Silver Viper Minerals Corp. provided an update on exploration activities within the La Virginia Silver-Gold Project, located in Sonora, Mexico. Exploration activities continued throughout 2022 at the northern portion of the La Virginia Project, principally along the south and south-east extensions of the El Rubi Deposit.

In Second Quarter 2022, Silver Viper received the TITAN MT deep-penetrating geophysical survey results from Quantec Geoscience Ltd. The geophysical survey comprised fifteen lines oriented at 51° true north and four orthogonal lines oriented at 321° true north, focused on the central area of the El Rubi Deposit, as well as the Paredones and El Molino areas. The geophysical study shows high conductivity anomalies, correlating with previously identified prospects in the area, that are associated with low-magnetic gradients. The results provide important information to refine future drilling plans, as resistivity sections revealed many sub-vertical, low-medium resistivity structures projected to more than 1.0-kilometre depth.

The high conductivity anomalies connected these sub-vertical structures, bounded by major high-resistivity-plots, going deeper than 500 metres depth. By combining the 2D and 3D combined depth-image maps, the structural and geological data, and airborne magnetic survey, the company defined select targets where exploration team has carried out detailed mapping, soil, rock, and chip-channel sampling. The collection of geochemical samples accompanied detailed geological mapping, focusing on the structures, breccias, and geophysical anomalies.

Chip, dump, and channel samples were collected around El Molino, El Rubi and the northern portion of the Macho Libre Target. The southern and southeastern portions of Macho Libre were not covered by the geophysics survey. However, geological mapping and rock, chip-channel sampling led to the definition of new targets called Los Cantiles and El Oriental, as well as new structures around the Macho Libre area.

The sampled structures around El Oriental, Los Cantiles and Macho Libre are mainly silicified hydrothermal breccias with quartz veining, like those seen in the El Rubi area. Samples around the El Molino Target show hydrothermal breccia with quartz boiling-type manifestations such as lattice and comb textures. The Los Cantiles Target is located at the southern extension of El Rubi (south-western side of Macho Libre).

The chip channel samples were collected from an irregular structure, an andesitic dyke and hydrothermal altered breccia. Fourteen of the eighteen samples returned an average grade of 1.6 g/t gold and 54.7 g/t silver and maximum values of 5.7 g/t gold and 148 g/t silver. Another breccia with quartz stockwork yielded a result of 1.69 g/t gold and 23 g/t silver.

At El Oriental, located to the south of the El Rubi deposit, silicified breccia with evident chalcopyrite and sphalerite mineralization are responsible for high gold and silver anomalies. Dump samples taken from an old shaft returned 17.8 g/t gold and 1,001 g/t silver. Furthermore, chip-channel samples returned 4.2 g/t gold and 310 g/t silver.

Chip-channel samples from a second structure (El Oriental 2) returned 0.3 g/t gold and 66 g/t silver. At Macho Libre, chip-channel sampling along several structures yielded results of 2.0 g/t gold and 116 g/t silver, 1.1 g/t gold and 4 g/t silver, and 1.0 g/t gold and 63 g/t silver. Hydrothermal breccia at the eastern portion of Macho Libre, called El Corral, displaying boiling textures (comb texture), returned 2.36 g/t gold and 71 g/t silver.

A rock sample with hydrothermal breccia collected at the central Macho Libre dyke returned 0.4 g/t gold and 1.0 g/t silver. At the El Molino Target, south-east of the El Rubi Deposit, the target is characterized by several structures with strong silicified brecciation and with evident boiling-type quartz textures. Several new structures (potential drill targets) were identified in Fourth Quarter 2022.

Due to lateness in the season, most of the geochemical results are pending. Initial chip-channel results on some breccias returned 1.6 g/t gold, 0.5 g/t gold, 0.3 g/t gold, and 0.2 g/t gold respectively. These initial results combined with the previously published geochemical results, confirm the El Molino Target exhibits continuously high gold and silver geochemical anomalies, south-eastward along the trend.

Additionally, the soil sampling campaign performed in November 2022 along the south-eastward extension of the El Molino trend consisted of 3 lines, approximately N 50° E, separated by 200 m, and generating a total of 60 samples. The objective was to cover the south-eastern extension of the El Molino Trend, an area that coincides with a medium-high conductivity geophysical anomaly. The results show anomalous silver and gold mineralization continues from north-west to south-east and confirms the mineralization potential of the El Molino Target.

Silver Viper plans to drill as soon as the targets are fully defined and understood. The exploration team continues with detailed mapping and sampling and await the pending analytical results.