Altamira Gold Corp (CVE:ALTA) (OTCPINK:EQTRF) (FRA:T6UP) said it has hired world-renowned economic geologist Dr Quinton Hennigh as its geological advisor and has engaged AFC Geofísica to carry out an induced polarization (IP) survey at its Mutum target at its Apiacas project in Brazil.
The study will better define the geology and help prioritize drill targets at Mutum, which lies 50 kilometres (km) west of Altamira's Cajueiro gold project and where four high-grade vein structures have been confirmed as well as extensive disseminated gold mineralization over a 4 square kilometre area.
READ: Altamira Gold reveals four high-grade gold and silver vein structures at its Apiacas project in Brazil
"Quinton has an impressive track record in gold exploration and his extensive knowledge of the capital markets will be instrumental in strengthening and complementing our team," said Michael Bennett, CEO at Altamira in a statement.
"The IP survey takes us one step closer to advancing the Apiacas gold project to the drill-ready stage. 2021 will be an exciting year for Altamira as we look forward to drill testing several targets at our main projects with the valued technical input from Dr Hennigh as we continue to unlock the mineral potential of the Alta Floresta belt".
Dr Hennigh has a quarter of a century of exploration experience, and is founder and current chairman and president of Novo Resources Corp (TSE:NVO), which is exploring and developing gold projects in the famous Pilbara region, Western Australia. Novo's assets include its Beatons Creek, Karratha and Egina gold projects, the latter being under joint venture with Japan's giant Sumitomo Corp.
His CV includes such names as Homestake Mining Company, Newcrest Mining Ltd and Newmont Mining. He has also been involved with a number of Canadian listed gold companies, including Gold Canyon Resources Inc, where he led exploration at the Springpole alkaline gold project near Red Lake, Ontario, a 5 million ounce gold asset sold in 2015 to First Mining Gold Corp (TSE:FF). Dr Hennigh was also instrumental in Kirkland Lake Gold's acquisition of the Fosterville gold mine in Australia.
At the Mutum target at Apiacas, an estimated 1 million ounces (Moz) of colluvial gold was historically recovered, suggesting the presence of a significant underlying hard-rock deposit. Last month, surface grab samples of the high-grade veins at Mutum returned values up to 403.5 grams per ton (g/t) gold and channel samples included values up to 3m at 10.39 g/t gold. Silver assays have also returned high-grade values up to 871 g/t silver, noted Altamira.
Altamira Gold holds eight projects in Brazil comprising around 190,000 hectares, within the prolific Juruena gold belt which historically produced an estimated 7 to 10 Moz of placer gold. Its advanced Cajueiro project has NI 43-101 resources of 5.66 million tonnes (Mt) at 1.02 g/t gold for a total of 185,000 ounces in the indicated category and 12.66 Mt at a grade of 1.26 g/t gold for a total of 515,000 ounces in the inferred category.
Contact the author at giles@proactiveinvestors.com