Solitario drilling cuts gold at Mercurio (December 15, 2005)

Early-stage drilling on the Mercurio gold prospect in the Tapajos region of Para state, Brazil, has intersected some substantial widths of gold mineralization.

The work by Denver-based Solitario Resources (SLR-T) is drilling a number of surface prospects previously exploited by garimpeiro gold miners. The initial program comprised 12 holes, of which nine intersected some gold mineralization.

The main focus of drilling was in the Patoa area, around an old garimpeiro pit. There, three holes intersected gold mineralization, with the best cutting 21.9 metres at an average grade of 7 grams gold per tonne, all in saprolite soil. Once in fresh rock, the same drill hole cut 10 metres grading 1 gram per tonne.

The two other holes on Patoa targets returned gold grades in fresh rock between 1.3 and 2.4 grams per tonne, over core lengths of 2.5 to 10.8 metres.

At the Tucanarei prospect, about 2 km southwest of Patoa, two drill holes tested an area beneath tailings produced by garimpeiro washing operations. One hole intersected 5.3 grams gold per tonne over 4.1 metres in fresh rock, while the other cut 4.5 metres running 3.4 grams per tonne in saprolite.

Three other prospects, West and South Patoa, and Colonia, were also drilled in the program. The best result was a 4.4-metre intersection at South Patoa that graded 4.7 grams gold per tonne in mixed weathered and fresh material.