop Gold Corp. until a name change effective June 14, 2021 — has spent the past year rebuilding its leadership. Rob Bruggeman became chief executive in April, and Carlos Torres, a geologist with more than 20 years of experience in mineral exploration, including extensive work in Colombia, who previously served as vice president of exploration at Sun Valley Investments, joined as vice president of exploration in May. The company has said that transition pushed back the release of an updated mineral resource estimate to the third quarter of this year; Outcrop Silver now says that update is anticipated this month. The company graduated from the TSX Venture Exchange to the Toronto Stock Exchange in November 2025, continuing to trade under the ticker OCG.

Santa Ana’s only mineral resource estimate to date, prepared by AMC Mining Consultants in a NI 43-101 technical report dated June 8, 2023, put the project’s indicated resource at approximately 1.35 million tons (1.226 million tonnes) grading 614 grams per ton silver equivalent, containing 24.2 million ounces, with a further 1.06 million tons (966,000 tonnes) inferred at 435 grams per ton, containing 13.5 million ounces. That estimate covered seven vein systems at Santa Ana; the current campaign has since confirmed mineralization in six additional systems, including Jimenez and Los Mangos, that sit outside the 2023 estimate entirely.

Assay samples were prepared at an Actlabs facility in Medellín and analyzed at the firm’s laboratory in Ancaster, Ontario, with blanks, duplicates and certified reference materials inserted at a rate of about three control samples per 20 drill samples. Torres, a registered professional geoscientist in Ontario, signed off on the results as the qualified person under NI 43-101.

Silver equivalent figures in this release are calculated using metal prices of $2,760 USD per ounce for gold and $32 USD per ounce for silver, with metallurgical recoveries of 98.5 percent for gold and 96.3 percent for silver based on the company’s own metallurgical test work reported in June 2024.

Silver equivalent (AgEq) formula used by Outcrop Silver. (Image courtesy Outcrop Silver)

Table 3. Collar and survey table for all drill holes referenced in this release. (Image courtesy Outcrop Silver)

Headline photo: A geologist logs core samples at the Santa Ana project’s core-handling facility in Falan, Tolima. (Photo courtesy Outcrop Silver)