Titan builds resource potential for Ecuadorian gold
Titan Minerals says it now has strong potential for resource extension beyond the known gold-silver areas within its Dynasty gold project in Ecuador after a recent mapping and soil geochemical exploration campaign.
The company says its latest copper and arsenic soil geochemistry results indicate strong continuity of gold-silver mineralisation along a 9km-long, north-east-trending epithermal gold corridor.
Four major deposits exist along the corridor – Cerro Verde, Iguana, Trapichillo and Papaval. The combined mineral resource estimate for all four deposits sits at 3.1 million ounces of gold and 22 million ounces of silver, with Cerro Verde containing the lion’s share of the metal inventory at 1.92 million ounces of gold and 12 million silver ounces.
Surface geochemistry suggests that the scale and possibly grade of the mineralisation may taper off to the north-east, but that is quite possibly due more to a paucity of data than any definite geological trend. It might also reflect factors such as differences that may exist in the sampling regime, such as regolith background geochemistry, regolith depth with respect to the source rocks, soil pH, slope influences and more.
Most intriguingly, a distinct 2km-wide “gap” exists in the soil geochemistry between Titan’s Iguana and Trapichillo deposits. Sampling is underway, but results are not yet to hand.
But the results could dramatically change the picture of gold-silver distribution along the zone and initial signs from Iguana point to the possibility that known mineralisation extends into the south-western flanks of the gap zone. Management says the zone has never been drilled and to date has seen only limited exploration.
It believes it represents an area with the potential for growth directly along strike of the existing Iguana mineral resource that contains 700,000 ounces of gold and 4.8 million ounces of silver.
Titan Minerals chief executive officer Melanie Leighton said: “Titan’s dedicated exploration has rewarded us with multiple new gold and copper targets, which we are
excited to soon drill test, as we aim to grow the 3.1Moz gold and 22Moz silver mineral resource. Our soil sampling continues to reveal further geochemical anomalies, indicating that the Dynasty gold system is significantly larger than what is currently defined by drilling and contained in resources.”
It seems possible that land access issues may have hindered or prevented previous comprehensive work at the gap zone, but Titan has resolved that issue with the execution of a land access agreement with the local community. The company has also undertaken additional sampling outside and south of the corridor.
The work indicates coincident copper-arsenic anomalism beyond the confines of the corridor and south of Papaval. The copper anomalism is strong in the area, but the arsenic anomalism appears weak – although certainly not tenuous.
Oxidized sulphides and rusty staining on the pallid epithermals visible in photos taken at the site suggest that acidity might prevail near the Gisell anomaly. That appears to be supported by the results of recent trenching, which reveals a porphyry copper system with copper oxide and porphyry veining.
Titan says strong coherent lead and zinc anomalism also exists near Gisell, which could imply a massive sulphide porphyry system.
Apart from following up the gap zone geochemistry and examining the potential for gold-silver extensions along the main corridor, sorting out the Gisell anomalism may just clarify what is going on in the north-east of the corridor. It could either be another isolated target or perhaps be hiding a major mineralisation source or driver that may have implications for the entire corridor.
North of Gisell and within the corridor, a maiden drilling campaign of 13 diamond holes for 1360m was completed in December last year, delineating epithermal gold mineralisation through a 250m strike down to depths of 80m to 100m at the Julia vein system.
Titan’s next steps include soil sampling and mapping across the gap zone in a bid to identify gold-silver mineralisation, ongoing trenching across copper-arsenic targets and target-ranking once all the geochemistry is in hand. The company says it has multiple workstreams in progress and is looking at a resource update and a pre-scoping study by the third quarter of this year.
Source: https://thewest.com.au/