Bonanza drilling results from Patagonia Gold’s Cap Oeste project show continuation of strong mineralisation down dip, with a star intersection of 1.18m at 100.8 g/t at the 80m level.
Cap Oeste, one of the portfolio of projects in Argentina’s Santa Cruz province acquired from Barrick Gold in 2007, recently reported a maiden resource of 135,408 ounces of gold and 2.3 million ounces of silver, contained within a high grade shoot known as the Bonanza Fault.
The current drilling programme began in October to infill and expand this high grade deposit, which has a mapped strike length of some 6km NW-SE, and dips moderately to the SW. Assay results from the first 10 holes drilled in this campaign now indicate that the mineralisation continues down-dip to a depth of at least 250 metres, and grades remain robust at depth.
The best overall intersection – hole CO-104-DR – started at 170m depth and delivered 15.25 metres at 6.10 g/t gold and 1,777 g/t silver. Included within this intersection were 8.25 m at 9.73 g/t gold and 2,716 g/t silver. A further intersection of interest is CO-105 (drilled to approximately 205 metres down dip) which is over 25 metres vertically below the previously reported CO-080 which delivered 15.2 metres @ 12.94 g/t gold and 188 g/t silver.
Still open to depth and along strike in both directions, the Bonanza Fault has now been drill-defined for 1.2km of strike, and further drilling is planned to follow up the geophysical survey which has defined the Cap Oeste structure as a strong linear anomaly outside the area of current drilling. Mapping and sampling is continuing along strike, with trenching of the more prominent anomalies.
At Manchuria, some 50 km south of Cap Oeste, the Main Zone gold-silver project is undergoing 3,500 metres of drilling, with further results released today. Again, infilling and expanding the mineralised area has been the priority, and continuity has so far been demonstrated over 250 metres. Drilling thus far indicates a swarm of narrow, epithermal veins hosting high grade gold and silver. Here, the best intersection turned up in LM-030-DR, which from a depth of 127 metres encountered 0.55m at 24.70 g/t gold and 3,660 silver and 3m at 34.77 g/t gold and 3,916 silver inclusive of 2 m grading 51.37 g/t gold and 5,770 g/t silver.
The Main Zone is open to the south and down dip, and surface work suggests potential for the structure to continue for over 2,000 m to the south.