Aurelian cuts more gold at Condor (January 12, 2004)

Vancouver — Aurelian Resources (ARU-V) has released more assay results from its 2003 exploration drilling program at its wholly-owned Condor project in southeastern Ecuador.

The results from this initial campaign represent 14 holes on two of the company’s 15 bedrock gold prospects.

A total of six diamond drill holes were drilled beneath pits No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 at the Aguas Mesas Sur zone. Another eight holes tested a 95-metre-long artisanal trench exposure dubbed the Aguas Mesas Norte zone. The two Aguas Mesas zones are about 1 km apart.

The best values were hit in hole CP-12 which returned 35.25 metres averaging 4.91 grams gold, starting 52.3 metres down-hole. The intersection cut a quartz-vein stockwork and vein zone and was drilled at a dip of minus 46 degrees, from east to west. The true thickness of the zone is believed to be at least 17 metres.

The junior states that visible gold was observed in the core of holes 1, 7 and 12.Highlights of the drill results are as follows;

• Hole CP-02 cut 3 metres averaging 1.35 grams gold per tonne, starting 43.15 metres down-hole. This included a 0.35-metre section that averaged 7.14 grams gold and 161 grams silver per tonne.
• Hole CP-03 cut 3.8 metres averaging 1.4 grams gold per tonne, starting from surface. This was followed by a 0.4-metre section averaging 0.61 grams gold and a 1.5-metre section that averaged 0.96 grams gold.
• Hole CP-06 cut 1.54 metres averaging 0.8 gram gold, starting 31.7 metres down-hole. This was followed by a 1.3-metre section that averaged 1.0 gram gold.
• Hole CP-07 cut 5.05 metres averaging 9.80 grams gold, starting 49.7 metres down-hole. This included a 1.94-metre section that averaged 21.94 grams gold.
• Hole CP-12 cut 0.04 gram gold and 103 grams per tonne silver, starting 17.6 metres down-hole. This was followed by a 35.25 metre interval that averaged 4.91 grams gold, starting 52.3 metres down-hole.
• Hole CP-13 cut 2.15 metres averaging 3.53 grams gold, starting 44.65 metres down-hole. This included a 0.75 metre interval that averaged 7.47 grams gold.
• Hole CP-14 cut 5.8 metres averaging 5.74 grams gold, starting 50.3 metres down-hole. This included a 3.35-metre section that averaged 8.27 grams gold.
• Holes 4, 5, 8, 9, 10 and 11 contained no significant values.

All of the holes encountered wide intersections of pyritized andesite with geochemically anomalous gold and silver values. Higher-grade gold (plus or minus silver) was confined to zones of quartz veining, quartz stockwork and silicification. The wall rocks are altered and host variable amounts of epidote, magnetite, chlorite, calcite, sericite, clay, pyrite and silica. Aurelian considers the mineralization to be epithermal in nature and relates to faulting and regional tectonism.

Aurelian’s first-pass exploratory drill program was designed to test geology beneath shallow artisanal mine workings. This year, the company intends to perform more pitting and trenching in both the Aguas Mesas Norte and Aguas Mesas Sur areas, with the goal of extending mineralized zones and identifying structural controls to high-grade gold mineralization. In addition, the junior recently commissioned fluid-inclusion studies in order to determine the depth at which the mineralization formed.

Moving, 600 metres northeast of Aguas Mesas North, Aurelian identified a 15-metre-wide creek exposure that assayed 4.18 grams gold and 258 grams silver over 1 metre. Aurelian also reports that numerous quartz float blocks were encountered east of Aguas Mesas Norte, when drill access was being constructed. These float blocks suggest further veining in the higher ground to the east.

Drilling will continue later this month, and will focus on the Las Penas and Bonza zones, situated about two km north of Aguas Mesas Norte. Both zones contain artisanal mine workings. Previous drilling by former operators on Bonza returned 115 metres of 1.58 grams gold.