Royal Road Minerals Ltd (CVE:RYR) has unveiled encouraging findings from sampling at the wholly-owned Piedra Iman copper-gold project in northwestern Nicaragua.
To assess the continuity and extent of copper and gold at the prospect, nine horizontal channels were cut across exposed rock faces.
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The site spans over around 8,000 hectares and lies 30km north of B2 Gold's El Limon mine. Royal Road acquired the property via its acquisition of Caza Gold Corp in May this year.
It has recently submitted an application for a drilling permit and, if successful, intends to start drilling in either the third or fourth quarter of this year.
Highlights of today's sample results included 20 metres at 1.10% copper and a five metre intersection at 0.95% copper
There was also eight metres at 1.05% copper and 1.13 grams per tonne (g/t) gold;
In another channel, five metres at 0.28%copper and 2.50 grams per tonne gold was sampled.
"The results of our limited work to date at Piedra Iman coupled with these encouraging saw-cut channel results suggest we are dealing with a style of copper and gold mineralization which until now has not been recognized in Nicaragua," said Dr Tim Coughlin, Royal Road's president and chief executive.
"Soil geochemistry indicates that the mineralized system remains open to the north and southwest and our ongoing geological work will assist us in confirming our IOCG model and in outlining the principal controls on the distribution of gold and copper at the project.
"We plan to complete some ground geophysics before the end of Q3 and look forward to drill testing the project soon after that."
The Piedra Iman project was initially explored in the early 1970s by Noranda Inc, whose drilling and underground sampling intersected significant widths of copper mineralization including 36.6 metres at 1.13% copper.
Samples were only sporadically assayed for gold, but drilling results included one interval of 3.6 metres at 6.3 g/t gold.
Noranda abandoned the project due to the onset of hostilities related with the Sandinista revolution in 1978.
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