Altamira Gold Corp (CVE:ALTA) (OTCPINK:EQTRF) has said it expects to start diamond drilling at the Mutum target at its Apiacas gold project in Brazil this month and is also expanding an induced polarization (IP) survey there by a further 2,400 metres (m).
An initial IP study at Mutum for 20 lines (39,200m) has now been completed, which has significantly expanded a high chargeability anomaly to 4,400m of east-west strike length, from 800m previously, and it is still open to the east and west.
Altamira said it will now expand the survey by another 2,400m to cover adjoining areas of historic alluvial gold mining, which is expected to be completed by mid-month.
READ: Altamira Gold uncovers new high-chargeability anomaly at the Mutum target on its Apiacas project
In a statement, Michael Bennett, CEO of Altamira Gold, said he had been very "encouraged" by the survey results so far.
"The anomaly is located directly beneath the historic artisanal gold workings where one million ounces of gold was recovered in the last 40 years from the uppermost 20 metres of weathered material suggesting that the IP high chargeability anomaly is mapping the mineralised intrusive at depth.
"This anomaly is more extensive than we previously envisaged and suggests that a large mineralized system may be present at depth. We are looking forward to starting the initial drill program during July," he added.
The company has signed an initial 3,000m diamond-drilling contract with contractor Servdrill Perfuracao e Sondagem Ltda.
Altamira's Mutum gold target is part of the Apiacas project area, which is 50 kilometres west of Altamira's Cajueiro gold project which, itself, hosts an NI 43 101 indicated resource of 5.66 million tonnes at a grade of 1.02 grams per ton gold for a total of 185,000 ounces.
An estimated 1 million ounces of colluvial gold was historically recovered from the Mutum target, which suggests the presence of a significant underlying hard-rock deposit, noted the company.
Altamaria is focused on the exploration and development of gold projects within western central Brazil.
Contact the author at giles@proacriveinvestors.com