Preparing To Commence 800m Drilling Campaign
SolGold (LSE & TSX code: SOLG) is preparing to commence an initial 8000m Phase 1 drilling programme Rio Amarillo Project in Northern Ecuador, held by 100% owned subsidiary Carnegie Ridge Resources S.A.
A drill rig preparing to mobilise to Rio Amarillo following the successful completion of all regulatory permitting and camp facilities with drilling planned to kick off in late-October.
Drilling will investigate the significantly upgraded Varela Target (formerly Varela and Target#1 areas)where extensive recent field work has highlighted strong similarities between Varela and Alpala Lithocap footprints and geochemical signatures.
Drilling at Varela will test underneath outcropping porphyry style vein stockworks which returned surface rock-saw channel sample results of 99m @ 0.34% CuEq including 25.1m @ 0.58% CuEq.
Regional Exploration Manager, Chris Connell, said a cluster of porphyry targets delineated so far at Rio Amarillo are supported by high quality magnetic data which reveals a highly magnetic NE/SW trending corridor, spatially coincident with porphyry style surface mineralisation covering a vertical extent of up to 1500m over a 12km long and 3km wide northeast trending porphyry belt.
“The Rio Amarillo project represents a second cluster of large fertile porphyry systems to explore in Northern Ecuador,” Mr Cornell said.
“The Varela lithocap area is highly visible from the air, as are a number of large porphyry deposits along the Andean Copper Belt which have now been developed into mines. Extensive outcropping hydrothermally altered rock is spread across the ground surface immediately upstream of the rock saw location, which is typical of intense acid alteration in a highly leached lithocap environment.
“The Varela metalliferous lithocap is the most classical example of a fully preserved, whole column porphyry system that we have encountered in our exploration activities in Ecuador to date. This latest update is another step forward as we look to unearth the significant value contained within SolGold’s licences throughout Ecuador”.
Technical Services Manager, Benn Whistler, said HP Drilling is finalising a good portion of the fleet of diamond drill rigs, for exploratory drilling at our regional projects, at its Cuenca workshop facility in Southern Ecuador.
“SolGold’s ‘Sleeping Giant’ at Rio Amarillo including its two high-quality large-scale porphyry targets at Varela and Palomar are two of the Company’s highest priority targets. SolGold’s 100% owned Rio Amarillo Project in Northern Ecuador lies approximately 30km Southeast of the company’s flagship Alpala Porphyry Copper-Gold-Silver Deposit which holds a Measured plus Indicated Resource of 2.66 Bt @ 0.53% CuEq (9.9 Mt Cu, 21.7 Moz Au, 92.2 Moz Ag). The Rio Amarillo Project comprises three concessions, Rio Amarillo 1, 2 & 3.
