Altamira Gold Corp has provided an update on the start of its initial drilling program at the Mutum target at its Apiacas gold project in Brazil, which is conveniently located near the company’s Cajueiro gold project.
The initial 3,000-meter diamond drill program at Mutum is targeting part of the 4.4 kilometers (km) long high chargeability Induced Polarization (IP) anomaly identified during phase 1 of the IP ground geophysical survey.
“Phase 2 of the survey which extends the IP coverage 2.4km to the west has now been completed and the data is being processed,” said the company.
READ: Altamira Gold eyes drill start at Mutum target in Brazil this month as it hails IP survey results
Altamira has identified quartz-sericite-pyrite alteration associated with disseminated gold mineralization in an intrusive rock over 4 square kilometres on surface within the area of historic placer gold workings where surface channel sampling has been encouraging and has returned significant gold values including 12m at 2 grams per tonne (g/t) gold, 0.9 g/t gold over 6 metres and 0.41 g/t gold over 12 metres.
The second environmental license at Mutum has been granted and is located to the west of the previous environmental permit and allows for the drilling of a large portion of the chargeability anomaly and is valid until early 2024.
In a statement, Altamira Gold CEO Michael Bennett said that the start of the drilling program at the Mutum target is “truly exciting” and is the culmination of “several years of effort.”
“During the last few months, Altamira has identified a geophysical chargeability anomaly that is now in excess of 4km in east-west extent and is coincident with an area of historic workings which produced 1 million ounces of gold as well as widespread quartz-sericite-pyrite alteration and disseminated gold mineralization,” added Bennett. “The target is simply enormous, and we look forward to the results of the initial drill program."
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 g/t 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.
“Drilling is expected to continue until October and samples will be submitted to the SGS laboratory in Belo Horizonte where the turnaround time is expected to be between 4-to-6 weeks,” said the company.
Altamaria is focused on the exploration and development of gold projects within western central Brazil.
Contact the author Uttara Choudhury at uttara@proactiveinvestors.com
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