Silvercorp Reports Tunneling-Exposed High Grade Mineralization Zones from its 2017-2018 Exploration Programs at the SGX Mine, Ying Mining District, China

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, June 08, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Silvercorp Metals Inc. ("Silvercorp” or the “Company”) (TSX:SVM) (NYSE American:SVM) is pleased to report results of its exploration programs from July 1, 2017 to March 31, 2018 at the SGX mine, Ying Mining District, Henan Province, China.

The exploration program at the SGX mine consists of underground drilling and tunneling. During the nine month period, the Company completed 15,592 meters (“m”) underground diamond drilling with 7 underground rigs and 15,259m exploration tunneling between elevation Levels 120m and 680m. Results of underground drilling continuously extended the major mineralized vein structures along strike and downdip and exploration tunneling exposed high grade mineralization zones within major production vein structures.

Highlights of selected mineralization zones exposed in exploration drift tunnels:

• Drift Tunnel XPD-S7_2-210-3NMY exposed mineralization of 145m long and 0.75m wide (true width) grading 420 gram per tonne (“g/t”) silver (“Ag”), 14.72% lead (“Pb”) and 0.44% zinc (“Zn”) within vein structure S7_2 on the 210m level;
  
• Drift Tunnel XPD-S19-300-11ASYM exposed mineralization of 150m long and 0.80m wide (true width) grading 426g/t Ag, 9.32% Pb and 4.76% Zn within vein structure S19 on the 300m level;
  
• Drift Tunnel CM102-S32-520-65SYM exposed mineralization of 95m long and 0.92m wide (true width) grading 595g/t Ag, 16.17% Pb and 7.39% Zn within vein structure S32 on the 520m level; and
  
• Drift Tunnel PD700-S28-450-79SYM exposed mineralization of 65m long and 1.06m wide (true width) grading 532g/t Ag, 20.82% Pb and 1.51% Zn within vein structure S28 on the 450m level.

The exploration tunneling, comprising drifting, crosscutting and raising, was driven along and across major mineralized vein structures to upgrade drill defined mineral resources and test for new parallel and splay structures.

The tunneling program from July 1, 2017 to March 31, 2018 at SGX is briefly summarized in the following table:

*Mineralization is defined by silver equivalent value (AgEq) greater than or equal to 140 g/t. (Formula used for AgEq calculation: AgEq = 33.1895 * Pb% + 23.4590 * Zn% + Ag g/t)

Highlights of selected intersections of drill holes:

• Hole ZK06S8004 intersected a 1.22m interval from 110.92m to 112.14m, 1.02m true width, of vein S8W grading 261 g/t Ag, 0.51% Pb and 4.75% Zn at the 172m elevation, and an a 0.86m interval from 182.92m to 183.78m, 0.45m true width, of vein S8 grading 635g/t Ag, 1.72% Pb and 0.24% Zn at the 112m elevation; and
  
• Hole ZK14504 intersected a 0.85m interval from 37.52m to 38.37m, 0.72m true width, of vein S1W2 grading 77g/t Ag, 5.58% Pb and 2.68% Zn at the 154m elevation, and an 1.22m interval from 303.57m to 304.79m, 0.91m true width, of vein S2 grading 566g/t Ag, 1.47% Pb and 0.84% Zn at the minus 56m elevation.

The underground drilling program is mainly conducted from the current production levels to delineate the downdip and along-strike extensions of known mineralized vein structures in the production area and test for new veins in the previous less-explored areas.

The drilling program from July 1, 2017 to March 31, 2018 at SGX is briefly summarized in the following table:

*Including 12 holes completed in the first half of 2017; 5 holes drilled in the first quarter of 2018 with assay pending.
** Mineralized intersection in drill holes is defined by silver equivalent value (AgEq) greater than or equal to 80 g/t.

Tables 1 and 2 below list the assay results of some selected mineralized intersections in drill holes and mineralized zones exposed in drift tunnels in the exploration programs from July 1, 2017 to March 31, 2018.

Table 1: Selected drilling results from the drilling program at the SGX mine

*Test: intersections in open areas without known mineralization for new resource delineation;
**Infill: intersections within known resource blocks for resource upgrade;
***Stepout: intersections adjacent to existing resource blocks for resource expansion;

Table 2: Selected mineralized zones exposed by drift tunneling at the SGX mine

Quality Control

Drill cores are NQ size. Drill core samples, limited by apparent mineralization contact or shear/alteration contact, were split into halves by saw cutting. The half cores are stored in the Company's core shacks for future reference and checking, and the other half core samples are shipped in security sealed bags to the Chengde Huakan 514 Geology and Minerals Test and Research Institute in Chengde, Hebei Province, China, 226 km northeast of Beijing, and the Zhengzhou Nonferrous Exploration Institute Lab in Zhengzhou, Henan Province, China. Both labs are ISO9000 certified analytical labs. For analysis the sample is dried and crushed to minus 1mm and then split to a 200-300g subsample which is further pulverized to minus 200 mesh. Two subsamples are prepared from the pulverized sample. One is digested with aqua regia for gold analysis with AAS, and the other is digested with two-acids for analysis of silver, lead, zinc and copper with AAS.

Channel samples are collected along sample lines perpendicular to the mineralized vein structure in exploration tunnels. Spacing between sampling lines is typically 5m along strike. Both the mineralized vein and the altered wall rocks are cut with continuous chisel chipping. Sample length ranges from 0.2m to more than 1m, depending on the width of the mineralized vein and the mineralization type. Channel samples are prepared and assayed with AAS at Silvercorp’s mine laboratory (Ying Lab) located at the mill complex in Luoning County, Henan Province, China. The Ying lab is officially accredited by the Quality and Technology Monitoring Bureau of Henan Province and is qualified to provide analytical service. The channel samples are dried, crushed and pulverized. A 200g sample of minus 160 mesh is prepared for assay. A duplicate sample of minus 1mm is made and kept at the laboratory archives. Gold is analysed by fire assay with AAS finish, and silver, lead, zinc and copper are assayed by two-acid digestion with AAS finish.

A routine quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) procedure is adopted to monitor the analytical quality at each lab. Certified reference materials (CRMs), pulp duplicates and blanks are inserted into each lab batch of samples. QA/QC data at the lab are attached to the assay certificates for each batch of samples.

The Company maintains its own comprehensive QA/QC program to ensure best practices in sample preparation and analysis of the exploration samples. Project geologists regularly insert CRM, field duplicates and blanks to each batch of 30 core samples to monitor the sample preparation and analysis procedures at the labs. The analytical quality of the labs is further evaluated with external checks by sending about 3-5% of the pulp samples to higher level labs to check for lab bias.

Data from both the Company's and the labs' QA/QC programs are reviewed on a timely basis by project geologists.

Ruijin Jiang, P. Geo, reviewed the exploration data and prepared the scientific and technical information regarding exploration results contained herein. Mr. Guoliang Ma, P.Geo., Manager of Exploration and Resource of the Company, is the Qualified Person for Silvercorp under NI 43-101 and has reviewed and given consent to the technical information contained in this news release.

About Silvercorp

Silvercorp is a low-cost silver-producing Canadian mining company with multiple mines in China. The Company’s vision is to deliver shareholder value by focusing on the acquisition of under developed projects with resource potential and the ability to grow organically. For more information, please visit our website at www.silvercorp.ca.

For further information

Lorne Waldman
Senior Vice President
Silvercorp Metals Inc.

Phone: (604) 669-9397
Toll Free: 1(888) 224-1881
Email: investor@silvercorp.ca
Website: www.silvercorpmetals.com

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