VANCOUVER — Explorer Precipitate Gold (TSXV: PRG; US-OTC: PREIF) is ready to get drills turning at its flagship Juan de Herrera gold project in the Dominican Republic, two years after making its initial discovery at the Ginger Ridge target. The company has been judicious with its cash during the intervening period and its lean markets, and used that time to refine its regional mapping and geological models with more ground magnetics and soil geochemistry.
Previous field programs at Ginger Ridge uncovered a gold-enriched, massive sulphide mineralization zone that has a potential gold exploration strike in excess of 1 km. Precipitate wrapped up a maiden drill program at the target in September 2014, which was highlighted by 18 metres of 4.54 grams gold per tonne from 84 metres deep in discovery hole 5. The intercept was contained within 98 metres of strongly disseminated, semi-massive to massive sulphides.
Precipitate subsequently agreed to a data-sharing and collaboration agreement with Goldquest Mining (TSXV: GQC; US-OTC: GDQMF), which is advancing engineering studies on its multimillion-ounce Romero gold-copper project nearby. The companies will combine exploration databases, including airborne and surface geophysical surveys, geology and alteration mapping, and drill and surface sampling results.
“We’re working along the emerging Tireo gold trend, which hasn’t received a lot of attention historically. We’re talking about fairly benign-looking terrain with limited outcrop, but it has really emerged in the past decade on the back of gold discoveries that now total 5 million ounces. The entire belt we’re looking at here has seen limited systematic exploration,” president and CEO Jeffrey Wilson said during an interview in Vancouver.
Employees work near a drill pad at the Juan de Hererra gold project in the Dominican Republic. Credit: Precipitate Gold.
“We did the initial follow-up geophysics in 2015, but since then we’ve really looked for the capital to go in and drill again. The markets have been pretty tough, and we weren’t interested in diluting ourselves at low share prices. We also felt even if we did the work the market wouldn’t reward us for it.”
Precipitate has spent the past year prospecting and completing grid and ridge-spur soil sampling on “multiple new, anomalously mineralized areas,” which show similar “geochemical and geophysical characteristics to known mineralized zones in the Tireo region.”
Meanwhile, the company funded new induced-polarization (IP) survey work at Ginger Ridge in anticipation of a follow-up drill program. The next stage will involve geophysical surveys on the geochemical anomalies JT, South East, Jengibre South, Peak and Melchor areas.
The company’s gold-copper exploration focus is the Tireo formation volcanic rocks, which reportedly host a variety of mineral occurrences, including: volcanogenic massive sulphide, porphyry-skarn and low- to high-sulphidation epithermal. Mineralization at Ginger Ridge appears to show “characteristics of a volcanogenic massive sulphide model,” and possibly a low-sulphidation epithermal.
“We start with regional airborne surveys, and come down and typically complete ground magnetics. From there we get into induced-polarization, and we’ve done a few different variants on that technology,” Wilson continued. “Right now we’re doing more traditional pole-dipole array work. That initial discovery hole helped us determine we were looking for a signature marked by a chargeability high situated beneath the geochemistry at surface. Our question was always: ‘Is there more of that out there?’”
Highlights of recent geochemical results at the Juan de Hererra gold project in the Dominican Republic. Credit: Precipitate Gold.
On Nov. 7, Precipitate outlined the details of a 2,000-metre drill program at Ginger Ridge that will step out along the projected strike of geophysical and geochemical anomalies hosting the discovery hole.
Initial drill holes will be collared up to 50 metres north and south from hole 5 to test “on-strike gold mineralization coincident with the core of the chargeability high anomalies.” Drilling will then move north to a second high-priority area at Ginger Ridge that has the “strongest IP chargeability readings and most robust surface geochemical soil-rock values.”
“We haven’t been delayed with follow-up drilling at Ginger Ridge due to permitting or any related concerns,” Wilson said. “It’s just that the geophysical gear has been on the site, and it has prevented us from moving in the drill rigs. That work has already wrapped up, and we’ve mobilized the drill rigs and expect to get the program started within the next two weeks.”
Drillers at the Ginger Ridge target at the Juan de Hererra gold project in the Dominican Republic. Credit: Precipitate Gold.
In July, Precipitate closed a $2.6-million non-brokered private placement wherein it issued 10.4 million units. Each unit was priced at 25¢ and entitles the holder to one share and one warrant exercisable at 35¢ for 12 months. The company reported $2.8 million in working capital at the end of August.
The company has traded in a 52-week range of 6¢ to 37¢ per share, and closed at 20¢ at press time. Precipitate has 64 million shares outstanding for an $11-million market capitalization.
“After our most recent financing we have sufficient capital to expand the program if we have success,” Wilson said. “We actually saw a pretty great summer for explorers in terms of the market. It has cooled off since then, but I’ve been encouraged during my conversations with people who are not ‘gold investors,’ per se. This is money that has been out of the gold market for some time, and they are telling me they see a paradigm shift, wherein institutional capital is mobilizing.”
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