Kingsgate Consolidated (ASX: KCN) has discovered a new zone of silver mineralisation at its Nueva Esperanza precious metals project in Chile. Initial drilling has returned intercepts including 60m at 67.7 gpt Ag and 50m at 84gpt Ag, at depths of under 100m. The new zone, called Cerro Blanco West, adds to the prospectivity of Nueva Esperanza, a feasibility-stage development project with a resource base of about 1.9 million ounces of gold-equivalent.
Kingsgate Consolidated (ASX:KCN) (“Kingsgate” or the “Company) has discovered a new zone of silver mineralisation (“Cerro Blanco West”) as a result of exploration drilling at its 100% owned Nueva Esperanza precious metals project in Chile. Nueva Esperanza is a feasibility-stage development project with a resource base of approximately 1.9 million ounces gold equivalent (1).
Eight Reverse Circulation (“RC”) holes (See Figure 2) totalling 1,226 metres were completed on the new Cerro Blanco West target prior to drilling being halted by the early onset of winter conditions. Initial drilling returned the following intercepts:
- Hole KRC-046 intercepted 60 metres grading at 67.57g/t Ag (1.13g/t AuEq602 ) from 40 metres to 100 metres, including 32 metres at 114.66g/t Ag (1.91g/t AuEq60) from 68 metres to 100 metres;
- Hole KRC-055 intercepted 50 metres grading at 84.04g/t Ag (1.40g/t AuEq60) from 62 metres to 112 metres; and
- Hole KRC-056 intercepted 18 metres grading at 82.32g/t Ag from (1.38g/t AuEq60) 46 metres to 64 metres.
Cerro Blanco West
Cerro Blanco West is a blind exploration target located approximately 800 metres southwest of Cerro Blanco, a large topographic high preserving shallow-level opaline and steam-heated alteration.
Drilling targeted the northern part of a 0.4 km by 1.4 km, north striking geophysical anomaly defined by the 2017 IP and Resistivity Survey. The anomaly comprises a corridor of shallow (< 200 metres depth) high resistivity response, lying within the favourable 4,000 to 4,200 metre elevation interval which hosts most of the significant mineralisation defined to date in the Nueva Esperanza and adjacent La Coipa districts. No historic drilling was previously completed within the immediate footprint of the target geophysical anomaly.
Follow-up drilling, designed to expand the mineralised footprint and ascertain the geometry of mineralisation was completed on three east-west fences spaced 50 metres apart.
All drill-holes intersected similar style silver mineralisation, with sectional interpretation indicating a broadly sub-horizontal, oxidised, “manto” like zone generally ranging from 20 metres to 60 metres in thickness (See Figure 3). Results of the drilling are summarised in Table 1 overleaf.
Drilling was completed on the following targets; Carachitas Central, Arqueros, Arqueros SW, Teterita, Huantajaya, Cerro Blanco, Potosí, Cerro Gaston, and Cerro Blanco West (See Figure 1). The most encouraging exploration results to-date have come from Cerro Blanco West.
(1) The resource base of 1.9 million ounces of gold equivalent is broken down as follows: Measured – 0.08 Moz, Indicated – 1.46 Moz and Inferred – 0.33 Moz. (See ASX:KCN released titled “Kingsgate Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves 2016” dated 7 October 2016).
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