Almaden Minerals (amm-t, aau-x) has extended the Ixtaca gold-silver zone by more than 100 metres along the interpreted strike with the latest drill results from its Tuligtic project in Puebla State, Mexico.
Hole 6, collared 110 metres northeast of the discovery area, intersected multiple quartz-carbonate-sulphide veining averaging 0.86 gram gold and 61.7 grams silver per tonne across 126.2 metres, starting from 296 metres down-hole. Multiple higher-grade intercepts included 2.2 metres of 6.66 grams gold and 475 grams silver within a 19.2-metre section grading 2.84 grams gold and 160 grams silver.
“Stepout drilling in hole 6 has confirmed the presence of the broad zone of epithermal veining at Ixtaca 100 metres northeast of the most recently reported section [holes 4 and 5],” stated Almaden’s Chairman Duane Poliquin in a prepared statement.
“While further holes are necessary to be confident with the orientation of the veins in this blind discovery, drilling continues to expand this zone of veining and we are very encouraged with the results received to date,” Poliquin added.
The sixth hole of the program was angled -50 degrees to the southeast along an azimuth of 150 degrees. It was designed to cut the interpreted northeasterly trend of the mineralized zone at a right angle.
However, concerns about the actual orientation of the veins have prompted Almaden to change the direction of future holes. Based on the information obtained from the drilling to date, the company believes there is at least two major sets of veins; one set strikes perpendicular to bedding at roughly 50 to 70 degrees, which is to the northeast, and the second set is parallel to bedding at 150 degrees azimuth.
Holes 2 through 8, as well as hole 11, were drilled parallel to bedding at 150 degrees azimuth.
“While this orientation was deemed best to intersect the 50-degree striking vein set, management now interprets that this drilling azimuth may in fact be parallel to the other vein set,” Almaden reported. “The overall vein zone is thought to have a northeasterly trend but true widths cannot be calculated with confidence at this time,” the company cautioned.
With two rigs turning, drilling is now being done at a 100-degree azimuth, the same direction as discovery hole 1, which cut 302 metres averaging 1.01 grams gold and 48 grams silver, starting from the base of overburden at 47.5 metres depth.
Almaden ended the day at $3.85, off 3 cents on 470,000 shares trading hands.
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