Pangea, Sundust nearing prefeasibility stage at Victoria

Partners Pangea Goldfields (PGD-T) and Sundust Resources (SUN-M) have reached the final stretch of a second phase of drilling at their Victoria polymetallic property in Peru.

Pangea, which is managing the program, has completed 5,000 metres of a 7,000-metre program aimed at delineating the Atenea, Pucamina and Zone 4 structures. Once finished, the company will calculate the tonnage and grade of each zone as part of an upcoming prefeasibility study.

Results were recently reported from 11 holes that intersected gold, silver, copper, lead and zinc mineralization. Of those, hole 52, drilled in the Atenea zone, returned the widest interval, namely, 9.65 metres (starting at a depth of 44.8 metres) grading 8.6 grams gold and 76.04 grams silver per tonne, 1.65% copper, 0.29% lead and 0.57% zinc. Hole 53, also drilled in the Atenea zone, returned the lowest of the reported gold values, in a 2.1-metre intersection (starting at 286.65 metres) grading 0.14 gram gold, 54.24 grams silver, 2.2% copper, 0.01% lead and 0.09% zinc.

The highest gold grade came from hole 40, which was collared on the Zone 4 structure. That hole returned 5.2 metres grading 15.82 grams gold, 36.37 grams silver, 0.98% copper, 0.29% lead and 0.17% zinc, starting at 66.6 metres downhole.

Drilling on the Pucamina zone included hole 43, which hit three separate intervals: 7.7 metres (145.9-153.6 metres) averaging 2.63 grams gold, 2.97 grams silver, 0.02% copper, 0.18% lead and 0.34% zinc; 4.85 metres (184.4-189.25 metres) grading 1.48 grams gold, 21.18 grams silver, 0.17% copper, 0.47% lead and 0.09% zinc; and 4 metres (194-198 metres) grading 6.65 grams gold, 3.88 grams silver, 0.05% copper, 0.11% lead and 0.27% zinc.

Pangea also reports that high gold recovery rates were obtained from composite drill-core samples from the three zones. Metallurgical testing of a sample from the Pucamina zone showed a maximum of 65% of the gold could be recovered using gravity separation alone, whereas gravity separation followed by sulphide flotation recovered between 82% and 90% of the gold from samples of the Atenea and Zone 4 structures.

A total of $2.1 million has been budgeted for the Victoria project in 1998.

Sundust will cover its share through an interest-free loan from Pangea. The loan must be repaid by year-end, otherwise Sundust’s interest in the project will be diluted on a pro-rata basis.

Meanwhile, at Pangea’s Sheba property in Tanzania, partner Ashanti Goldfields (AHD.U-T) has outlined two near-surface, gold-bearing horizons underlying a 1,500-by-750-metre surface geochemical anomaly.

Ashanti drilled several rapid-air-blast holes on two fences spaced 500 metres apart. Four of the holes returned significant results, with three of those intersecting one 8-metre interval of mineralization each with gold concentrations varying from 3.38 to 9.85 grams. The fourth hole intersected 16 metres grading 3.48 grams gold.

Pangea says the anomaly remains open to the northeast, where sampling of the laterite soils was prevented by an alluvium cover.

The Sheba property is one of three licences that comprise the Rubondo joint venture. Ashanti can earn a 75% interest in Rubondo by spending US$3 million on exploration, completing a feasibility study and arranging development funding by Oct. 1, 2000.