Drilling yields gold values at Virgen deposit

Although diamond drilling at the Virgen gold property in north-central Peru has been hampered by bad ground conditions, preliminary results from the first five holes of a 13-hole program are comparable with those returned by surface chip sampling.

Gitennes Exploration (GIT-A) says drilling has proved difficult as a result of the highly fractured, oxidized and porous nature of the host quartzite breccia. Several of the holes were abandoned at shallow depths, short of their target, due to stuck drill rods.

Core sample recoveries are generally below levels that could be considered representative, the company says. Core recoveries of the reported intervals are in the range of 60% to 80%.

The first five holes were drilled from the same setup on the northern extension of the Rio Suro zone, just west of a 75-by-65-metre area where 21 chip samples averaged 1.98 grams gold per tonne.

* The first hole was drilled in a southeasterly direction, and virtually no core was recovered for the first 21.7 metres. From 21.7 to 36.3 metres, a 14.52-metre interval averaged 3.24 grams. The hole was cut short at 36.3 metres because of stuck rods.

* Hole 2 was an attempt to redrill of the first hole, with a 1-metre stepback. It recovered no core for the first 21.3 metres and was abandoned at a depth of 76.5 metres. Between 21.3 and 76.5 metres, the hole averaged 1.11 grams over 55.2 metres (including a 11.2-metre interval grading 2.09 grams from 21.33 to 32.5 metres).

* The third hole was drilled in an easterly direction and averaged 1.54 grams over 90.17 metres between a depth of 14.1 and 104.2 metres. No core was recovered to 14.1 metres and less than 5% was recovered from 104.24 to 129.53 metres, after which the hole exited the quartz breccia.

* Hole 4 was drilled in a northeasterly direction but shut down at 75.9 metres when rods became stuck. While the hole appears to have been in breccia for its entire length, only a 6.7-metre section averaging 3.65 grams was recovered, from 25.3 to 32 metres.

* Hole 5 was drilled to the west, returning 4.63 metres grading 1.45 grams from 16.4 to 21.3 metres before passing into massive quartzite and remaining in it before ending at 131.36 metres. No core was recovered for the first 16.4 metres.

Assay results for the remaining eight holes are pending.

Further sampling along new roadcuts in the southern portion of Rio Suro has extended the length of the zone by an additional 100 metres. Surface chip sampling yielded 25.1 metres averaging 21.01 grams, 23.7 metres averaging 2.75 grams, and 43.8 metres averaging 2.72 grams.

Infill roadcut sampling elsewhere in the zone returned 31.1 metres averaging 2.61 grams gold and 19 metres averaging 5.9 grams.

The Rio Suro breccia zone is now traced over a length of 600 metres, with a width varying from 100 to 210 metres. The zone is exposed across a vertical component of at least 120 metres.

Follow-up work was carried out in a second area of gold mineralization, known as El Centro, 1,200 metres east of Rio Suro. While outcrop exposure is poor, recent chip sampling yielded 15 metres averaging 2.62 grams and 6.2 metres averaging 1.06 grams.

Gitennes is continuing to assess El Centro, along with the intervening area, which is underlain by highly altered volcanic breccia.

A second phase of drilling will resume on the Virgen property in mid- to late April, with a second rig being added to the program.

Gitennes can acquire the Virgen property, situated in the Huamachuco region, by paying US$800,000 and spending US$1.5 million over four years.