Announcement • Jul 08
Silver Elephant Mining Corp. Reports Historic Drill Assays with Up to 350 Grams Per Ton Germanium and 28% Zinc At Robinson-Lasher Project
Silver Elephant Mining Corp. has provided an exploration update on the Company’s optioned Robinson-Lasher zinc-germanium-gallium mining project in Livingston County, Kentucky, located approximately 90 miles from the proposed USD 7,400 million critical-minerals smelter in Clarksville, Tennessee being developed by Korea Zinc. The new smelter in Tennessee is designed to recover up to 12 critical minerals, including zinc, silver, germanium and gallium, all of which occur at the Robinson-Lasher Project. The smelter is projected to enter operation in 2029, requiring over 500,000 tons of concentrate feed annually. Historical drilling on the Robinson-Lasher Project returned germanium values of up to 350 grams per ton ("g/t") and gallium values of up to 20 g/t within sphalerite mineralized zones in two of the four holes drilled (DXHR-01 and DXHR-03). Down-hole composite assays from DXHR-01 include 81.4 feet (24.8 meters) grading approximately 11.2% zinc and 114 g/t germanium; composite assays from DXHR-03 include 16.0 feet (4.9 meters) grading approximately 13.4% zinc and 199 g/t germanium (with a peak of 350 g/t germanium). As of June 26, 2026, germanium metal traded at USD 8,597.50 per kilogram — equivalent to approximately USD 267 per troy ounce — up 320% since the start of 2020. The price action is partly attributed to China's August 2023 germanium export-licensing measures and its December 2024 ban on exports to the United States. The germanium and gallium data referenced in this news release are drawn from an exploration report titled “Shawnee Zinc Exploration Project — Hampton Prospect, Livingston County, Kentucky,” dated July 2008, prepared by North American Exploration Inc. for Dynamex Resources Corporation. The Project corresponds to the area historically referred to as the Hampton Prospect, which comprises the adjoining Robinson (zinc) and Lasher (fluorspar) structures. As part of a 2008 confirmation drilling program, four core holes were completed and selected core intervals were analyzed at ACME Analytical Laboratories (Vancouver, B.C.). Base metals were determined by four-acid digestion with an ICP-ES finish, and gallium and germanium were determined on samples from two of the holes — DXHR-01 and DXHR-03. Holes DXHR-02 and DXHL-01 were assayed for zinc and fluorspar but were not analyzed for germanium or gallium. According to the 2008 Report, hole DXHR-01 returned germanium of up to 220 g/t and hole DXHR-03 returned germanium of up to 350 g/t (the highest value on the Project), in each case with the highest germanium value reported in association with the hole’s highest-grade zinc interval — a 5.0-foot interval grading 32.63% zinc in DXHR-01 and a 6.6-foot interval grading 28.12% zinc in DXHR-03. Gallium reached up to 20 g/t in both holes. The full sample-by-sample results for both holes are set out in Table 1. Table 1 — Germanium and gallium assay detail, holes DXHR-01 and DXHR-03. Composite, DXHR-01 (samples 104–118) 81.4 (24.8 m) 11.20 ~114 =20. Composite, DXHR-03 (samples 129–131) 16.0 (4.9 m) 13.40 ~199 nil. Depths are downhole; holes are vertical (-90°), so downhole intervals approximate true thickness. 1 ppm = 1 g/t; 1 foot = 0.3048 m. For DXHR-01, samples 101–103 and 119 bracket the mineralized zone but were not analyzed for Ga/Ge. Composites are thickness-weighted averages over the indicated samples (DXHR-01: 558.6–640.0 ft /81.4 ft /24.8 m; DXHR-03: 630.0–646.0 ft /16.0 ft /4.9 m). Germanium and gallium do not occur as discrete ore minerals at the Robinson-Lasher Project; they substitute within the crystal lattice of sphalerite. As a result, germanium and gallium grades broadly track zinc grades and would, if confirmed, be recoverable as by-product credits during conventional zinc-concentrate production. The Company cautions that the historical analyses were performed on a limited number of samples from two of the four holes drilled (DXHR-01 and DXHR-03) and are insufficient, on their own, to characterize the distribution, continuity or grade of germanium or gallium across the Project. The Robinson-Lasher Project comprises approximately 1,524 acres of mineral rights in Livingston County, Kentucky. Zinc and fluorspar mineralized zones occur as bedded and replacement-style mineralization in Mississippian-age carbonate rocks along the Robinson Fault structure. This same style of mineralization is seen at the Tennessee zinc mines that operated for over 50 years, supplying metals concentrate to the Nyrstar zinc smelter (acquired by Korea Zinc in April 2026) in Clarksville, Tennessee. The Robinson-Lasher Project has been extensively drilled with 232 historic drill holes. There was an existing 1,270-foot production decline reaching approximately 240 feet of vertical depth, together with a ventilation shaft. There was limited production history and underground access is subject to rehabilitation. There exists an historic resource estimate of 387,225 imperial tons grading 14% zinc for the Robinson-Lasher project reported by Phelps-Dodge Corporation in 1985. The United States has no meaningful domestic primary germanium recovery. According to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026, operations at Nyrstar's Middle Tennessee Mines in Gordonsville, Tennessee, which produced germanium-bearing zinc concentrates, have been suspended since November 2023; prior to the suspension, those concentrates were sent to Nyrstar's zinc smelter in Clarksville, Tennessee, which recovered germanium in the form of an intermediate leach concentrate. The USGS reports that U.S. net import reliance for germanium exceeds 50%, and that China — which accounts for the large majority of global refined germanium output — implemented export licensing on germanium in August 2023 and banned germanium exports to the United States in December 2024. The 2008 Report notes that the Robinson-Lasher Project lies approximately 90 miles by road from the Clarksville, Tennessee zinc smelter and within shipping distance of historical zinc-processing and milling infrastructure in western Kentucky and southern Illinois. Germanium is classified as a critical mineral by the United States, Canada and the European Union. Its principal end uses, per the USGS, are fiber optics, infrared (IR) optics, semiconductor and solar applications, LiDAR, heat, and radiation detectors.
