Minera IRL (AIM:MIRL, TSX:IRL) has found "substantial near surface gold and silver mineralisation" at the Escondido project in Patagonia.
The exploration target is an extension of neighbouring Calandria Sur discovery owned by Mariana Resources (LON:MARL).
The combined strike length of the Escondido and Calandria Sur mineralized breccia system controlled by the two companies now exceeds one kilometre.
Minera had previously said there were gold and silver outcrops in the area and the current drilling programme has uncovered the precious metals very close to the surface.
This allows for the possibility of developing Escondido as a “bulk tonnage” operation.
Ten of the 11 holes of the scout drilling programme in the Northern Breccia Zone hit “substantial zones of mineralised breccias”, Minera revealed.
The best intersections were:
• E-D10-02, which at just over 25 metres averaged 1.45 grams of gold per tonne and 9.62 grams of silver per tonne.
• E-D10-03, which was 100 metres and averaged 1.19 grams per tonne of gold and 7.77 grams of silver.
• E-D10-07, which averaged 0.65 grams of gold per tonne along 120.4 metres and 5.7 grams of silver.
Chairman Courtney Chamberlain is naturally delighted by such a significant find.
"We are very excited with the results of this first round of drilling at Escondido which has demonstrated substantial, near surface intersections of gold and silver mineralisation with a strike length exceeding 600 meters,” he said.
"This indicates the potential for a bulk tonnage development opportunity".
"While the Mariana team discovered this precious metal mineralised system, the Minera drilling is a credit to our exploration team and represents a significant discovery on our ground.
It has only been six months since work commenced on Escondido and the exploration programme has advanced rapidly including geological mapping, surface geochemical sampling, geophysical investigations and scout drilling.”
The market welcomed the news and 8.30 am the shares were up 7.5p or 11 per cent at 75p.