Metminco Ltd (ASX:MNC) is progressing its maiden drilling program at the Chuscal gold target to expectation with the first hole currently at 380 metres and staying true to about 60 azimuth and 60 inclination.
The hole has confirmed the expected broad architecture deduced from surface sampling, geophysics and mapping of adits, and most encouragingly, has intersected a broad zone of more than 244 cubic metres of hydrothermal alteration and brecciation.
Drillhole CHDDH001: Simplified lithology projected to surface over interpreted position of dioritic intrusions. This is presented over an image of analytical signal derived from ground magnetic data.
Metminco managing director Jason Stirbinskis said: “This is the first drill hole into the Chuscal project, and we have elected to continue to drill hole CHDDH001 past the original planned depth as we remain in this encouraging breccia sequence.
“We will keep the market informed about the program as it evolves.
“The target was the northern contact of the Guyacanes diorite, veining associated with the Guyacanes tunnel and investigation of a magnetic low in the north.
“At the contact zone between the diorite and monzonite country rock we have been overwhelmed by the extent of hydrothermal alteration, particularly along the NE contact where we have intersected over 168 metres of breccias containing sulphides and overprinted by ISS veinlets.
Summary of the geologic log of CHDDH001 to 380 metres
“This bodes well for the presence of gold mineralisation however, the variability of lithologies and intensity and type of alteration, together with overprinting mineralisation styles in the hole, makes it difficult to anticipate the likely grades of gold mineralisation by visual inspection.
“The hydrothermal breccia zone shows a close correlation with the magnetic low and we are encouraged that the breccia zone corresponds at surface to an 800ppb gold in soil anomaly and that the mineralisation extends into the monzonite country rock. We await initial assay results from the first hole to start arriving in three or four weeks.”