Tocvan Ventures Corp. (CSE:TOC) has announced drill results for the first three drill holes completed at its El Picacho Gold-Silver project in Sonora, Mexico.
These holes focused on the northern-most area of historic workings called Las Guijas. All three drill holes intersected oxidized quartz vein zones with alteration indicating the potential for gold and silver mineralization. Hole SRA-22-003 yielded the best result to date, returning 27.5 meters (m) of 0.5 grams per ton (g/t) gold (Au), including 12.2m of 1.1 g/t Au starting at a downhole depth of 21.4m (approximately 10m from surface).
Ten drill holes totalling 1,075.1m were completed at the San Ramon Prospect testing for low-grade mineralization adjacent to historic underground workings that have returned high-grade gold with silver.
READ: Tocvan Ventures says ongoing drilling at El Picacho Gold-Silver Project returns high grade gold with silver mineralization
The company said it is "extremely pleased" in having intersected significant oxide gold mineralization so soon in its efforts to understand the potential for a significant mineralized system at El Picacho.
"To hit significant mineralization in the first round of drilling at El Picacho is a massive achievement and there is still more to come,” said Brodie Sutherland, Tocvan CEO in a statement.
“We have now confirmed that the San Ramon Prospect has the potential to host a sizable near-surface bulk oxide-gold target and we look forward to reviewing the remaining drill holes to plan our next steps at El Picacho. It is important to note the significance of hitting mineralization of this style with a relatively modest drill program.
"We have essentially started to prove our model is correct within the first 400-meters of drilling. Part of our objective with this program is to test different orientations to better understand which drill direction yields the best results related to higher-grade vein-hosted gold and silver. With the similarities to the local San Francisco Mine (18 kilometers to the northeast) which was discovered from very similar surface characteristics and substantial artisanal workings. We look forward to evaluating these results and data to further unlock the potential of El Picacho," he added.
Results for the remaining seven drillholes are pending. The remaining drill holes tested two separate areas both 200m to the south and southeast of Las Guijas. Analysis and interpretation of this data will be used to plan follow-up drilling. El Picacho is host to several other target areas permitted for drilling that span across the 24 square kilometers project area.
The El Picacho Gold-Silver property is interpreted as an orogenic gold system within the regional Caborca Orogenic Gold Belt known for producing gold mines that include La Herradura - more than 10 million ounces (Moz) Au - and San Francisco - more than 3 Moz Au.
The project is 140 kilometers north of Hermosillo and only 18 kilometers southwest of the producing San Francisco Mine. The project totals 24 square kilometers. Five primary zones of mineralization have been identified across the property totalling over six kilometers of prospective trends. Surface sampling and historic workings have identified high-grade gold and silver values.
The project has only seen widely spaced reconnaissance drilling with no follow-up. Tocvan believes this provide an excellent opportunity for discovery of a muti-million ounce district.
Tocvan is a well-structured exploration development company. Tocvan was created in order to take advantage of the prolonged downturn in the junior mining exploration sector, by identifying and negotiating interest in opportunities where management feels they can build upon previous success.
The company is earning 100% into two exciting opportunities in Sonora, Mexico: the Pilar Gold-Silver project and the El Picacho Gold-Silver project. Management feels both projects represent tremendous opportunity to create shareholder value.
Contact the author at jon.hopkins@proactiveinvestors.com