Titan Minerals has uncovered a new gold vein system – which it has dubbed its “Julia” target – at its Papayal prospect that forms part of the company’s greater Dynasty project in the Ecuadorian mountains.
Management revealed today that the new system was recently discovered by mapping and surface geochemistry at Papayal and has now been confirmed by drilling, with two holes intersecting wide zones of epithermal vein-hosted mineralisation from shallow depths.
Titan is currently working on resource growth drilling at Papayal with four diamond holes for 394m completed and a further nine holes for 1005m remaining.
Papayal’s current mineral resource sits at 900,000 tonnes at 4.54 grams per tonne gold and 50.85g/t silver for a contained figure of 130,000 gold ounces and 1.43 million ounces of silver.
Initial drilling at the prospect was designed to test the recently discovered Julia target, which has never previously been drill-tested. Titan says Julia is about 400m long by 200m wide and is located at a major structural intersection, where large-scale north-east, north-west and north-south-trending faults are exposed, representing a damage zone with significant brecciation, veining and associated alteration – representing what it believes is a substantial new gold system.
Resource drilling through nine diamond holes for 970m at the company’s Cerro Verde prospect has also been completed.
While the new system at Julia is based on visual evidence, management expects to receive assay results from Cerro Verde and the first holes at Papayal within the next two to three weeks.
The Julia vein system is the first of many that are set to be discovered and drill tested in the Company’s efforts to grow the already established 3.1Moz gold and 22Moz silver resource at the Dynasty Gold Project. Titan Minerals chief executive officer Melanie Leighton
Rock-chip samples previously collected from Papayal returned impressive figures including one grading 43.1g/t gold and 1500g/t silver. A second sample from the prospect returned 26g/t gold and 155g/t silver, while a third recorded 22.7g/t gold and 689g/t silver.
The greater Dynasty project is an advanced-stage exploration play in the Loja Province of southern Ecuador, comprising five concessions totalling 139 square kilometres. It includes three concessions that received environmental authorisation in early 2016 and which are fully-permitted for exploration and small-scale mining.
In July, Titan unveiled a maiden mineral resource at Dynasty of 43.54 million tonnes at 2.23g/t gold and 15.7g/t silver for a sizeable 3.12 million gold ounces and 21.98 million ounces of silver, with nearly 40 per cent already in the higher-confidence “indicated” status. Dynasty also contains a high-grade component of 17.3 million tonnes grading 3.77g/t gold and 24g/t silver for a contained 2.09 million gold ounces and 13.33 million ounces of silver.
In The Beatles’ 1968 song “Julia”, John Lennon and Paul McCartney penned the line, “Glimmering in the sun”. And that appears to be exactly what the gold at Titan’s new Ecuadorian target of the same name is doing.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: office@bullsnbears.com.au