Gold Vessel drilling in El Callao district

A second phase of drilling has been completed on the Choco-6 property in Venezuela’s El Callao district.

Gold Vessel Resources (VSE) is earning a half interest in the property from a private Venezuelan company and has drilled 80 reverse circulation holes on four anomalies.

Gold Vessel hopes to expand a previously outlined 5.4-million-tonne resource, grading 1.3 grams gold per tonne, on the Cerro Azul anomaly. Most of the second-phase drilling was concentrated on the Cerro Azul anomaly, with all the holes testing only the saprolite mineralization and not the bedrock below.

Assay results in the saprolite ranged from 3 metres grading 1 gram up to 10 metres grading 6.5 grams.

One hole, 60-17.5, did extend into bedrock primary mineralization, returning 3 metres at 7 grams.

Richard Warke, president, is excited about the bedrock potential of the property and expects the tonnage and grade of Cerro Azul to increase as a result of the recent drilling.

The company is calculating a new resource figure and, in addition, is conducting metallurgical tests on samples from the deposit.

A third phase of work, expected to begin shortly, will include diamond drilling to test primary bedrock mineralization, as well as reverse circulation drilling to extend the saprolite mineralized structure on the Cerro Azul and Nor Est anomalies.

Gold Vessel has about 44 million shares outstanding on a fully diluted basis and $150,000 in working capital. Warke said the company has not set a budget for the next phase of work but will likely raise in the order of $500,000 in the near future.

Gold Vessel can earn the half interest in the property by spending US$3 million, about half of which has been spent. The company also issued 3 million shares to the vendor and, to become fully vested, is required to pay US$3 million within 60 days of the completion of a positive feasibility study.