Long intercept boosts Sunward

A strong intercept for Sunward Resources (SWD-V) helped increase confidence in the magnitude of a porphyry body at its Titiribi project in Colombia, and as a result the Vancouver-based company saw its share price climb.

Sunward announced a drill hole with two separate and strong intervals: 263.1 metres grading 0.86 grams gold and 0.33% copper, which extended from 412 metres to 675.1 metres, and 0.34 grams gold and 0.12% copper, which extended from the surface down to 298.5 metres.

“The results…confirm our belief that the Cerro Vetas porphyry extends considerably deeper than previously identified,” Philip O’Neill, Sunward’s chief executive said in a statement. “Perhaps more importantly, the discovery of the higher-grade zone assaying 1.17 grams gold and 0.38% copper is a critical development for the advancement of the Titiribi project.”

In Toronto on Aug. 10 Sunward shares were up 8% or 5¢ to 70¢ on 23,000 shares traded.

The significance of the hole is also bolstered by its proximity to another hole the company assayed a few months ago. The earlier hole, which sits 50 metres from the most recent, returned 340.25 metres grading 0.46 grams gold and 0.14% copper.

Sunward says is drilling two new holes as part of its 10,000 metre drill program.

In May, Sunward put out a resource estimate for Cerro Vetas – which is what it is calling the mineralized body on the property. That estimate put 230 million tonnes in the inferred category averaging grade of 0.5 grams gold and 0.2% copper.

It says mineralization at the project is hosted within a number of porphyry stocks and porphyritic dykes and sills and is likely related to extensive alteration.

Sunward’s work on the property is by no means the first. Including historic drilling, over 22,000 metres have been drilled at the project. Roughly 14,600 of those metres were drilled by Gold Fields (GFI-N, GOF-L) and Windy Knob Resources, while the remaining 8,100 metres were drilled by Sunward itself.

The project is situated roughly 70 km southwest of Medellin in Colombia’s Antioquia Department – and area that produced between 3 and 5 million historical ounces of gold.