Regulus and Pachamama soar on Argentina drill results

A newly discovered high grade zone sent Regulus Resources (REG-V) and Pachamama Resources (PMA-V) shares flying on Thursday.

The companies announced drilling hit a new gold-rich, high-grade copper and gold zone at the jointly held Rio Grande project in Argentina.

In Toronto on Dec. 15 Regulus shares were up 89% or 40¢ to 85¢ on 741,356 shares traded. Pachamama shares were up 110.53% or 42¢ to 80¢ on 643,000 shares traded.

The highlight intercept from the hole included 257.2 metres grading 0.53% copper, 1.20 grams gold and 1.59 grams silver or 1.19% copper equivalent. That intercept included a higher grade portion of 54.5 metres grading 1.34% copper, 4.52 grams gold and 2.68 grams silver or 3.79% copper equivalent.

The new discovery is located in the southwest zone of the property which is held as a 50/50 joint venture between the two companies.

The assay results are the best yet at the project but the results did not find their way into the maiden resource estimate for the project that was released on Dec. 6.

That estimate outlined 55.3 million tonnes of indicated resources grading 0.342% copper, 0.359 grams gold and 4.38 grams silver, while inferred resources came in at 101 million tonnes grading 0.303% copper, 0.308 grams gold and 4.45 grams silver.

A break down of the mineralization in the hole shows an upper, gold-dominant oxide zone of 49.60 metres with 0.26% copper 1.34 grams gold and 3.10 grams silver starting at a depth of 64 metres.

After that there is a zone of higher-grade sulphide mineralization starting at a depth of 293 metres with an interval of. It was there that the previously mentioned 257.2 metre intercept was found.

The hole also intersected a lower copper-gold-silver-molybdenum sulphide zone with 120 metres containing 0.33% copper, 0.34 grams gold, 5.95 grams silver, and 0.011% molybdenum starting at a depth of 598 metres.

The result in the southwest help to confirm the company’s belief that Rio Grande is relatively untested at depth and that there is a good opportunity to find significant zones of higher grade mineralization yet.

“This new zone displays higher gold to copper ratios than mineralization previously defined at Rio Grande and it appears that we may be vectoring towards the center of the mineralized system,” Wayne Hewgill, Regulus’s president and chief executive said in a statement.

Results from five holes that are part of the company’s current 15,000 metre drill program at the project, which lies in Argentina’s Salta Province. The companies say 95% of the program is finished with assays pending on an additional six holes.

Regulus formed in December 2010 out of the ashes of Antares Minerals once it was acquired by First Quantum Minerals (FM-T). The company began trading in Toronto in December of last year and had 39.4 million shares fully diluted.

Pachamama was formed as a spin-out from Mansfield Minerals (MDR-V) in 2008 and currently has 48.9 million shares on a fully diluted basis.