Aurania Resources Ltd (CVE:ARU) (OTCQB:AUIAF) (FRA:20Q) reported that drilling has intersected sediment-hosted copper mineralization at Tsenken N1 in its Lost Cities-Cutucu Project in southeastern Ecuador.
As a result, the company said drilling will continue at the Tsenken N1 target and the second rig is being moved to the Tiria-Shimpia target area.
"We believe that Tiria-Shimpia forms part of the same mineralized system as the sediment-hosted copper at Tsenken, and if we are correct, we have an enormous mineralized system on our hands - one that extends over some 45 kilometres,” said CEO Dr Keith Barron in a statement.
READ: Aurania Resources confirms presence of highly valuable strategic metals gallium and indium in samples from Tiria-Shimpia target in Ecuador
“The remarkable opportunity to explore this entire system is afforded to us because we have a large concession block. With one drill rig continuing the drilling at Tsenken N1 and the second moving from Kuri-Yawi to Tiria-Shimpia, we will be drilling at both ends of this extensive mineralized system. We have the option of returning to Kuri-Yawi when we have incorporated all the new data to advance our knowledge of the epithermal target there," Dr Barron added.
The company said the three drill holes completed at Tsenken N1 show that sediment-hosted copper increases in intensity towards the east. The number of mineralized layers also increases to the east with three layers having been intersected in the eastern-most hole.
A total of 1,564 metres (m) have been drilled at Tsenken N1 to date. Assay results from the easternmost hole, TSN1-003, are pending.
Aurania said sediment-hosted copper-silver in the Tsenken N1 area lies within the same fault system as the sediment-hosted zinc-silver mineralization at Tiria-Shimpia. The exploration concept is that the copper at Tsenken is part of the same mineralized system seen at Tiria-Shimpia - the system gradually changes from copper-dominant to zinc-dominant, as it does in parts of the Kupferschiefer.
The company said drilling planned to start before the end of June at Tiria-Shimpia is designed to intersect the zinc and silver-mineralized layers seen in outcrop and will also provide information that will help to refine this exploration concept and lead to the definition of additional precise drill targets.
Drilling at Kuri-Yawi
Meanwhile, Aurania said the recent phase of drilling at Kuri-Yawi totaled 1,948m in two holes (YW-008 and YW-009). Epithermal textures and pyrobitumen were identified in banded carbonate-silica veinlets over a vertical interval of about 600m in both holes, suggesting close proximity to the core of an epithermal system.
In addition, the mineral alteration intersected in hole 9 shows that it is closer to the core of the system than hole 8. These data will be used to constrain the interpretation of MobileMT and magnetic data to refine the location of the epithermal target, which lies to the east of Hole 9. Hole 8, which was drilled to a depth of 1,212m, did not intersect the porphyry target interpreted from the MobileMT data.
Aurania added that the rig is being moved from Kuri-Yawi to Tiria-Shimpia while the drill data is used to constrain the geophysical model to refine both the epithermal and porphyry targets for possible further drilling at Kuri-Yawi.
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