Vancouver — After a short drilling hiatus, in observance of the Vietnamese new year (Tet),
The junior began exploring the property in October 1998; it has a 57.2% interest, with the remainder held by
Phuoc Son covers a Paleozoic-aged subduction zone that consists of volcanic-sedimentary greenschist rocks intruded by granitic and dioritic intrusives and ultramafic rocks. The project is 10 km northwest of the provincial town of Kham Duc, in northwestern Quang Nam province, and comprises about 100 sq. km of prospective terrain. It is accessible by a highway roughly 140 km west of Danang.
Exploration to date has identified extensive stream-sediment geochemical anomalies and delineated three major fault-share structures associated with extensive quartz veining, base metal sulphides and gold-silver mineralization. Olympus believes the mineralization represents a structurally controlled mesothermal deposition of metal-rich hydrothermal fluids that are related to post-metamorphic granitic and dioritic intrusive events.
The project hosts at least three major north-trending structures, dubbed Dak Sa, K7 and Khe Rin. These structures have been extensively sampled and partially mined on surface by artisanal miners. The three major associated shear zones provide a cumulative strike-length of more than 10 km. Most of Olympus Pacific’s work to date has focused on the Dak Sa shear. This structure dips to the west at angels of minus 15 to minus 50 and has been traced for a distance of about 4 km.
The Dak Sa prospect features shear-hosted gold and base-metal sulphide mineralization in dilational quartz veins and brecciated greenschist wall rocks. Since 1996, more than 100,000 oz. gold has been produced from the Dak Sa area by small-scale open-pit and underground artisan mining. Generally, the quartz veins measure up to 5 metres thick.
The highest grades appear to occur in shoots up to about 400 metres wide. Profile channel-sampling of underground pillars and grab sampling of ore stockpiles have revealed that oreshoot gold grades are commonly in the range 25 to 30 grams gold per tonne. Representative underground channel samples (in Bai Dat, shaft 11) averaged 25.7 grams gold, 28.7 grams silver, 1.66% lead and 1.3% zinc over the entire 3-metre roof-to-floor exposure. Preliminary metallurgical tests indicate that most of the gold and silver is free-milling (recoverable by simple gravity circuits) and not associated with any deleterious elements.
Olympus Pacific has completed 7,000 metres of drilling at Phuoc Son and partially delineated two separate shoots of high-grade gold-silver-lead-zinc mineralization at Bai Dat and Bai Go. These shoots lie about 1,000 metres apart within the Dak Sa Shear structure. Both shoots remain open down-dip. The sections of the structure on-strike, between the shoots and north of Bai Go, have yet to be drill-tested.
In the Bai Dat area of the Dak Sa shear structure, about 32 diamond drill holes (4,200 metres) have outlined a northwest-southeast-trending shoot of high-grade gold-silver mineralization. The gold is hosted in a single quartz-vein breccia unit underneath a marble unit. The weighted average intersection of 18 drill holes from the Bai Dat area is 3.78 metres grading 21.76 grams gold and 24.71 grams silver per tonne, plus 1.67% lead and 1.24% zinc. The highest-grade hole, no. 21, cut 3.7 metres grading 45.81 grams gold, 18.86, grams silver, 1.35% lead and 1.69% zinc.
A preliminary in-house resource estimate based on 15 holes places the Bai Dat zone at 228,000 tonnes grading 23.62 grams gold, 22.82 grams silver, 1.07% lead and 1.07% zinc.
At the Bai Go prospect, about 1 km north of the Bai Dat prospect, mineralization is associated with multiple quartz veins measuring up to 32 metres in true thickness within the Dak Sa shear zone. To date, about 20 holes, or 2,700 metres of drilling, have tested the Bai Go and nearby Bai Chuoi prospects. All 20 holes intersected mineralization; however, 14 of these cut intervals grading in excess of 1 gram gold over widths greater than half a metre. The weighted average of these 14 holes tallies to 8.24 grams gold, 10.33 grams silver, 1.04% lead and 0.1% zinc over an average width of 5.67 metres. The results delineate a northeast-southwest-trending structural corridor that remains open to the southwest. The highest-grade hole in the Bai Go prospect cut 9.15 metres grading 34.95 grams gold, 98.96 grams silver, 7.41% lead and 0.22% zinc.
Highlights of the most recent drill results from Bai Go are as follows:
– Hole 61 cut 22 metres grading 5.76 grams gold per tonne, 7.55 grams silver per tonne, 0.73% lead and 0.29% zinc starting at a down-hole depth of 115 metres. The intersection included a 12-metre section of 9.71 grams gold, 9.5 grams silver and 0.91% zinc, as well as a 3-metre interval of 21.32 grams gold, 25 grams silver and 2.39% zinc.
– Hole 62 cut 0.6 metres grading 2.78 grams gold, 8 grams silver and 0.3% lead starting at 88.6 metres down-hole. Farther down-hole, at 99.35 metres, a 1.4-metre section cut 13.63 grams gold, 14.5 grams silver, 1.81% lead and 0.01% zinc.
Results from these holes indicate that the high-grade shoot at Bai Go continues to the southwest. Two other holes, 63 and 64, were drilled farther to the southwest, and assays are pending. At Bai Go, two rigs are currently drilling stepout holes along strike and down-dip.
At the Bai Gio prospect, about 700 km northeast of the Bai Go area, Olympus Pacific reports that a shoot of high-grade gold mineralization is inferred from underground vein exposures in artisan workings. Channel sampling of the pillars and working faces returned values of up to 100 grams gold per tonne. The company has commissioned a third rig to test the down-dip extension of these high-grade workings.
Another prospective target is the K7 shear zone, which represents a major north-south-trending structure that hosts a series of outcrops and artisan mine workings over a distance of 6 km. The zone dips to the west at minus 40 to minus 75. Exploration to date has focused on two prospects, namely K7 and Hoa Son.
The K7 prospect is 3 km northwest of the Bai Go prospect and represents a hydrothermally altered fault or shear zone sandwiched between albite-actinolite schist and quartz-sericite and garnet-mica schists.
Of the 30 rock and channel samples taken to date, 15 contain gold grades ranging from 0.02 to 0.34 gram, eight assayed 0.66-2.86 grams gold, and seven returned 3.18-96.2 grams gold.
Artisanal mining is ongoing at the Hoa Son prospect, 2 km south of K7. Geologically, the zone is said to be similar to K7, though the dip of the host rocks is not as steep. Two grab samples collected from this area returned 0.14 gram gold and 2.12 grams gold.
The Khe Rin shear zone is 3 km northwest of the K7 prospect. It features groups of mineralized outcrops and mine workings and appears to have a strike length of about 6 km. The zone trends in a north-southerly direction and generally dips steeply to the west. Exploration has been limited to preliminary reconnaissance mapping and sampling. Forty-one chip and channel samples have been collected from various artisan workings, and, of those assayed, 25 returned values less than 0.1 gram gold, seven ranged from 0.1 to 1 gram, four yielded 1.12-3.28 grams, and four assayed 5.89-17.7 grams gold.
Other prospective targets on the Phuoc Son property include the Bo and Tra Long prospects.
The Bo is 1 km northeast of the Bai Gio prospect, and work to date indicates that the target contains at least one high-grade vein. The host rock is described as undifferentiated schist, and the vein appears to dip steeply to the west. Artisan mine workings show that the vein varies from 0.5 to 1.5 metres in thickness and exhibits a pinch-and-swell character. Twenty-three rock samples have been collected from the Bo prospect, with the best one assaying 38.47 grams gold per tonne.
Work at the Tra Long showing, 2 km northwest of Bo, has outlined a northeast-trending zone of mineralization hosted within an actinolite-albite and albite-quartz schist sequence. The host rocks generally dip to the west at minus 40 to minus 60. Artisan miners have focused on thin sulphide-bearing quartz veins measuring up to 0.3 metre thick. Thirteen rock samples were collected from the Tra Long prospect, with the best assaying 23.5 grams gold.
Olympus Pacific will spend about $340,000 on a 4,000-metres drill program, to be completed by July.
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