Auspex steps up work in Portugal

Auspex Minerals (APJ-V) has begun drill-testing the Sao Martinho portion of its Portalegre gold property in east-central Portugal.

The initial target of the 70-metre program is the trenched zone that returned a 100-metre section averaging 1 gram gold per tonne, including 4.5 grams over 8 metres.

Two holes will test sections where trenching previously returned 2.8 grams gold over 7 metres, and 4.3 grams gold over 2.8 metres. Gold mineralization in both areas is associated with zones of silicification in sheared metasediments; these zones occupy a large shear structure extending more than 40 km in length.

Farther north, at the Bigorne project, Auspex received encouraging results from trenching carried out on a bulk-tonnage, intrusive-hosted gold target.

Channel samples returned 0.65 gram over 30 metres, and 1.5 gram over 7.8 metres.

More trenching is planned, to be followed by further geophysical surveying and some 1,000 metres of diamond drilling. Five drill target areas have been defined.

At the Montemor project, in the south, the company is recalculating reserves with its 50% joint-venture partner, Montemor Resources (MNQ-V) (formerly Drumheller Resources). The new figures will be based on the 2,340 metres drilled to date in 40 holes by previous operators. The previous estimate was 1.76 million tonnes grading 3.36 grams gold.

Auspex’s other Portuguese project is the Grandola, south of Lisbon, in which it holds a half interest. The project is shared with Cumberland Resources (CBD-T) (16.66%), Redfern Resources (RFR-T) (16.68%) and International Vestor (IVS-V) (16.66%).

In September, the first hole drilled to test the 3-km-long Porto de Mel gravity anomaly on Grandola had to be abandoned in a fault at a depth of 546 metres. A second hole is being drilled.

Meanwhile, in southwestern Niger, Auspex will resume work on major structures in the 700-sq.-km Koulbaga concession.

A program of termite mound sampling and shallow auger-percussion drilling identified 20 new gold targets, and follow-up prospecting of several of these targets has identified gold mineralization in five separate areas. The fall work program will continue to follow up gold targets and other mineralized areas with additional shallow percussion drilling and trenching.

Auspex has 23.1 million shares outstanding.