Royal Road Minerals Limited (CVE:RYR) published additional interim drilling results from its Caribe gold discovery in northeastern Nicaragua on Thursday and announced plans to exchange its drilling rig for a more powerful machine.
The company said that drill hole CB-DDH-015 revealed 63 meters at 1 gram per ton (g/t) of gold (Au) and hole CB-DDH-016 showed 100.45 meters at 1 g/t Au. That said, the company noted that both holes were bogged and abandoned before the ultimate objective was reached.
In the majority of cases, individual drill holes at Caribe have been unable to reach their planned objective due primarily to the effect of highly absorbent clays swelling and arresting the drill rods, the company noted.
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Royal Road has now completed 20 drill holes and has opted to briefly suspend its program in order to exchange its current drilling rig for a stronger machine with the capacity to drill through the problematic clay and test the continuity of gold mineralization at depth.
"In management's view, the evolving geological model and the drilling results to-date imply a significant bulk-tonnage target at Caribe," CEO Tim Coughlin said in a statement. "The arrival of a new drilling rig with the potential to test the depth extent of the mineralizing system is eagerly awaited.
"We are also working with drilling contractors on a rotary air blast/reverse circulation drilling solution which will allow us to penetrate soil and laterite cover in order to sample and map a wide area around the Caribe project in what appears to be an emerging copper and gold mineralized district."
Generally, gold mineralization at Caribe is associated with elevated molybdenum and copper, the company said. Up to 0.4% molybdenum has been returned across a 1 meter sample interval — drill hole CB-DDH-016 returned 6 meters of 0.13% molybdenum and 4 g/t Au and CB-DDH-011 returned 5 meters at 0.1% molybdenum and 1.7 g/t Au. The best copper intersection to-date has been 18 meters at 0.15% copper and 0.9 g/t Au from drill hole CB-DDH-006.
Royal Road's exploration team discovered the Caribe project during reconnaissance follow-up of airborne geophysical anomalies in February 2018. Royal Road Minerals is exploring for Tier-1 gold and copper deposits in Nicaragua, operating as part of a 50-50 joint venture with Hemco-Mineros Nicaragua, as well as in Colombia.
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