CB Gold hits it big in Colombia

Ten kilometres south of the rich La Bodega and La Mascota gold deposits in northeast Colombia – acquired by Eike Batista’s EBX Group earlier this year in its $1.5-billion takeover of Ventana Gold – CB Gold (CBJ-V) has drilled into a new gold zone with similar high grades.

Drill hole 11-046 from the company’s Vetas gold project returned 115 metres grading 7.57 grams gold per tonne from a previously untested portion of the Real Minera stockwork zone, including a 41-metre section grading 17.1 grams gold. 

CB Gold says six holes have been drilled in the area so far with pending assays from five of the holes. High-grade gold mineralization in the hole started from a depth of 31 metres, but samples  from deeper sections of the hole, which reached a total depth of 443 metres, are still in the lab. 

The company notes all six holes contained intercepts of visible gold and were found in the same structural zone.

CB Gold reports the stockwork zone occupies a previously undefined structural corridor that transects the porphyritic-granodiorite intrusive and its host Precambrain gneiss. Gold mineralization is found in stockwork veins and grey quartz-pyrite veins, which coincide with zones of variably intense phyllic alteration and silicification.

The recently discovered mineralization is almost completely oxidized from surface to a depth of 100 metres, indicating a large zone of near-surface material which may be easier to process than deeper sulphide mineralization.

CB’s Vetas project takes its name from Colombia’s Vetas gold district, sitting just to the south of the country’s famed California gold district in the department of Santander. EBX’s 3.5-million-oz. La Bodega project straddles the borders of the two districts while Eco Oro Minerals‘ (EOM-T) 11-million-oz. Angostura gold project lies slightly farther to the north. 

(Eco Oro changed its name from Greystar Resources earlier this year after fierce environmental resistance forced the company to back away from its plans to build a large open-pit mine in the area’s sensitive paramo ecosphere.)

Other nearby explorers in the district include Continental Gold (CNL-T) and Galway Resources (GWY-V).

The Vetas property is home to nine small underground mines and contains several significant high-grade vein systems spread throughout the project. 

Besides the new high-grade area found in the stockwork zone, CB has also discovered porphyry mineralization from drilling earlier this year that returned a 220-metre intercept grading 1.38 grams gold. The company anticipates 35,000 metres of drilling at the property this year with 24,500 metres drilled to date using three rigs. As a result of the recent drilling success, plans to release a maiden National Instrument 43-101 resource in the first quarter of 2012 may be delayed.

CB listed on the TSX Venture Exchange in November 2010 at 45¢ a share, but has 130 million shares outstanding and 167 million fully diluted from its earlier days as a private company. CB’s president Giles Baynham and CEO Fabio Capponi hold 10.8 million shares each. 

The pair previously worked together at Endeavour Financial. Non-executive chairman Peter Barnes, meanwhile, owns 4.3 million shares. He previously acted as chief financial officer of Wheaton River Minerals and as CEO of Silver Wheaton (SLW-T, SLW-N) until earlier this year. Director Hernan Martinez, Colombia’s former Minister of Mines and Energy, holds 1.1 million shares, while vice-president of business development Ana Milena Vasquez owns 3.1 million.

CB’s stock closed up 22¢ to 90¢ on 2.24 million shares traded following the release of the high-grade drill results on Oct. 24. It has a 52-week range of 51¢-$1.54.