Arequipa enlarges surface area of gold zone

Test-pitting at the Pierina property in the northern Peruvian province of Ancash has enlarged the surface area of a potential ore-grade gold zone.

In a second phase of sampling, Arequipa Resources (TSE) completed 27 pits, each to a 2-metre depth. While 15 of the pits encountered mineralization grading less than 1 gram gold per tonne, 12 of them averaged 3.64 grams.

A zone of disseminated gold mineralization was previously defined over an area measuring 500 by 150 metres (75,000 sq. metres), by 14 pits averaging a grade of 9.47 grams gold and 33.8 grams silver. The sampling results from the second phase of pitting have increased the size of the potential ore-grade zone to 253,000 sq. metres.

As well, a 50-metre tunnel, being driven to provide information on the geology and test mineralization at depth, has averaged 3.66 grams gold over its present depth of 14 metres. Results are consistent with a nearby pit that assayed 3.6 grams.

Arequipa plans to continue to stepout on the mineralized zone with more test pitting, as well as to test anomalous outcrops 1.5 km farther south.

Drilling is expected to begin in late April or early May, after the end of the rainy season and following construction of a 5-km access road.