November 20, 2014 @ 11:49
AURYN Mining Chile SpA is pleased to announce the results of the third diamond drill hole completed in the current drill campaign that started on October 2nd to explore the Altos de Lipangue project located approximately 30 kilometers northwest of Santiago-Chile. The first stage of the drill program is focused on the evaluation of the Gordon breccia and the potential for a related porphyry copper gold deposit at depth.
L14-21 was drilled 75 meters east of L14-19 and 50 meters north of historical hole L00-18 to test for the continuation to the east of the upper gold rich zone of the Gordon breccia. Historic hole L00-18 had intersected the hydrothermal breccia over a down hole width of 41 meters (313 m – 354 m) that included a reported zone of 0.67 g/t Au, 5.02 g/t Ag and 0.32% Cu across 38 meters (317 m – 355 m).
Recently completed hole L14-21 intersected the up dip section of the breccia over a 25 meter interval that is about 180 meters below the surface. This is a very positive result because it indicates that the breccia tops out below the surface and is therefore open to the east where it is not apparent in surface outcrop. The results from L14-21 are tabulated below and shown graphically on the accompanying cross section along with the reported intervals in L00-18.
The breccia structure was intersected in the 25 meter wide interval between 215 meters and 240 meters. The first 13.5 meters (215 m -228.5 m) was characterized by strong crustiform quartz veining with up to 6% pyrite + chalcopyrite mainly filling cavities. The following 11.5 meters (228.5 m – 240 m) was crackle breccia with up to 15% pyrite and patches of chalcopyrite in the matrix. The first two 7.0 meter wide gold bearing zones (169 m – 176.0 m and 183.0 m – 190.0 m) are associated with quartz-pyrite veinlet zones in the propylitically altered hanging wall granodiorite. It is probable that the breccia zone is plunging to the southeast and L14-21 intersected the upper part of the epithermal system.
The eastern continuity of the upper gold rich zone of the breccia was confirmed by hole L14-21 and warrants follow up drilling from the two platforms that have been constructed at 50 meters and 100 meters further to the east. The dip of the holes will be adjusted to hit the zone progressively deeper as we go east to take into account the southeastern plunge that is apparent from the drilling to date.
Hole L14-22 is located 150 meters south of L14-21 (on the same section as L00-18 and L00-14) and is the first of the series of deeper holes (+ 500 meters) that will test the copper rich lower portion of the breccia and search for a potential underlying porphyry. The drilling has been very slow due to a couple of very difficult faults. The first fault was intersected at 340.7 meters and continued to about 345 meters. There was a 1.0 meter section of massive to semi-massive sulfide (pyrite with about 10% chalcopyrite) in the immediate hanging wall and considerable brecciated quartz/sulfide fragments in the fault zone. The hole was cased off with HQ at 345 meters and drilling continued with the smaller NQ size. The evidence suggests that the fault had been mineralized by quartz+sulfides and then had been re-activated. The 7.0 meter section 338.5 m – 345.5 m) averaged 3.12 g/t Au, 34.71 g/t Ag and 0.57% Cu with the 1 meter massive sulfide section (339.5 m – 340.5 m) assaying 19.31 g/t Au, 198.00 g/t Ag and 3.66% Cu.
A second even more troublesome zone of intense fracturing and faulting started at about 405 meters and continued to 416 meters with the worst part from 412 to 416 meters. The gouge is a mixture of intense clay and small quartz/pyrite veinlet fragments with grains of chalcopyrite. When it became impossible to continue with NQ we decided to ream down with the HQ from 345 meters where it had previously been stopped. It was possible to reach 413 meters with the HQ before caving from the fault zone impeded further progress and the HQ was cased off. Drilling was restarted with NQ and the hole reached 419.2 meters before it became impossible to continue. Although the fault ended at about 416 meters the foot wall is advanced argillic-phyllic altered (sericite-quartz-clay) granodiorite and drilling continued to be very difficult because the rock was soft and continued to cave into the hole. Several attempts were made to advance the HQ but they proved unproductive and the hole was abandoned on Nov. 19.
A twin hole will be started immediately from the same platform at an azimuth of 340° and inclination of – 75°. This time, PQ size rods will be used to start the hole which will give a much better chance of passing the bad ground associated with the fault at 412 to 416 meters with HQ and to continue drilling with NQ. The top contact of the target breccia zone is projected to be at about 460 meters. The intense porphyry-style alteration encountered below the fault in the first attempted hole is a very positive result and is strong encouragement to use every technique available to continue testing this area at depth.
The samples from L14-21 and L14-22 were obtained by sawing the core and bagging one half for delivery to the Andes Analytical Assay laboratory in Santiago-Chile. The assaying procedure included ICP determination of the values for 33 elements plus Fire Assay to determine the values for gold. Standards, blanks and duplicates were routinely added to ensure compliance with QA/QC protocols.
This release was prepared and approved by David Bent, Exploration Manager for AURYN Mining Chile SpA who is a registered P. Geo (Nova Scotia) as well as a member of the Colegio de Ingenieros del Peru.
