Etruscan confirms good grades in Mali

Results from Etruscan Resources‘ (EET-T) first two rotary air blast (RAB) holes confirm what earlier augur drilling hit upon at its Diba project in Mali.

Highlights from the holes include: 48 metres grading 5.2 grams gold per tonne, including 6 metres of 23.8 grams gold per tonne; and 51 metres of 11.8 grams per tonne gold including 4.5 metres of 112.8 grams gold.

Etruscan says both of the holes end in mineralization.

Midday in Toronto on Tuesday the company’s shares were up roughly 15%, or 49 to $3.84 on roughly 470,000 shares.

The company says hole MIRA06-01 was drilled vertically to test mineralization encountered by the auger hole which averaged 12.6 grams per tonne gold over 12 metres and ended in mineralization at a vertical depth of 30 metres. Etruscan announced those results on June 5.

The hole was drilled to a vertical depth of 63 metres.

Hole MIRA06-02 was drilled to a depth of 69 metres at an inclination of 60 to the west with the aim of testing high-grade mineralization.

Etruscan is trying to delineate the extent of mineralization at Diba with the current program and says additional results are expected shortly.

“While the geology and controls on mineralization have yet to be determined, there is no question that we have some very exciting grades here and we have again ended in mineralization,” Don Burton, Etruscan’s vice president of exploration and chief operating officer, said in a release.

Burton went on to say he believes it to be a large deposit with multiple high-grade zones dipping to the east.

While the RAB program is being used to help determine areas of high grade mineralization, Burton says core drilling is under consideration as it would help to determine the true thickness of the deposit and give a clearer picture of the geology.

The company says gold mineralization has been confirmed in saprolite by auger drilling over an area measuring 2.5 kilometers in length and 300 to 500 metres in width.

Etruscan is a diversified Canadian junior mining company positions in a number of gold belts covering over 8,400 sq. km in five countries in West Africa. It also holds a dominant land position in the Ventersdorp alluvial diamond district in South Africa.