(Kitco News) Kootenay Silver is expanding drilling at its Columba silver project in Chihuahua, Mexico, as the company works to grow the recently defined 54.1 million-ounce inferred silver resource and advance development work at its La Cigarra deposit.
Speaking with Kitco Mining at the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada convention in Toronto on March 3, President and CEO Jim McDonald said the company’s exploration campaign is focused on systematically stepping out from known mineralized zones to determine the full scale of the Columba vein system.
“Our expectation is to be able to get this to a hundred million or maybe some multiple of that,” McDonald said.
Columba hosts a maiden inferred resource of 54.1 million ounces of silver from 5.92 million tonnes grading 284 grams per tonne silver, according to a resource estimate announced June 17, 2025. The deposit consists of multiple high-grade epithermal veins that remain open along strike and at depth, with drilling indicating vein widths averaging roughly five to six meters, which McDonald said are favorable for underground mining.
Kootenay initially planned a 50,000-meter drill campaign but expanded the program to 60,000 meters following a recent financing. Drilling is targeting extensions of the D, Lupe and B2 vein systems through systematic step-outs designed to define the edges of the existing resource.
Results released March 2 included intercepts such as 10 meters grading 503 g/t silver plus lead and zinc, and 9.88 meters grading 319 g/t silver, as drilling continues to test deeper and lateral extensions of the veins.
“When you're stepping over a hundred meters, you're adding a lot of tonnage,” McDonald said. “That's a big step out on veins.”
McDonald also said the geological setting suggests the system could extend significantly beyond the currently drilled areas, noting that erosion has exposed only the upper portions of the vein structures.
Beyond exploration at Columba, Kootenay is advancing its La Cigarra silver project in the Parral district of Chihuahua. The company is completing a preliminary economic assessment expected in the second quarter of 2026, which McDonald said could mark a shift toward development. “At $20-something silver, it didn't really look that great,” McDonald said of the project’s earlier economics. “Above $30, they start to look really interesting.”
La Cigarra hosts 51.57 million ounces of measured and indicated silver and another 11 million ounces inferred within an open-pit shell, according to the company’s latest technical reports.
In an update released March 9, Kootenay said the company remains funded to advance both the Columba drilling program and the La Cigarra PEA following a bought-deal financing that closed Feb. 10. The company also plans a 10,000-meter drill program at La Cigarra later this year to test a gap zone between two parts of the current resource.
Across its portfolio of Mexican projects, Kootenay reports a combined 119.79 million ounces of measured and indicated silver and 82.78 million ounces inferred across four deposits, including Promontorio and La Negra, in addition to La Cigarra and Columba.
As drilling continues through 2026, McDonald said the company expects steady exploration results from Columba and a resource update following completion of the current drill campaign.
Watch the full video on the Kitco Mining YouTube channel.
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