Carpathian Gold climbs on Romanian drill results

Carpathian Gold (CPN-T) is mounting a strong run on the market thanks to its latest results out of Romania.

The assays come out of a 35,000 metre diamond drill program at its wholly owned Rovina Valley Project (RVP) in west-central Romania.

And while RVP is made up of three separate deposits, the latest results focus on Ciresata with the bulk of the results coming from the outer perimeter of the known copper and gold porphyry deposit.

Assays were highlighted by three separate holes returning: 668 metres grading 0.86 grams gold and 0.17% copper, including 198 metres grading 1.13 grams gold and 0.17% copper; 249 metres grading 1.04 grams gold and 0.16% copper, including 54 metres at 1.50 grams gold and 0.18% copper and 427 metres grading 0.77 grams gold and 0.16% copper.

The results also included one in-fill hole which returned 314 metres grading 1.08 grams gold and 0.20% copper including 65 metres grading 1.49 grams gold and 0.25% copper.

Carpathian says the hole extends the mineralization within the core of the deposit 100 metres to the northeast at depth.

“These results indicate the deposit is still open and supports our belief that the size of this deposit will increase,” Carpathian’s president and chief executive Dino Titaro said in a statement.

That belief is supported by the fact that the grades of the mineralization in the outer area are consistent with previous results which could mean more tonnage when the upcoming pre-feasibility study is released.

The company describes the Ciresata porphyry system as a blind deposit that begins 40 to 140 metres below surface.

The deposit is still open to the southwest, west and northeast and the company has four drill rigs turning at Ciresata and a fifth drill rig arriving this week.

RVP is made up of three porphyry systems known respectively as Rovina, Colnic and Ciresata all of which were discovered by Carpathian.

The project currently has measured and indicated resources of 193.1 million tonnes grading 0.49 grams gold and 0.18% copper for 3.07 million oz. of gold and 759.1 million lbs of copper.

A preliminary economic assessment on the project envisioned conventional open-pit mining for the Colnic and Rovina deposits with the Ciresata being mined by bulk-underground methods.

The study considered a 19 year mine-life that would produce a total of 6.22 million gold equivalent ounces.

And while RVP is shaping up into an even more robust project, Carpathian’s main focus remains the development of its Riacho dos Machados gold project in Brazil where it is ramping up its permitting and construction efforts.

The project has proven and probable reserves of 20.9 million tonnes grading 1.24 grams gold for 830,000 oz. of gold.

Carpathian is targeting production of roughly 100,000 oz. of gold per year, and with an internal rate of return estimated by the company to be 27.6%.

Construction is slated to begin by mid 2011 with initial production coming in late 2012 or early 2013.

Since releasing the results on July 11th, Carpathian shares are up 28% to 54¢.