Vancouver — Drilling by
Diamond and reverse-circulation drilling tested six targets on the 15-sq.-km property in Santa Cruz province.
The property is underlain by El Quemado volcanics, which are known to host low-sulphidation epithermal veins and silica-replacement systems. The veins occur as shoots controlled by fault intersections. In the northern part of the property, the higher grades are concentrated in stockwork veins, while the host rock carries disseminated gold and silver.
Highlights from drilling in the Apoyada zone include hole 3, which returned 1.7 metres grading 37.67 grams gold and 24.86 grams silver per tonne at a down-hole depth of 49.8 metres. The intercept included a 0.7-metre section of 79.2 grams gold and 42.1 grams silver.
On the same target, hole 4 returned 1.15 metres grading 13 grams gold and 9.96 grams silver at a down-hole depth of 73.75 metres.
At the Creston Negro target, hole 5 cut 2.59 grams gold and 7.49 grams silver over 2.15 metres (from a depth of 92.4 metres), while hole 6 returned 1.07 grams gold and 24.6 grams silver over 5 metres (from 1.5 metres).
The company is also active in west-central Argentina, where drilling has expanded the Josemaria copper-gold property. Tenke is testing a 6-sq.-km gold-copper-molybdenum anomaly, which is believed to be part of a large, multiple-target porphyry system.
The company has completed geophysics, trenching, and chip and talus sampling, and is now engaged in a 7,000-metre program of RC and diamond drilling. Results have more than doubled the size of the deposit to 800 by 650 metres. The zone, which is still open at depth and to the southwest, is 150-500 metres thick.
Diamond drill hole 1 averaged 0.47 gram gold per tonne and 0.38% copper over its entire length of 520 metres. Comparable grades over substantial, though narrower, intercepts occur in five of the recent RC holes.
The drilling intersected veins and veinlets carrying pyrite and chalcopyrite, plus secondary enrichment, including chalcocite closer to surface. The centre of the porphyry system carries intense quartz stockworks with typical porphyry veining. Widespread potassic alteration appears to be overprinted by phyllic alteration, and the western edge of the system shows fault-controlled argillic alteration.
Tenke aims to drill as many holes as possible before the Andean winter (in May) to prepare for an initial resource estimate.
The company is drill-testing the southern extent of the porphyry system at the Batidero target, 1 km southwest of Josemaria.
Meanwhile, Tenke has signed an option agreement with a private company for a controlling interest in the 80-sq.-km El Potro project, which is adjacent to Josemaria.
Geophysical work at El Potro suggests a copper-molybdenum system rich in stockwork and sulphide-veining with a silica cap.
Tenke will be the operator of El Potro and can acquire a 70% interest by spending US$2.8 million over five years and paying US$1 million to privately owned YAMIRI.
As well, Tenke has acquired a controlling interest in the Papagallos porphyry copper-gold project, to the south, as a result of agreements with Minera Agaucu and MIMEX.
Strong northwest-trending lineaments on the property are believed to extend across the Chilean border as far as the Escalones project and the El Teniente mine.
Papagallos contains a 3-km-long, 2-km-wide, partly exposed alteration zone. Late-stage porphyries intrude Mesozoic limestone and calcareous sediments.
Previous chip sampling returned 1-2% copper over the main anomaly, in association with skarn mineralization. Tenke’s talus sampling turned up strong copper-gold anomalies across the main zone of potassic alteration.
Drilling is planned for next season.
Tenke can earn an 80% interest in Papagallos over five years by paying US$725,000 in cash and spending US$1.7 million on exploration.
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