EI Tigre Silver Corp. (TSX.V: ELS) owns 100% of 9 mining concessions comprising of 43,098 hectares located in the Sierra El Tigre, northeastern Sonora State in Mexico. ELS has started its aggressive and comprehensive work program on its El Tigre Property, located in Sonora, Mexico. Initially discovered in 1903, the El Tigre Property has a recorded production of approximately 75 million ounces of silver and possibly as much as 400,000 ounces of gold. In our opinion, properties that have produced in the past have tremendous potential, not only for future production, but for shareholders, as well, since much of the initial work has been completed by previous owners.

El Tigre Mine

The original El Tigre mine operated from 1903-1938 and was one of the largest producing, high-grade silver mines in Mexico. Mineralization at Sierra EI Tigre was Originally discovered in the higher elevations of the district as a high-grade gold vein. However, once a shaft was sunk on the vein, and as mining progressed downwards, rich silver ores were found. Thereafter, mining concentrated on exploitation of the rich silver ore bodies.

The El Tigre Mine was originally discovered around 1900 by Lucky Tiger Combination Gold Mining Company and operated until 1939. During that time, in addition to the resource amounts quoted above, an estimated additional 5 million ounces of silver were produced from the mines north of the EI Tigre in the Pilar de Teras area.

The mines also produced lead, copper and zinc, which was contained in the silver-rich sulfide concentrates. As mentioned previously, ELS has recently begun a work program to evaluate the most attractive targets EI Tigre property as outlined in the NI 43-10 I Technical Report. In our opinion, now is the time to buy the stock, before these targets are identified.

Back in the Saddle

ELS completed a National Instrument 43-101 report for the property on November 29, 2009. Since then, ELS has been reviewing an amalgamation of all the historical data from the work completed on the property by Anaconda Mining in the early 1980's along with data collected from other sources. ELS plans to put together an electronically accessible database of relevant historical information from which they can more accurately evaluate the potential and known mineralization of the property. This is a great example of 21st century mining and the product of an experienced management team. ELS management is not satisfied with just doing research. Rehabilitation of the roads on site has begun and a site has been cleared for the camp. We might also add many of the original 22 Anaconda drill holes have been relocated and marked for reference.

ELS Vice President of Exploration, Gene Schmidt, worked on the El Tigre Property in the early 1980's as a geologist during a work program carried out by Anaconda Mining. In our opinion, his experience at the El Tigre property move the work program along much quicker. In the past, several of the big winners we have had in the junior mining sector had individuals, like Schmidt, on board who were familiar with the project and the geology of the area. According to other articles written on ELS, Schmidt was around when Anaconda was acquired by Atlantic Richfield. A corporate decision was made to cease exploration in Mexico, for whatever reason. Apparently, this decision was made just as the group on site was about fifty meters from a high grade drill target. Information like this does not grow on trees, nor does it come from a report. Since we are one of the few newsletters following ELS, at this point, we believe we can alert our subscribers to a huge win in the stock market by getting them there first.

Historical Info 

The El Tigre Property is comprised of  narrow, high-grade veins, which have been traced for more than three kilometers. Modern exploration and development has only been conducted in a small area of the El Tigre Property. Since the initial discovery was made in 1903, no evidence exists that any modern exploration techniques have been directed to the evaluation of the potential for exploitable gold mineralization. In our opinion, this alone, is reason enough to buy the stock.

Virtually no work was completed on the El Tigre Property from this time until the early 1980s when Anaconda and Compania Minera Talaman S.A. de C.V., a company now owned by El Tigre, completed work programs to prepare the district for modern mining. A district-scale exploration program conducted mine and topographic surveying that resulted in first rate topographic maps district-wide, detailed Anaconda-style geological mapping of the surface and underground workings at scales ranging from 1:500 to 1:10,000 scale, diamond drilling of the vein structures with 22 holes totaling 7,812 meters, 352 meters of exploration drifting along the Fundadora vein, drill core and sampling analysis, road rebuilding from Esqueda, drill pad road construction, petrographic studies of the rock types, metallurgical studies and engineering for tailings reprocessing, air photo coverage and production of land-controlled photogrammetric base maps. It has been estimated that the cost of this work today would be over $10 million.

Based on the historical data available, the El Tigre Property has an estimated historical resource plus the companies geologists believe there is the potential for a further large silver discovery. Rigorous geologic analysis of project data reveals a number of high-grade vein targets on the property. As well, it appears that a potential remains for developing mineralization under the historic resource of +10 oz/ton Ag material that remains standing in the mine, as the cutoff grade in the old El Tigre Mine was about 10 oz/ton Ag.

Written summaries of Anaconda’s work program on the mining concessions report a historical estimate of resources in the Aguila – Fundadora vein of nearly 285,000 tons of 257 g/ton Ag and 2.97 g/ton Au. Based on the extensive strike length and width of the system. Additional rich deposit types have been identified and are described in detail in the 43-101 Technical Report, which is available on the Company’s website.

Summary

In our opinion, ELS is ripe for a move to the upside. The process of digitizing historical data is underway, geological teams are on the property, the roads and infrastructure are being refurbished, and ELS should be able to review alternative targets in the very near term.

The mine was a proven high grade silver producer, producing 75 million ounces between 1903-1938. ELS has a fully funded 43-101 drilling program on the agenda for 2010, with a goal of upgrading the known historical resource. As far as infrastructure, there are 4 levels of extensive underground workings, which allows for exploration drilling above and beyond the historical resource. Combine all of this with the fact that the El Tigre Mine potentially has an undervalued silver resource, and the pot is boiling over.

Anaconda had high grade targets and low grade targets but the low grade were bulk underground, they were huge. There's also the possibility of production; production through tailings, and production through what's actually left un-mined. One of the most compelling situations we have seen in some time, ELS is a past producer. It is highly likely it could be producing again. Once ELS goes back in and re-proves what Anaconda did, we believe the stock price could move much higher as a new group of investors take notice.