Dorato outlines gold-copper anomaly at Lucero

Vancouver – Early results from Dorato Resources’ (DRI-V, DRIFF-O, D05-F) Lucero target have sparked new interest in the company’s Peruvian properties.

Dorato has been busy exploring targets within its roughly 1,050-sq.-km land package in the Cordillera del Condor district, with a focus on the Taricori gold zone near the Peru-Ecuador border. But a recent exploration update on Lucero, 5 km southeast, helped Dorato’s stock price and activity increase markedly.

The update included Geochemical soil sampling results on Lucero that indicate a 700-metre north-to-northeast-trending zone of anomalous gold and cooper geochemistry with grades over 0.5 gram gold per tonne and 0.1% copper. Combined with rock sampling in the area, the results point to an open-ended anomaly over 1.1 km long and 700 metres wide.

The update was released on Oct. 5, and Dorato saw its stock price increase 62¢, or 88.7%, over the next four days on 4.3 million shares traded. A 19¢ correction on the fifth day, following a long weekend, had the stock settle to $1.13. The company believes the spike could have also been partially due to larger funds starting to buy into the stock.

The gold-copper anomaly at Lucero has been reinforced by rock sampling and trenching in the area, and is consistent with airborne geophysical magnetic data.

Mineralization occurs in a hydrothermally altered set of sedimentary and intrusive rock as well as in massive magnetite replacement and breccia bodies.

Drill permits are in the works to test Lucero, which Dorato expects to secure in the coming weeks. The company is also continuing with rock sampling and trenching on the target.

Exploration results thus far on Lucero have included 41 metres of trenching grading 3.08 grams gold and 0.2% copper and 10 continuous rock-chip samples over 30 metres averaging 2.85 grams gold and 0.37% copper.

The company is also making progress in the Taricori area, with final drill results expected soon from the 2010 drill program, as well as preliminary results from Taricori East drilling.

Early bench-scale metallurgy from Taricori, meanwhile, suggests that greater than 90% gold recovery is possible using two concentrates in standard flotation. The gold also seems to be sulphide free-milling and non-refractory.

Dorato continues to work towards expanding known targets on its vast land holdings, which have seen little exploration. An extensive airborne geophysical program is well underway with results expected in the coming weeks.