Partial results from the first diamond drill hole on the Veladero property in Santa Cruz province have returned high grades for
Drill hole DDA-1 cut 31 metres averaging 42.25 grams gold and 42.61 grams silver per tonne, starting at a down-hole depth of 69 metres. Included in this intersection was a 19-metre interval averaging 61.91 grams gold and 50.15 grams silver starting at 81 metres down-hole. These results represent the first 100 metres of the hole, which, at presstime, had reached a depth of 230 metres.
Hole DDA-1 was collared on the same platform as previously reported hole 90 (62 metres averaging 6.15 grams gold and 24.5 grams silver) along the eastern flank of the Amable target.
The drill is angled at minus 55 and points due west. Hole DDA-1 was designed to test the high-grade intersections discovered in holes 90, 80 and 85, which were put down using a reverse-circulation (RC) rig.
Argentina Gold (AG) says the high gold grade reflected in the diamond core samples is due to the conservation of finer materials, especially the oxide-rich crusts that rim open fractures in the hydrothermal breccias.
The results from hole DDA-1 correlate with the section of hole 80 that returned 34 metres grading 10.2 grams gold. This section was collared about 60 metres to the northwest. AG suspects that further diamond drilling will increase the high-grade resource at Amable, and further results from hole DDA-1 are expected shortly.
Following the release of the diamond drill results, AG announced it was recommending that shareholders reject an amended takeover bid by
“The board is resolved to maximizing shareholder value and, given what we have achieved at the Veladero project in such a limited time, Barrick’s latest offer isn’t even close.” said William Rand, chairman of AG’s special committee of directors.
Vincent Borg, Barrick’s vice-president of communications, said he was not surprised by AG’s decision, but added: “We’re confident that their shareholders will respond to the $5 offer.”
AG submitted its limited-duration shareholders’ rights plan to the Vancouver Stock Exchange in mid-January, and the VSE said that, unless the British Columbia Securities Commission decides to intervene, it “would generally not object to the adoption of the rights plan in this circumstance.”
Results from recent RC drilling at the Amable target are as follows:
- hole 103 returned 204 metres averaging 2.78 grams gold and 22.37 grams silver, starting at a down-hole depth of 146 metres. This included a 95-metre interval grading 4.53 grams gold and 28.24 grams silver starting 194 metres down-hole.
The hole was collared 50 metres east of previously reported hole 96 (202 metres of 2.61 grams gold and 21.43 grams silver) and was drilled due west at an angle of minus 75%.
- Hole 102 was collared 50 metres east of previously reported hole 76 (193 metres of 1.49 grams gold and 55.09 grams silver) and intersected 106 metres grading 5.84 grams gold and 61.43 grams silver, starting at a down-hole depth of 39 metres. Included in this interval was a 25-metre intercept that cut 14.5 grams gold and 68.12 grams silver, starting at a depth of 89 metres down-hole.
Results from hole 102 confirm the extension of the high-grade zone (above 5 grams gold per tonne) along the eastern edge of the Amable target. This zone was intercepted by previously reported holes 96, 90, 80 and 92 and correlates with a structure detected by geophysical surveys. AG believes the structure might be a feeder zone for the hydrothermal activity that led to the brecciation and strong mineralization of the Amable target.
- Hole 101 intersected 12 metres averaging 0.4 gram gold and 13.3 grams silver starting at a depth of 131 metres down-hole. This was followed by a 13-metre intercept that averaged 0.53 gram gold and 4.4 grams silver starting at a depth of 191 metres down-hole. Another interval was cut at a depth of 208 metres down-hole; it averaged 0.38 gram gold and 4.57 gram silver over 64 metres.
Hole 101 was collared 50 metres southeast of previously reported hole 84 (12 metres averaging 0.4 gram gold and 13.3 grams silver) and confirms the presence of a west-northwesterly trending fracture system which is believed to offset the southwestern portion of the Amable target. The low-grade mineralization corresponds to a peripheral alteration assemblage containing alunite and weak silica-alunite.
RC holes 105, 106 and 108 at the Amable target have been completed and assay results are pending. All three were designed to test the eastern extension of the target.
Meanwhile, partial results form hole 104 have extended the high-grade zone on the western margin of the Filo Federico target.
- Hole 104 returned 77 metres averaging 3.48 grams gold and 21.18 grams silver, starting at a down-hole depth of 63 metres. The hole was collared 50 metres southwest of previously reported hole 98 (77 metres averaging 3.48 grams gold and 21.18 grams silver) in the area between Filo Federico and the NW target. AG says the hole encountered geology similar to that found at both the Filo Federico and NW targets and provides further evidence of a link between the two mineralized zones.
- RC hole 107 has been completed and assays are pending. The hole was collared 50 metres west of hole 104.
- Hole 109, now in progress, was collared 50 metres southwest of previously reported hole 72.
An updated resource estimate has been calculated for the Filo Federico and NW targets by independent consulting engineers. The estimate does not contain data from hole 104.
The indicated resource at Filo Federico stands at 42.7 million tonnes grading 0.81 gram gold and 25.2 grams silver, equivalent to 1.1 million oz. gold and 34.6 million oz. silver. The inferred portion of the estimate has been pegged at 42.7 million tonnes averaging 0.7 gram gold and 26 grams silver, equivalent to 960,939 oz. gold and 35.7 million oz. silver.
At the NW target, the indicated resource weighs in at 4.4 million tonnes grading 1.43 grams gold and 20.8 grams silver, equivalent to 202,282 oz. gold and 2.9 million oz. silver. The inferred portion of the resource has been set at 3.2 million tonnes grading 1.49 grams gold and 21.4 grams silver, which translates as 153,287 oz. gold and 2.2 million oz. silver.
Watts Griffis & McOuat (WGM) calculated a preliminary resource estimate for the Amable target and separated the estimate into high-grade and low-grade resources. The consulting firm assumed that the high-grade material could be recovered through conventional milling, and the lower-grade material by heap leaching. The estimate encompasses all holes up to, and including, hole 102 but does not include results from DDA-1.
WGM estimates that the high-grade section of Amable has an indicated and inferred resource of 14.3 million tonnes grading 5.07 grams gold and 47.88 grams silver, equivalent to 2.3 million oz. gold and 22 million oz. silver.
The low-grade calculation was estimated to contain an indicated and inferred resource of 8.7 million tonnes grading 1.35 grams gold and 44.02 grams silver, equivalent to 380,000 oz. gold and 12.3 million oz. silver.
All tallied, the resource at Veladero is said to contain 5.1 million gold and about 110 million oz. silver.
At the newly discovered Amable North target, 600 metres north of Amable, the remaining assay results for the first hole, No. 100, are in. The last 11 metres of the hole averaged 1.14 grams gold and 11.02 grams silver and ended in mineralization at a depth of 350 metres down-hole. The total average grade of hole 100 now stands at 1.15 grams gold and 11.7 grams silver over a 91-metre interval. This includes a 44-metre intercept that averaged 1.56 grams gold and 11.82 grams silver. AG has mobilized a third RC rig to the site.
About 8,500 metres have been drilled at Veladero this se
ason, and an additional 8,000 metres have been approved. The program is expected to continue until May.
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