Mineral & Financial Investments Ltd (AIM:MAFL) said the Venda Nova deposit at the Lagoa Salgada VMS project in Portugal continues to provide pleasant surprises.
Redcorp Empreedimentos Mineiros, in which Mineral & Financial has a 75% stake, has released the results from an additional seven holes drilled as part of the infill drill programme at the project.
Drill hole assays released today continue to support resource conversion for the ongoing feasibility study at the Venda Nova deposit but have also outlined the discovery of a new copper-gold rich semi-massive sulphide lens east of the South Zone, which was not previously included in the mineral resources estimate, and confirmed the continuity of the stringer zone below the massive sulphide lens in the North Zone.
Results were as follows:
Drill holes collared in the South Zone refined the outline of the bulk wireframe and confirmed the continuity of the higher-grade corridors contained within the broader domain. As such the infill drill programme continues to support resource conversion as expected, although there can be no guarantee that such conversion will occur, Mineral & Financial cautioned.
In addition to confirming the known mineralisation, the potential to expand the resource in the South Zone beyond the current resource envelope is demonstrated by results from drill holes ST_28 and ST_29 which intercepted semi-massive sulphide mineralization with high Cu and Au grades outside the current main stringer wireframe and within the hanging wall. These intercepts include 6.0 metres (m) at 1.77% Cu (copper) and 0.8 g/t (grams per tonne) Au (gold) from 201m in hole ST_28 and 4m at 1.34% Cu starting at 311m in hole ST_29.
In light of this new discovery, the company has slightly amended its infill drill plan by collaring holes further to the east to target this new zone as well as the existing stringer mineralisation that forms the South Zone. The aim is to test the possible stratigraphic continuity of exhalative/massive sulphides and potentially show a near-continuous connection to the North Zone. While still in the early stages of definition, this discovery could grow the resource in the South Zone, Mineral & Financial believes.
The three holes collared in the North Zone confirm the existing mineralised domains and support the company’s revised expectation for grades in each domain.
"Venda Nova continues to surprise to the upside and supports our view that we remain at a relatively early stage of exploration at Lagoa Salgada,” said Jacques Vaillancourt, the president and chief executive of Mineral & Financial Investments.
“The discovery of a new Cu-Au rich semi-massive sulphide lens could potentially add to the scale of the deposit as this new zone was not included in previous Resource statements. As Redcorp complete its infill drilling campaign, we are encouraged to see continued evidence for strong resource conversion underpinning the ongoing feasibility study for Venda Nova,” he added.