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Equitas Resources (TSXV:EQT; FSE:T6UN) announced that drilling has commenced on the Baldo Zone of its 100%-owned Cajueiro Gold Project in Central Brazil.
Equitas Resources (TSXV:EQT; FSE:T6UN) announced that drilling has commenced on the Baldo Zone of its 100%-owned Cajueiro Gold Project in Central Brazil.
As quoted in the press release:
The exploration program is the first phase of an extensive 2016 work schedule at Cajueiro and is focused on defining additional gold resource in the near-surface saprolite oxide domain along a highly prospective mineralized structural corridor. The program has been designed to increase resources at Cajuiero and provide further information to support open pit development.
Potential for Resource Upgrade
The Baldo zone currently hosts an Inferred Resource of 309,000 tonnes grading 3.029 g/t Au (Gustavson, 2016) in the oxidized saprolite. Previous exploration results reveal strong potential for resource upgrade in this target domain.
The 2016 exploration program has been designed to follow on previously reported sampling results which include grades of 5.77 g/t Au (RR1BDO, Figure 2) and 87.2 g/t Au (RCF1BDO, Figure 2) achieved from two 1-tonne composite surface samples of oxidized saprolite along the targeted corridor. The single drill hole completed to date on this structure targeted the extreme southwestern end, and intersected a core interval in the sulphide bedrock grading 1.48 g/t Au over 29.85m (DDH-055, Figure 2). In general the oxidized saprolite component of the mineralization contains significant enrichment in gold grades compared to the bedrock sulphide domain.
Surface sampling spread across the Baldo zone has returned significant gold values. Thirty four grab samples of saprolite returned values ranging between 0.01 g/t Au to 118.47 g/t Au, with 20 samples returning values > 0.5 g/t Au, and an average for the thirty four samples of 14.67 g/t Au. Additionally, a 100 kg sample of saprolite taken from the southern Baldo target area for metallurgical testing yielded a head grade of 8.9 g/t Au (Met Test, Figure 2).
Results to date at Baldo underscore the potential for delineation of significant high-value material amenable to open-pit mining methods. The oxidized saprolite can be extracted without the necessity for drilling and blasting, potentially resulting in very low-cost mining operations.
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