Salazar boasts polymetallic hits at Curipamba

VANCOUVER — After waiting almost two years to resume exploration, Salazar Resources (SRL-V) is wasting no time in working through an 18,000-metre drill program on its Curipamba polymetallic project in Ecuador.

The company has already released a number of results after it started drilling again in July. Salazar’s work had earlier been suspended as part of Ecuador’s 2008 mining moratorium.

The latest three step-out drill results include strong gold, silver, copper, lead and zinc showings from the El Domo anomaly in the Las Naves Central area of the project.

Hole 56 was drilled near the centre of the El Domo anomaly, 50 metres east of hole 48 and 120 metres northwest of hole 46, which were drilled in 2008. Hole 56 cut 16 metres grading 11.32 grams gold per tonne, 195.31 grams silver per tonne, 3.75% copper, 0.93% lead and 8.19% zinc from 55 metres depth.

Step-out hole 54, drilled 120 metres south of hole 46, cut 4.1 metres of 3.03 grams gold, 93 grams silver, 2.3% copper, 1.26% lead and 10.96% zinc from 57 metres downhole.

Hole 55, collared 100 metres east of hole 46, returned 7.2 metres of 1.45 grams gold, 21.04 grams silver, 1.43% copper, 0.06% lead and 0.69% zinc from 48 metres.

“These recent drill holes confirm our belief that the El Domo deposit extends significantly to the south and east,” said Fredy Salazar, president and chief executive of the company, in a statement. “We are very pleased with the drilling to date as all step-out drill holes have intersected mineralization.”

In July, Salazar released the results for holes 52 and 53, drilled east and southeast of hole 46. Hole 52 returned 21.5 metres of 1.87 grams gold, 27.56 grams silver, 1.66% copper and 0.83% zinc from 44.4 metres. Hole 53 cut 7.9 metres averaging 3.52 grams gold, 240.35 grams silver, 4.62% copper, 3.76% zinc and 0.23% lead from 65 metres depth.

El Domo currently hosts an inferred resource of 4.1 million tonnes of 3.49 grams gold, 76.33 grams silver, 2.51% copper, 0.47% lead and 4.55% zinc.

Salazar controls 303 sq. km at its Curipamba project, which is a gold-rich volcanogenic massive sulphide camp. The company recently contracted out initial metallurgical testing on results from the project.

Curipamba sits in western Ecuador, in the Western Mountain range’s Macuchi Group, and is a 2.5- hour drive from the port city of Guayaquil.

The company’s stock price climbed 19¢ just before trading was halted to release the latest results. After trading resumed, the stock climbed a further 17¢ to hit a 52-week high of $1.42 before closing at $1.31.

Salazar announced a $5-million brokered private placement on Aug. 19, the day after releasing its latest results. The company is selling 2.73 million units at $1.10 per unit, with each unit consisting of a share and a half-warrant. Full warrants are redeemable for two years, at $1.50 for the first year and $1.75 for the second. Salazar currently has 33 million shares outstanding.

With the Ecuadorian mining review on Curipamba complete, Salazar has been re-issued its title to its mining concessions for 23 years with a renewable option of another 25 years.

There is, however, still some opposition to the project. A June protest halted work and damaged a drill rig before national police put an end to the protest.

Salazar emphasized in a release that the majority of protesters were not from the area, where the company received more than 90% support during the recent government consultation process.