Black Bear sniffs out silver upside as drilling kicks off at Shafter in Texas

Phase 1 consists of 11 diamond holes totalling 2,256m, with the work focused on understanding the stratigraphy, structures and alteration patterns that will shape an expanded exploration push in 2026. 

Every sample will be analysed for a full suite of elements, including gold, as Black Bear (ASX:BKB) evaluates whether Shafter’s potential stretches beyond silver alone.

Armed with funding from a recent $30m placement, the company is positioned to run a genuinely aggressive exploration campaign. 

And with silver now classified as a US Critical Mineral, Shafter’s role as a possible domestic supply opportunity is becoming increasingly relevant.

BKB CEO Dennis Lindgren said the initial program is designed to delineate key geological trends that underpin target zones and the company’s extensive exploration schedule throughout 2026. 

“Importantly, the Phase 1 effort commences comprehensively, assessing the multi-commodity potential of Shafter, with all samples slated for full silver, multi-element and gold analysis,” he said. 

Geologically, the Shafter project occupies a compelling position within a broad basin carbonate sequence that runs roughly 1600km from northern Mexico through southwest Texas.

This same sequence links up with the eastern extension of Mexico’s Sierra Madre Belt, a region that hosts some of the world’s most significant silver deposits, including Newmont’s Peñasquitos mine, the fifth-largest silver producer globally.

Mineralisation at Shafter stretches across roughly 4km of strike, running west to east, with the Central section outcropping at surface where the MacDaniel and Mina Grande faults intersect. 

This same zone was historically mined as the Presidio Mine between 1883 and 1942 and today, exploration is homing in on the structural controls that drove that historical production. 

Based on the data collected to date, Black Bear has completed preliminary stratigraphic and structural models for Shafter, which point to multiple areas of the mineralised Mina Grande Formation that remain largely untested by drilling.

This information has pointed the team toward the next round of high-priority targets. 

While around 4km of strike is currently captured within the 17.6Moz silver foreign resource, a further 2.4km along the MacDaniel Trend remains largely underexplored. 

For Black Bear, that gap represents significant upside, a sizeable stretch of prospective ground where additional mineralisation could still be uncovered.

The explorer will focus its exploration ventures on three target areas – the Presidio Mine area, the South Extension – which has seen limited exploration along strike of the foreign resource – and the Northern Extension, a direct strike extension to the Shafter resource. 

Once Phase 1 drilling is complete, the two rigs will return to the project in the southwestern portion of the asset, before targeting extensions to mineralisation outside the MRE. 

Drilling will take place across all target areas and five holes are planned around the Presidio West area, aiming to target a structural corridor that represents a ‘feeder’ zone of mineralisation.

Early surface rock chip sampling outside the MRE and along the Mina Grande Fault delivered strong results, including 10 samples grading above 200g/t silver and a standout assay of 3,100g/t silver, accompanied by high-grade gold, lead and zinc. 

Plans related to Phase 2 exploration drilling will be announced to the market in early 2026 once hole positions are finalised based on the results of Phase 1 drilling.