Athena Silver has said that it is planning a new reverse circulation drilling program consisting of 12 holes on its Langtry Claims in California to test historical resource estimates obtained by Superior Oil.
The company said that 10 vertical holes will attempt to test the results of the much larger historic drilling program conducted by Superior Oil and two angle holes would test new exploration targets near historic workings on the property.
Superior was an independent American oil company acquired by Mobil Corporation (now Exxon Mobil ) in 1984 for $5.7bn.
The historical resource estimate at Langtry thus far has been defined by 201 rotary drill holes drilled by the minerals division of Superior Oil in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
The estimated historical resources on the Langtry claims are a 22 million ton ore body, with silver grading at an average of 2.37 ounces per ton for a total of 52.14 million ounces and barite grading at 7.9% for a total of 1.73 million tons.
Superior estimated a potential 65% recovery rate on the silver ore for which Athena has not independently verified these historical estimates.
Athena Silver Company entered into a 20-year mining lease with option to purchase the Langtry Claims on 15 March 2010.