Regulus and Pachamama soar on Argentine drill results

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

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

On Dec. 15 – the day after the results were released – Regulus shares shot up 89%, or 40¢, to 85¢ on 741,356 shares traded. Pachamama shares went up slightly more, climbing 111%, or 42¢, to 80¢ on 643,000 shares traded.

The highlight intercept from the hole included 257 metres grading 0.53% copper, 1.20 grams gold and 1.59 grams silver, or 1% copper equivalent. The intercept included a higher-grade portion of 55 metres grading 1% copper, 4.52 grams gold and 2.68 grams silver, or 4% copper equivalent.

The new discovery is located in the southwest zone of the property, which is held as a fifty-fifty 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 that was released on Dec. 6.

The estimate outlined 55.3 million tonnes of indicated resources grading 0.34% copper, 0.36 gram gold and 4.38 grams silver, while inferred resources came in at 101 million tonnes grading 0.30% copper, 0.31 gram gold and 4.45 grams silver.

A breakdown of the mineralization in the hole shows an upper gold-dominant oxide zone of 50 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. The partners’ highlight 257-metre intercept was found in this zone. 

The hole also intersected a lower copper-gold-silver-molybdenum sulphide zone, with 120 metres containing 0.33% copper, 0.34 gram gold, 5.95 grams silver and 0.01% molybdenum, starting at a depth of 598 metres.

The results help confirm the Regulus’s belief that Rio Grande is relatively untested at depth, and that there is a good opportunity to find zones of higher-grade mineralization there.

“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’ president and chief executive, said in a statement.

The results illustrate five holes from the company’s 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 six holes.

Regulus was formed in December 2010 as a spin-off of non-core assets  of Antares Minerals after it was acquired by First Quantum Minerals (FM-T). The company began trading last December with 39.4 million shares, fully diluted.

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