Canada's Pasinex Restarts Underground Exploration Drilling at Turkish Zinc Mine

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On November 10, Canada's Pasinex Resources Ltd. announced the latest development progress at the Pinargozu zinc mine in Turkey. The company resumed exploration drilling at the mine on October 7 after a nearly two-year suspension. The first drilling platform has now been completed at the +410 m level, with operations conducted using a Diamec U6 underground drill rig. As of November 5, a total of 207.5 meters had been drilled from the first platform. The company plans to carry out approximately 4,000 meters of drilling from three underground platforms to investigate the down-dip extension of the existing zinc sulfide mineralized zone.

The current drilling program focuses on the +410 m level. Zinc sulfide mineralization was previously identified in this area through 2023 underground drilling, but no mining operations have yet been carried out there. The new program will drill holes along the down-dip direction of the existing mineralized zone to investigate the continuity of the deeper orebody, and will further define the extent of mineralization by integrating the relationship between the orebody and carbonate host rocks, recrystallization zones, and structural features.

The approximately 4,000-meter drilling program is being implemented from three platforms. The first platform is planned to complete approximately 1,000 meters and is already drill-ready; the second and third platforms are each planned to complete approximately 1,500 meters and will be opened progressively as underground development advances. Two holes have been completed from the first platform: hole PPU26-001 at 110 meters and hole PPU26-002 at 97.5 meters. A third hole, PPU26-003, is planned to further test the down-dip extension of the mineralized zone.

To access the three drilling platforms, the mine is simultaneously advancing underground development at the +410 m level. The overall design includes a 700-meter main haulage drift, 150 meters of platform access drifts, and a 150-meter raise, for a total development volume of approximately 1,000 meters. As of November 7, the main drift had advanced 125 meters, the platform access drifts had completed 60 meters, and the raise had completed 22.5 meters, for a cumulative total of 207.5 meters. The first drilling platform has been completed, and the remaining approximately 575 meters of the main drift is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2027.

In addition to deep exploration, Pasinex has deployed a second Teksomak Explorer drill rig at the +570 m level of the +541 m adit for short-hole drilling. This rig drills from existing underground workings and focuses on investigating undrilled narrow-vein mineralization and its extensions around the previously mined areas. The results will be used for orebody geometry analysis and subsequent mining plan scheduling. Unlike the deep resource exploration at the +410 m level, this drilling directly supports vein tracing in the existing production area.

Previous 2023 underground drilling at the Pinargozu mine identified a 1.5-meter zinc sulfide mineralized interval in hole PPU23_072, with portable X-ray fluorescence analysis showing a zinc grade of 44.03%. The company explicitly stated that this data represents indicative on-site analytical results, does not replace laboratory assay results, and that the 1.5 meters refers to drill hole length.

In the next phase, the mine will continue advancing the +410 m main drift, sequentially open the second and third drilling platforms, and carry out the remaining underground drilling. Meanwhile, the second drill rig will continue production-support short-hole drilling.