South American Silver Corp. said Monday its Escalones copper-gold-silver project in central Chile has inferred resources of 610,000 ounces of gold and 16.8 million ounces of silver.

The company also said its independent estimates for the property identified 3.8 billion pounds of copper and 56.9 million pounds of molybdenum, which is used to improve the quality of steel.

To put this new discovery in context, the resource here is already approximately equivalent in value, size and scale to South American Silver's more advanced Malku Khota silver-indium project, effectively doubling the company's in-ground resources, said CEO Greg Johnson.

The Vancouver-based company expects to begin drilling with two rigs next month, with completion set for April.

Shares were up 8.7 percent in early afternoon trading.

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