Rio Narcea expands search for Iberian gold

Drilling by Rio Narcea Gold Mines (RNG-T) has extended the known mineralization at the El Valle open-pit mine in northern Spain.

Alberto Lavandeira, the company’s president, spoke at the Mining Investment Forum in Denver, where he unveiled results from three holes drilled from the surface into the Boinas East deposit.

* Core hole 163 intercepted 41.2 metres of gold mineralization grading 13.7 grams per tonne starting at a depth of 115 metres. The hole confirmed mineralization found in hole 1010, which initially led to the discovery of the extension.

* Updip from hole 163, hole 161 encountered 13.7 metres averaging 5.9 grams gold at a depth of 136 metres, as well as 6.2 metres of 3.2 grams at a depth of 179 metres.

* Hole 160 cut 24.2 metres of 14.4 grams gold.

Holes 162 and 165, now under way, are designed to test the extension further. Results are expected in November.

The company plans to gain access to the new mineralization by extending the planned pit boundary to the east by as much as 50 metres.

Reserves at El Valle stand at 14.2 million tonnes grading 4.3 grams gold, equivalent to nearly 2 million oz. gold. Production is 7% higher than expected, with the output for the current year projected to exceed 100,000 oz.

Meanwhile, Rio Narcea is expanding its search for gold on the Iberian Peninsula, occupied by Spain and Portugal in southwestern Europe.

The Penedono prospect comprises 440 sq. km along northeasterly trending structures that can be traced from Portugal into Spain towards the El Valle mine.

Gold mineralization at Penedono occurs in a series of quartz veins associated with arsenopyrite, pyrite and chalcopyrite. The veins are part of extensive system of mineralization measuring 10 km long and as wide as 1.5 km; they are hosted in granitic rocks.

Thirteen mineralized structures have been recognized at Penedono, several of which were mined in Roman times. Work during the 1950s included up to 4 km of underground development, as well as installation of milling, flotation and roasting circuits.

The property contains a reource of 1.5 million tonnes grading 8.3 grams gold, equivalent to 400,000 oz. Rio’s initial investigation showed that 34 of 50 chip and channel samples assayed greater than 1 gram gold, whereas 20 samples averaged more than 10 grams.