Metminco Ltd (LON:MNC) shares jumped higher on Tuesday as the miner said it has commenced diamond exploration drilling on its Tesorito gold prospect in the Quinchia district, Colombia.
The 1,500 metre diamond drilling program is designed to confirm and expand the gold mineral system previously intersected in drilling by a previous operator.
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This included one hole which reported 384 metres grading 1.1 grams per tonne gold from surface to end-of-hole.
The program will also test a previously undrilled geophysical anomaly located approximately 300 metres to the northwest.
Assay results from the diamond drilling at Tesorito are expected in August 2018.
Metminco has rights to several highly prospective exploration prospects and targets around Quinchia in Colombia's Cauca Belt.
The Cauca Belt is host to several large gold resources including AngloGold Ashanti's 28.5mln ounce La Colosa deposit and Gran Colombia's 8.6mln ounce Marmato deposit.
In mid-morning trading, Metminco was the London market's biggest gainers, with its shares up 23.8% at 0.65p.
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