Los Cerros receives promising results as it hunts for porphyry at Chuscal

Los Cerros Limited (ASX:LCL) has completed the Chuscal short hole program on schedule with results providing supporting guidance for targeted porphyry drilling.

Chuscal is about two kilometres south of Miraflores where the company has a resource of 877,000 ounces of gold grading 2.8 g/t which also includes a reserve 457,000 ounces gold at 3.3 g/t gold.

The short hole drilling program at Chuscal achieved management’s objective in terms of providing vectoring information to refine and filter the porphyry targets ahead of porphyry drilling.

It also enhanced management’s understanding of local structures controlling the distribution of mineralisation under the expansive Chuscal surface anomalism.

One of the other main objectives in conducting the program was to explore for strike and depth extensions of near surface vein-hosted epithermal gold that overprints porphyry associated gold throughout Chuscal.

On this note, there were some promising returns, including 6 metres at 2.3 g/t gold from 114 metres including a small intersection grading 15.2 g/t gold and 58.7 g/t silver from CHDDH007.

Another high-grade hit (CHDDH008) was 5.2 metres at 5.4 g/t gold from a shallow depth of 54 metres.

While these were promising intersections, CHDDH009 which was originally designed to test the Corporacion vein corridor 200 metres west of CHDDH008 and is still to be assayed, was intentionally extended in response to the evolving vectoring program suggesting a potential target at depth.

First instance of a likely porphyry intersection

Consequently, this could be the big break that the company was searching for as it is the first occasion that a likely member of the target porphyry suite has been intercepted at Chuscal.

The possibility of a porphyry target was further supported by geological features when the hole intersected approximately 19 metres of early diorite from 333 metres, believed to be part of the target porphyry suite, with potassic alteration and A-type veining.

At 530 metres downhole CHDDH009 encountered encouraging alteration features with increasing sulphide content and increasing occurrence of veining styles and textures attributable to a nearby causative intrusive such as a porphyry as shown below.

Three locations as shown below have been confirmed and refined as targets for porphyry drilling, namely the Corporacion, Guayacanes and Fathom targets.

Commenting on the significance of identifying porphyry targets at an early stage, managing director Jason Stribinskis said, “Coming into this current drilling program we had several porphyry targets based on different vectoring inputs from the company’s Colombian geological team and recommendations from our consultants.

“Emerging from this short hole program are refined priority targets which will be the focus of our ‘porphyry hunting’ drill program which is off to a good start with hole CHDDH009 intercepting potassic alteration within an early diorite.

“This is the first time we’ve hit a unit that is potentially part of a target porphyry at Chuscal.

“This, and the deeper zone of features potentially attributable to a nearby porphyry bodes well for deeper targeting within the immediate vicinity.

“It is also important to note that depth of downhole intercepts are from drill pads sited on ridge tops up to 600 metres above valley floors and therefore depths of intercepts are not necessarily a reliable indication of potential economics of accessing the zones of interest.”

Company-owned rig to start at Tesorito

Los Cerros’ own the new Atlas Copco rig that is in the final stages of commissioning and is expected to commence drilling within days.

The rig’s first drill hole will be at Tesorito, working alongside the currently operating rig allowing easy access and the ability to share equipment and parts if required while the team becomes familiar with the new rig.

The Atlas Copco rig will take the company’s drill program to three diamond rigs running concurrently at Quinchia, located in the mid-Cauca porphyry belt, the same structural trend that hosts several multi-million ounce gold discoveries.

The Quinchia Project hosts the aforementioned Miraflores Gold Deposit and within one kilometre of Miraflores is the Tesorito near surface porphyry where the company is currently drilling and has announced multiple near surface gold mineralisation drill intercepts of more than 200 metres.

Management said that assay turnaround times from laboratories have significantly increased over the past few weeks, extending to three or more weeks for receipt of the complete trace element suite critical for porphyry vectoring.