Latest assays from the 2025-26 diamond drill program included 11.9m at 148g/t Ag from 78.9m, including the best result in a 0.5m interval.
Another hole delivered 2.8m at 116g/t Ag from 106.9m and ended in mineralisation with a 0.5m zone grading 444g/t.
A third hole intersected 3.8m at 171g/t Ag from 146.2m, including a richer 1.1m section at 328g/t.
Black Bear Minerals (ASX:BKB) said the 3.8m intercept supports continuity of mineralisation outside the resource and highlights the potential to define further mineralisation across the project area.
As things stand, Shafter holds a 17.6Moz foreign, non-JORC mineral resource grading 289g/t silver.
Two of the latest holes were drilled to twin historical holes completed during the 1940s and 1980s.
The twin holes assayed so far have intersected thicker and higher-grade mineralisation than the original drilling, prompting the company to undertake additional check analyses to determine whether historical analytical methods may have understated silver grades.
Results from that work are expected within four to six weeks.
“The results are significant because they validate known high-grade zones and support potential extensions outside the current foreign MRE, with the twin holes returning thicker and higher-grade intervals than the comparable historic drilling as we progress resource validation, JORC conversion and restart study work,” said Black Bear CEO Dennis Lindgren.
The mineralised zone at Shafter spans about 4km of strike from west to east.
Its central portion outcrops at surface at the intersection between the MacDaniel and Mina Grande Faults and was historically worked as the Presidio mine from 1883 until 1942.
In that period it produced about 35.2Moz of silver at 521g/t.
Black Bear is using the drilling program to validate the foreign MRE, improve geological understanding of the deposit and support studies aimed at restarting the past-producing mine.
The company is planning further infill drilling to support a maiden JORC-compliant mineral resource to feed into a Rapid Mine Restart Study.
Additional drilling is also planned to test for extensions to mineralisation across the broader project area.
Black Bear also believes Shafter offers broader polymetallic potential despite the existing resource only including silver.
Recent drilling and surface sampling identified gold, zinc and lead across the project area, with the company now re-logging historical core and undertaking additional sampling to better understand how those metals could contribute to future resource estimates and technical studies.
Systematic sampling of historical workings at Presidio is also on the agenda to assess mineralised material remaining in the walls of drifts and stopes following selective historical mining.
That material is excluded from the foreign MRE and extends across about 1km of strike yet to be fully evaluated.
