Spectacular drill results for Colossus at Serra Pelada

Drilling at the site of Brazil’s epic 1980s gold rush at Serra Pelada is yielding spectacular results for joint-venture partners Colossus Minerals (CSI-T) and Coomigasp, a 45,000-strong cooperative of local miners.

The drill program was focused primarily on the central mineralized zone, which overprints metasediments occupying the hinge and inner limbs of a northwest-facing, southwest-plunging, reclined synclinorium that drops gently southwest from the historical open pit in Brazil’s northeastern Para state, where more than 100,000 artisanal miners once clawed out 2 million oz. gold.

Final results from the 5,000-metre drilling in phase I of the project yielded remarkable grades such as drill hole 18, which cut 60.5 metres grading 14.37 grams gold per tonne, 1.81 grams platinum per tonne and 2.46 grams palladium per tonne, including 24.5 metres at 29.89 grams gold per tonne, 1.69 grams platinum per tonne and 3.53 grams palladium per tonne. (True widths have yet to be established.)

Another drill hole, number 13, returned 23 metres grading 20.68 grams gold per tonne, 3.26 grams platinum per tonne and 3.91 grams palladium per tonne, including 7.5 metres at 54.62 grams gold per tonne, 8.64 grams platinum per tonne and 9.95 grams palladium per tonne. 

Holes 14 through 16 all encountered gold-platinum-palladium mineralisation on the fringes of the central mineralised zone and demonstrate the strong lateral and vertical continuity of the central mineralized zone, the company says.

A new zone to the west of the central mineralized zone was also confirmed in hole 17, which exhibited a high platinum group elements to gold ratio.

Preliminary work on the exposed and drilled red- and grey-altered siltstones also indicate that these lithologies may support stable pit walls or underground access.

The first phase of the drill program “has demonstrated strong lateral and vertical continuity of high grade gold-platinum-palladium mineralisation along a substantial portion of the central mineralised zone at Serra Pelada,” Vic Wall, Colossus’s president, said in a prepared statement. “With some infill drilling in phase II, this part of the system can be advanced rapidly to resource stage.”

Colossus plans to complete its resource model this year.

At press-time, Colossus was trading at $1.40 per share. The Toronto-based junior has a 52-week trading range of 43¢-$4.00 per share and has 42.67million shares outstanding.