EXPLORATION 1998 — Geomaque advances Honduran gold play — Extended strike length could boost resources

Toronto-based Geomaque Explorations (GEO-T) continues to report strong gold grades at the Vueltas del Rio project in northwestern Honduras.

The junior has now completed 192 holes on the Main zone. Stepout drilling has been conducted chiefly in the following three areas:

* San Roberto zone — This flat-lying structure is oxidized to a depth of about 30 metres. Mineralization begins at surface. The most significant holes include: hole 291, which returned 12 metres grading 135.9 grams gold, including 3 metres of 540.97 grams and 1 metre of 1,324 grams; hole 252, which cut 34 metres of 2.12 grams; and hole 256, which returned 15 metres of 2.93 grams.

* Caracol adits — Work in a previously undrilled area has extended the eastern boundary of the Main zone mineralization. Results include 15 metres of 1.07 grams, 20 metres of 3.58 grams and 21 metres of 5.55 grams in hole 266; 9 metres of 12.03 grams in hole 280; and 43 metres of 1.43 grams in hole 282.

* Hole 165 area — Stepout drilling has extended the area of mineralization centred on this hole, which was collared to the east of the known mineralization of the Main zone. Intercepts include 15 metres of 3.12 grams in hole 243; 22 metres of 1.61 grams in hole 245; and 12 metres of 13.86 grams in hole 246.

“The high-grade lenses found in the San Roberto zone are significant,” says Peter Walford, Geomaque’s vice-president of exploration. “But the most important aspect of this round of drilling is the extension of the strike length, which will have a great impact on the overall resource.” Previous operators outlined an overall oxide resource, to a depth of 40 metres, of 5.5 million tonnes grading 1.7 grams gold per tonne. Geomaque, which acquired the property in early 1997, has yet to release its own overall estimate.

Infill drilling, along with additional stepout and condemnation work, is scheduled to resume in the Main zone in the second quarter. A resource estimate for this structure is expected by early April, with a full feasibility study due to get under way in the second half of 1998.

Meanwhile, ongoing metallurgical studies have enabled the company to increase its resource estimate for the smaller San Juan zone, which, like the Main zone, is amenable to open-pit mining methods and heap-leach processing.

San Juan’s resources at year-end were pegged at 3.6 million tonnes grading 1.6 grams per tonne, representing a 45% increase over previous estimates.

The new calculation was carried out to include sulphide and mixed oxide-sulphide material after both were recently shown to be amenable to heap leaching.

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Mixed and sulphide material

McClelland Laboratories, which is carrying out the metallurgical studies, estimates that six months of leaching will liberate 73% of the gold from mixed material and 70% from primary sulphide material. For oxides, gold recovery rates of 89% are anticipated.

Because mineralization remains open at depth as well as along strike, Geomaque expects to outline additional resources.

Unlike previous owners, the company believes the underlying sulphide mineralization may prove minable. Initial results from column tests show potential for the material to be heap leached. It is believed that the low gold grade of the sulphide mineralization would render a milling operation uneconomic.

In December 1997, the company received an environmental permit for Vueltas del Rio, paving the way for construction to begin in the second quarter of 1998.

Situated in Santa Barbara state, 90 km from San Pedro Sula, the property is the site of the historic San Martin mine, which produced gold in the late 1940s from ore grading 12 to 14 grams per tonne. The deposit lies in an east-west striking gold-silica-copper shear zone 300 metres wide and with a known length of 1.5 km. Gold occurs primarily in native form and is hosted by a residual saprolitic soil horizon in the oxidized zone, and with pyrite in sericite schist in the unweathered rock.

Geomaque is currently producing gold at its San Francisco mine in Mexico’s Sonora state.