Ecuadorian’s drilling falls short

The latest drill results from the Vetaspata gold property in southwestern Peru are disappointing compared with the first batch.

Ecuadorian Minerals (EMC-T) reports that the last seven holes of the 19-hole program encountered multiple gold-bearing mantos, including hole 17, which cut seven previously unidentified mantos. The hole returned 9.6 grams per tonne over 0.3 metre. At a depth of 108 metres, the deepest manto (containing visible gold) consisted of 2.3 metres grading 2.5 grams gold.

More than 200 metres to the south, hole 18 hit 0.37 metre of fracture-stained quartzite grading 10.4 grams gold at depth of 29 metres.

Results from the previous batch of holes, announced in December 1999, encountered several higher-grade intercepts, including hole 6, which hit a 1.8-metre manto grading 14.4 grams gold at a depth of 15 metres, followed by visible gold in a 0.8-metre interval grading 28.8 grams gold at a depth of 33 metres.

In all, the 1,728-metre program has revealed the broad lateral extent of the manto horizons (over an 800-by-550-metre area) and their multiple-stack nature. Mineralization in the folded and faulted arkosic sediments remains open along strike to the northwest and southeast, as well as updip and downdip.

In February, Ecuadorian will carry out small-scale rock panel sampling of two well-exposed mantos, as well as underground drifting and bulk sampling.