Sulliden confirms Peruvian gold potential

Drilling on the Las Huaquillas project in northern Peru has confirmed two areas of gold mineralization, reports Quebec-based Sulliden Exploration (SUE-M).

The first phase of work consisted of eight diamond drill holes drilled over 1,360 metres. Five of those holes were drilled on the Los Socavones zone, an area thought to host epithermal-style gold mineralization.

The holes sunk at the Los Socavones zone confirmed results obtained by Peruvian firm Cooperacion Minera Peruano Alemana (CMPA) in 1992. The Peruvian program pegged resources there at 2.6 million tonnes grading 2.69 grams gold and 27 grams silver per tonne, 1.09% zinc, 0.34% lead and 0.18% copper.

Sulliden President Jacques Trottier believes the verification also broadens the potential for increased reserves. “This will be one of the most important projects in Peru in the coming year,” he says.

Holes LH97-03, LH97-05, LH97-07 and LH97-08 were drilled by Sulliden to confirm the grades obtained by CMPA in holes PD-1 to PD-4, as well as to explore the mineralized structure across its complete width.

Hole LH97-06 by Sulliden was drilled to test the western extension of the structure, which CMPA considered closed. Crossing the same stratigraphic section as CMPA holes PD-3 and PD-4, hole LH97-08 intersected 70.5 metres grading 2.59 grams gold and 18.2 grams silver. Hole LH97-07, which was drilled above PD-2, crosscut 42 metres grading 2.05 grams gold and 24.6 grams silver.

Hole LH97-06, which was drilled on an induced-polarization (IP) anomaly that coincides with the Los Socavones zone, intersected 28.5 metres grading 1.09 grams gold and 25.8 grams silver. Sulliden notes, however, that the width and grade of this intercept must be considered minimal, as the hole was collared directly in mineralization.

The anomaly is known to cross the grid for more than 2.1 km along a northeastern axis, indicating that the mineralized structure is open to the northeast and southwest. Underground workings over a horizontal distance of 400 metres and a vertical distance of 200 metres, when combined with the drill data, indicate that the true width of the zone is at least 20 metres.

However, that width reaches 60 metres in hole LH97-08.

Mineralization consists of a stockwork of sulphide veins and veinlets hosted by volcaniclastic and porphyry rocks which are altered either by quartz-sericite or, locally, by advanced argillic alteration, or both.

Those intervals with visual and strong base metal mineralization, particularly sphalerite, consistently returned the highest gold and silver grades. In thin sections, gold is observed in native form as well as electrum, tellurides and as inclusions in pyrite and sphalerite.

Sulliden’s work on the Los Socavones zone indicates that the mineralized structure is not closed, as had been interpreted by CMPA. Rather, it can be followed for more than 2.1 km via trenching, IP and magnetic surveys, and soil geochemistry. In addition, satellite imagery indicates that the structure coincides with a larger, northeasterly-Trending lineament that radiates from a caldera near the property’s northern limit.

Sulliden is preparing to begin a US$1-Million, second phase of exploration, which will consist of more geophysical and geochemical surveys to the northeast and southwest, a mapping program to determine the centre of the porphyry system, and a minimum of 2,000 metres of diamond drilling.

Cementerio zone

Elsewhere on the Las Huaquillas property, Sulliden has confirmed the presence of porphyry-style copper-gold-Molybdenum mineralization at the Cementerio zone through a program of line-cutting, ground geophysical surveys, soil sampling, reconnaissance mapping, trenching and eight diamond drill holes over 1,360 metres.

At Cementerio, an area of widespread argillic alteration at surface, drill holes LH97-01, LH97-02 and LH97-04 intersected highly altered porphyritic andesite and volcaniclastics. From surface to depth, each of the holes intersected typical alteration sequences, including: a thin oxidized zone from 1 to 15 metres; approximately 70 metres of advanced argillic alteration containing disseminated pyrite, chalcopyrite and molybdenite; 50 to 90 metres of leached and silicified hornfels with hydrothermal magnetite patches and up to 10% pyrite, 2% chalcopyrite and trace amounts of molybdenite; and propylitic alteration characterized by epidote patches and calcite veinlets.

The most significant results were recovered from hole LH97-04, which targeted an IP anomaly on the edge of a strongly magnetic zone. That hole intersected (from 55.5 metres to 155 metres) 99.5 metres grading 0.47% copper, 0.11 gram gold and 4.5 grams silver. Intervals with the best copper grades correspond to the richest zones of visible chalcopyrite.

Drilling at Cementerio indicates a zonation of metals and alteration typical of large porphyry systems. That zonation indicates that the central portion of the system is southwest of the drill holes, in a sector with several strong IP anomalies and a soil geochemical anomaly measuring 800 by 300 metres. None of those anomalies has been drilled.

A second phase of field work will include a geological survey on the alteration and metal zonation, as well as diamond drilling over a minimum of 2,000 metres.

In addition, reconnaissance mapping and geochemical soil sampling are planned for the remainder of the 9,800-ha property.

As a result of the success of exploration at Los Socavones and Cementerio, Sulliden has exercised its option to acquire 100% of the property from a Peruvian consortium.