Titan Minerals Ltd (ASX:TTM, OTC:TTTNF) earlier this week reported further extensional and infill drilling results from its Dynasty Gold Project in southern Ecuador as the company works towards an updated mineral resource and scoping study in the first quarter of next year.
CEO Melanie Leighton said the latest results continued to extend mineralisation at Dynasty, highlighting an intercept of 16 metres at 2.8 grams per tonne gold and 9.1 grams per tonne silver. She said the result represented an additional 30-metre step-out on one particular lode and sat outside the current resource.
Leighton also pointed to a series of infill results from within the existing resource, with broad mineralised zones of around 15 to 20 metres and grades reaching approximately 2.6 to 2.8 grams per tonne. She described these as “solid wide zones of mineralization” and said the drilling had the potential to add mineralisation while also upgrading resource categorisation in areas targeted by infill work.
The results followed another intercept reported the previous week of just over 33 metres at 6.6 grams per tonne gold and 55 grams per tonne silver. Leighton said that intercept was also extensional and sat outside the current resource.
Titan Minerals is now working to expand its resource extension and infill drilling programs to around 30,000 metres between now and the end of the year, with activity potentially continuing into January.
Leighton said the company was aiming to deliver a resource update in Q1 next year and then incorporate the expanded and upgraded resource into the scoping study already underway. Both the resource update and scoping study are targeted for the same quarter.
Near-term catalysts include further assay results, continued extensional and infill drilling, and the planned addition of an RC rig in October. Four diamond rigs are already operating at Dynasty.
Leighton said Titan Minerals had “really ramped up our drilling operations on site” in an effort to capture as much additional mineralisation as possible in the next resource update. She said the RC rig would enable the company to test new extensions and more exploratory areas more quickly and cheaply, with successful targets then available for follow-up diamond drilling.
The combination of continuing drill results, the expanded program and the Q1 resource and scoping-study milestones gives investors several operational developments to monitor over the coming months.
Interview highlights
- Titan Minerals reported an extensional intercept of 16 metres at 2.8 grams per tonne gold and 9.1 grams per tonne silver, providing an additional 30-metre step-out on one lode at the Dynasty Gold Project.
- The latest drilling also included infill results, with broad mineralised zones of around 15 to 20 metres and grades of up to approximately 2.6 to 2.8 grams per tonne.
- The 30-metre extension sits outside the current resource, while other holes reported in the latest announcement were drilled within the existing resource.
- The results follow a previously announced intercept of just over 33 metres at 6.6 grams per tonne gold and 55 grams per tonne silver, also outside the current resource.
- Titan Minerals is expanding its extensional and infill drilling program to around 30,000 metres through the end of the year and potentially into January.
- An updated mineral resource and the Dynasty Gold Project scoping study are both targeted for the first quarter of next year.
- Four diamond rigs are currently operating, with an RC rig expected to join the fleet in October.
- The RC rig is intended to test new extensions and more exploratory areas quickly and at lower cost before successful targets are followed up with diamond drilling.
- Further assays and ongoing drilling provide a continuing flow of potential news ahead of the planned Q1 milestones.
Proactive: Titan Minerals has extended the wide, high-grade gold-silver mineralisation at its Dynasty Gold Project in southern Ecuador. To discuss the latest results from extensional drilling, I’m joined by CEO Melanie Leighton. Melanie, good to see you.
Melanie Leighton: Great to be here. Thanks.
Proactive: It’s good to have you. Let’s first talk about these latest results. Talk us through them and what they mean for the project.
Melanie Leighton: The latest results effectively just keep delivering more and more extensions to the mineralisation at Dynasty. We’ve just delivered a result of 16 metres at 2.8 grams per tonne gold and 9.1 grams per tonne silver. That effectively gives us an additional 30-metre step-out on this one particular lode.
Outside of that, there were a number of infill results delivered in our most recent announcement as well. We’re seeing very broad zones, in the realms of around 15 to 20 metres in width, at up to around 2.6 to 2.8 grams per tonne. They’re solid, wide zones of mineralisation that will be additional to the current resource and will also provide an upgrade in terms of categorisation from the infill results. So, really pleasing.
Proactive: I just want to talk about that a little bit more. That Brecha-Comanche mineralisation sits outside the current resource as well?
Melanie Leighton: The 30-metre extension does sit outside the current resource, but the other holes were infill results from within the resource. So there’s a mix of both extensional and infill results. But the 16 metres at 2.8 grams per tonne was certainly an extensional result.
Proactive: The resource update and scoping study are due next year. How do these results fit into all of that?
Melanie Leighton: These results are in addition to a result that we put out last week of a little over 33 metres at 6.6 grams per tonne gold and 55 grams per tonne silver. They certainly are extensional and they do sit outside the current resource.
Effectively, what we’re doing between now and the end of the year, or pushing potentially into January, is expanding our resource extensional and infill drill programs to about 30,000 metres.
What we’re aiming to do is deliver a resource update in Q1 next year and then dovetail that expanded and upgraded resource into the scoping study that’s currently underway. So the scoping study and resource update are both targeted for Q1 next year.
Proactive: That’s not far away. You’ve got four diamond rigs operating and more assays pending. You’ve said a little bit about what we can expect over the next few months, but take us through what that actually looks like.
Melanie Leighton: You’re right. We’ve really ramped up our drilling operations on site, and that’s with a view to capturing as much of this additional mineralisation as possible in the resource update next year.
We currently have four diamond rigs in operation, and we’re adding an RC rig to the fleet in October. We can use that RC rig to move around and chase some new extensions or more exploratory areas, just to get some early eyes on those areas.
Obviously, it’s a lot cheaper and faster to drill RC, and whatever success we have with that RC rig, we can then follow up with further diamond drilling. Operationally, the team is very busy at the moment.
Proactive: Plenty of news to come and big milestones to look forward to. Melanie, thanks for your time this morning, and we’ll chat again as the news unfolds.
Melanie Leighton: Thanks, Jonathan. Great to be here.
