Gitennes pins hopes on Virgen gold property

Although it is still in the early stage of being explored, the Virgen property in north-Central Peru is already attracting attention as a gold discovery of some significance.

Over the next four years, Gitennes Exploration (GIT-A) has the option of acquiring a 100% interest in the 3,000-ha property by spending US$1.5 million on exploration and making staged payments totalling US$800,000. The project, situated an hour’s drive south of here, consists of several zones of mineralization; on one of these, drilling and surface work have succeeded in outlining a low-grade, large-Tonnage epithermal gold prospect.

The target zone, dubbed Rio Suro after the river that runs through it, has been outlined for nearly 700 metres along a north-south strike length. The structure extends to a maximum depth of 180 metres and has an average width of 150 metres.

Gold grades reported from extensive surface sampling and limited drilling have consistently been above 0.3 gram per tonne and have reached as high as 21 grams in surface chips.

Gitennes first visited the property in February 1996, after the company’s scout geologist in Peru learned of it from a concentrate dealer. Several chip samples were then taken, one of which averaged 2.51 grams over 100 metres.

Upon realizing it had discovered a gold showing that had already been fully explored (Battle Mountain Gold worked the property in the early 1990s but had to pull out because of terrorist activities in the region), Gitennes quickly ironed out a deal with the local land owner. By August, the company had formed a Peruvian subsidiary and secured the rights to three core claims covering 1,900 ha, which have since been expanded to the current land position.

Indirectly involved in the project is Teck (TEK-T), which, last December, entered into a private placement with Gitennes worth $4.2 million. The transaction included 1 million units of Gitennes priced at $4.20 per unit; each unit was equivalent to one share and one non-Transferable purchase warrant.

.SGeology

Gold mineralization at Rio Suro is hosted in brecciated and highly fractured rocks of the massive Chimu quartz arenite formation. The mineralized bodies are parallel to the bedding planes of the massive quartzites and dip steeply to the east. The zone strikes north-south and is bounded to the east by the Alumbre fault. A veneer of Tertiary-Age dacitic volcanics occurs east of the fault and is, in turn, bounded to the west by another fault, on the other side of which again occurs the Chimu formation.

Gold is fine-grained and associated with quartz, hematite, goethite and rare pyrite. There is also a geochemical association with silver, mercury, arsenic, antimony and bismuth.

Although the company’s understanding of the zone is incomplete, Gitennes President Jerry Blackwell informs The Northern Miner that the company was able to assess the initial technical and theoretical aspects of the project.

“The zone has a relief of 100 metres, so we were able to sample it at the tail-end of the spur and right up to the top, thereby getting a good feel for its three-dimensional nature just from the surface,” says Blackwell. “As well, we were able to sample at different elevations along the zone’s length, which determined that the body was mineralized throughout.”

On the eastern side of the fault contact, the volcanics are overprinted by a very strong high-sulphidation epithermal alteration zone.

“The quartzite bodies have been acted on by the same Tertiary fluids, and we see a lot of potential in the volcanics,” explains Blackwell. “We are really in a geologically grey area between what is a classic sediment-hosted environment and a classic volcanic-hosted epithermal system.” Gold values vary within the zone but tend to increase towards the fault contact. To date, the highest grade received from surface chip sampling is 21.01 grams over 25.1 metres. The sample was taken along a road cut across the southern portion of the zone, near the contact. Several metres farther east along the same road cut, a 23.7-Metre chip sample averaged 2.75 grams.

About 100 metres northeast of this road cut, a 130.4-Metre surface interval, which was taken near the north-south fault contact, averaged 2.92 grams. This sample partly overlapped the original surface sample of 100 metres of 2.51 grams reported above.

In the northern portion of the zone, near the fault contact, the best surface sample returned 19.22 grams over 20.6 metres. About 20 metres northwest of that location, 21 chip samples taken over a 75-Metre-by-65-Metre area averaged 1.98 grams.

.SFirst phase

In Gitennes’ first phase of drilling, completed last April, nine holes tested the northern and southern portions of the zone. The company attempted to drill 13 holes, but six were either abandoned or not sampled owing to low core recoveries, a problem which has plagued drilling from the start.

Core recoveries in the first five holes drilled ranged from 60% to 80%. The holes were drilled from the same setup to assess the northern portion of the zone in several directions, with the holes collared just a few metres west of the 75-by-65-Metre area sampled on surface.

Hole 1 was drilled to the southeast and had virtually no core recovery for the first 21.7 metres. From 21.7 to 36.3 metres, the hole averaged 3.24 grams gold per tonne but was cut short at 36.3 metres because of stuck drill rods.

Hole 2 twinned hole 1 and, like that hole, recovered no core for the first 21 metres. However, core recovery was sufficient for assaying from 21.3 to 76.5 metres and averaged 1.11 grams, including 2.09 grams over the first 11.2 metres of core length. The hole was abandoned at 76.5 metres.

Hole 3 started with zero core recovery for the first 14.1 metres but picked up for the next 90.2 metres. The average of that interval was 1.55 grams. For the next 25 metres, core recovery was less than 5%.

Similar experiences were reported for holes 4 and 5, which were drilled in a northwesterly and easterly direction, respectively. From 25.3 to 32 metres, hole 4 averaged 3.65 grams, while hole 5 averaged 1.45 grams gold from 16.4 to 21 metres downhole.

Holes 6 and 7 were drilled about 135 metres north of holes 1 to 5; hole 6 had little to no core recovery; and hole 7 hit a 7.6 interval (from 27.7 to 35.5 metres) of 4.56 grams. The hole was drilled in a west-Northwesterly direction.

The final holes drilled in the first phase were collared to test the southern portion of the zone. Of these holes, 11A and B, 12 and 13 suffered from poor recovery rates. The widths encountered in this zone were wider than those encountered in the northern portion.

Holes 8 to 10 were collared along the direction of the 130-Metre interval taken from surface and were drilled east to west. The best results came from hole 10, which hit 192.5 metres (from 6.1 to 198.6 metres) averaging 3.3 grams, of which the first 41.1 metres graded 14.57 grams.

Hole 8 returned 149.3 metres (from 3 to 152.4 metres) averaging 1.52 grams, including 15.9 metres (from 3 to 19 metres) grading 7.49 grams and 101.19 metres (from 3 to 104.85 metres) averaging 2.16 grams.

Starting at a hole depth of 4.6 metres, hole 9 hit 153 metres of 0.46 gram, including 21.3 metres (from 11 to 32.3 metres) grading 1.23 grams.

Although the final two holes of the program returned anomalous values, core recovery was only in the range of 25% for hole 12, and 35% for hole 13. The holes were collared a little more than 100 metres west and south of hole 8 and drilled in a westerly direction.

.SSecond phase

In April, the company began a second phase of drilling and had progressed to hole 20 by the time The Northern Miner arrived on site.

The hole has since been completed, along with two additional holes. Hole 20 tested the zone’s central portion, about 100 metres southeast of hole 3. It is being drilled from the eastern fault contact to the west. Hole 21 is a 160-Metre stepout to the northeast of hole 3, whereas hole 22 was collared 60 metres southeast of hole 20. Both holes were drilled east to west. In addition, the company has completed sev
en reverse-Circulation infill holes of a planned 20-hole program. The first three of these were spaced closely together to establish a protocol.

To alleviate the problems encountered in the first phase of core drilling, the company has, among other things, switched to a bit size of 2.5 inches (HQ) and is carefully monitoring water ejection. As a result of this, geologists on site say core recovery has improved.

By presstime, results were available from five of the nine core holes completed. Holes 14, 16 and 18 were drilled to test the Rio Suro zone at depth and were collared between 25 and 55 metres east of holes 9 and 10, respectively. Hole 15 was lost before penetrating the zone and was replaced by hole 16.

Hole 14 hit the breccia zone 23 metres beneath hole 8 and returned 93.5 metres (from 47.5 to 141 metres) averaging 2.42 grams, including 16.5 metres (from 54 to 70.5 metres) grading 10.42 grams.

Hole 16 was collared 25 metres northeast of 14 and intersected the breccia zone 39 metres beneath hole 10. It returned 84 metres (from 79.5 to 163.5 metres) averaging 1.33 grams, including 33.4 metres (from 79.5 to 112.9 metres) grading 2.14 grams.

Hole 18 was collared 30 metres north of 16 and returned 1.44 grams over 192.1 metres (from 82 to 170.1 metres), including 1.75 grams over 28.5 metres (from 122.8 to 151.3 metres).

Hole 17, which was stepped-out 68 metres south of hole 8, represents the deepest and most southerly hole drilled to date. The hole hit 122.5 metres (from 83.2 to 205.7 metres) averaging 0.87 gram, of which the first 25.9 metres graded 1.41 grams. The overall interval included an 8.5-Metre section of low core recovery, which averaged 0 gram gold.

Beginning in July, Gitennes hopes to begin driving a 200-Metre-long adit into the middle of the zone. From this, a 2,000-Tonne bulk sample will eventually be collected and sent for metallurgical testing. The adit will also help determine the accuracy of grades reported from drill results.

At present, the company has sent 12- and 20-kg samples for mineralogical and analytical testing. These will be checked for amenability to cyanide leaching, silica encapsulation and carbon mineralization.