Olympus moves forward in Vietnam

Vancouver – Having cut two high-grade gold shoots of limited size, Olympus Pacific Minerals (OYM-V) is shifting focus to a new area of mineralization on its Phuoc Son property in central Vietnam.

Exploration efforts have now moved 7 km northwest of the Bai Go and Bai Dat zones where initial grab samples collected from an 80-metre section returned up to 391.3 grams gold and 7 grams silver per tonne. The average grade of the 11 samples taken was 71.2 grams gold and 1 gram silver per tonne. The samples were collected from the centre of a 3-km-long, north-striking shear zone. Mineralization is associated with calc-silicate alteration occurring as pyrite pyrrhotite, chalcopyrite and molybdenite. To date, mapping has outlined a 700-by-300-metre area of calc-silicate alteration within a gold-in-soil geochemical anomaly measuring 3 km long by up to 700 metres wide. This “skarn-style” zone differs from the base-metal-rich gold mineralization cut during last year’s drill program.

Over the past year, Olympus Pacific has drill-tested the Dak Sa shear zone in the southeastern portion of the project. Drilling tested the downdip extension of gold mineralization exposed within shallow, small-scale mine workings along the western limb of a northerly plunging anticline at Bai Dat, as well as the nearby Bai Go prospect.

The Bai Dat zone comprises gold, silver and base metal mineralization hosted by quartz veins and breccias in greenschist metamorphics. The westerly dipping quartz vein system appears to have been folded near the surface into a northerly plunging anticline. Veins are typically 1 to 4 metres thick, with breccias and quartz-carbonate veinlets locally extending into the wall rocks. Open-pit and underground artisan miners have worked the vein over a 300-metre strike length along the anticline axis. The high-grade shoot was cut by 18 of the 32 holes drilled showing an average grade of 22.7 grams gold over 3.6 metres.

Moving 1 km to the north at Bai Go, mineralization is associated with multiple quartz veins that measure up to 44 metres in true thickness in the Dak Sa shear zone. The latest drill results include 8.85 grams gold, 9.61 grams silver per tonne, plus 1.08% lead and 0.22% zinc over 19.5 metres from 144.7 metres down-hole in hole 89. To date, 32 of the 37 drill holes have cut the targeted quartz vein over a 300-by-250-metre area.

Olympus Pacific holds a 57.2% stake in the project and is negotiating to increase this to 67.4%. The remaining 32.6% belongs to Ivanhoe Mines (IVN-T). The project is 140 km southwest of Danang.