Odin Mining & Exploration (ODN-V) has received promising assays from the first three holes drilled at its Marcia gold property in southwestern Ecuador.
Hole 2 intersected 29.92 metres from surface, grading 1.46 grams gold per tonne, before being lost in mineralization; hole 7 intersected 24.61 metres of 0.9 gram; and hole 8 was oxidized to 79 metres from surface, grading 0.85 gram.
The program tested the southwestern section of the Sacachispas gold-arsenic soil anomaly, which is 1,500 metres long, reaches a width of 400 metres and is open along strike. Ten holes were drilled in the recent program, which spanned 1,238 metres.
Odin’s target at the 2,915-ha property, situated in El Oro province, is a large-tonnage gold deposit amenable to heap-leach extraction.
Drilling indicates that the oxidized gold-arsenic zones are locally continuous to a depth of 90 metres, and potentially economic gold grades were reported from several holes drilled in the oxidized zones.
The Sacachispas anomaly occurs where major east-northeast-trending shear zones intersect north-northwest-trending faults. Odin says drill results confirm that oxidized, gold-bearing zones are controlled by steep fracture systems in the anomaly.
Meanwhile, at the 1,890-ha Guayabo property, in the same province, Odin has budgeted $1.6 million for drilling in the current year. The property contains bonanza-grade epithermal gold mineralization in silicic breccias and veins, with economic grades over true widths of up to 20 metres.
Farther to the north, in the central province of Cotopaxi, drilling is in progress at the 6,273-ha Ximena property, where, in 1996, the company produced 29,000 oz. of alluvial gold from the Estero Hondo deposit.
Odin expects to have produced more than 80,000 oz. of alluvial gold at Ximena by the end of 1997. It is looking for the hard-rock source, the primary target being a gold skarn containing a minimum of 1 million oz. gold. About $2 million will be spent on exploration there this year.
In other news, Odin has accepted Cambior’s (CBJ-T) offer to joint-venture the 159,680-ha Plateado prospect, in southeastern Ecuador.
Cambior can earn up to 60% on one or more of the property’s three mining blocks by spending US$2 million within 18 months, spending US$3.3 million on each of the blocks selected by Cambior within two years, and paying US$3.3 million for each block Cambior selects to continue exploring.
Cambior must also complete a bankable feasibility study on each of the blocks it selects within seven and a half years of the signing of the joint-venture agreement.
Plateado contains several highly anomalous areas, with concentrations of gold, copper, arsenic and molybdenum in stream sediments, large zones of silicification and alteration, and outcrops of gold-mineralized breccias and veins.
Field work during the joint venture’s first 18 months will include an airborne geophysical survey over the entire property.
Vancouver-based Odin has $2.9 million in working capital and 38.2 million shares outstanding.
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