Vancouver – Strong gold results out of Argentina on the back of good gold grades from Chile have investors interested in Exeter Resources (XRC-V), pushing its share price to $3.74 from $2.35 in two weeks.
Exeter holds several gold-silver projects in Argentina and Chile. Its largest site is the Don Sixto (previously called La Cabeza) property in southern Mendoza province, Argentina. An updated resource estimate for that site is expected this month, but of late is it the companys exploration-stage projects that are garnering attention.
In late May Exeter released drill results from its Caspiche property in the Maricunga gold district of Chile showing continuous, deep gold porphyry mineralization. Core hole CSDH 013 intersected 304 metres grading 0.9 gram gold per tonne, starting 40 metres downhole. The mineralization remains open to depth.
The professional reaction by analysts was, Wow, tell us more about what youve got there, said Exeter chairman Yale Simpson. Knowing the Maricunga gold porphyry district theres always interest in another project. And were halfway between two strong mines its the right address, so to speak.
Simpson said Exerter will now work completing a detailed IP survey to pin down the shape of the porphyry project, which it will continue drilling in the fall. Hopefully by May next year we will be able to produce a 43-101 resource estimate, Simpson said.
The Maricunga gold belt hosts a number of large gold deposits, including the Refugio/Verde and Cerro Casale deposits. Anglo Americans (AAUK-Q) subsidiary Anglo American Chile and Mantos Blancos held the properties within the Caspiche project for some time. In 2004 Exeter and Anglo worked out an agreement where Exeter can earn a 100% interest in the projects, minus a 3% net smelter return from production to Anglo, by investing US$2.55 million and completing 15,500 metres of drilling. Exeter embarked on field exploration in late 2005.
Two weeks after the Caspiche results Exeter released core results from one of its Argentinean projects: the Cerro Moro site in northeastern Santa Cruz province. At Cerro Moro Exeter is focusing efforts on the eastern side of the Escondida vein structure, where one of the latest drill holes (MD098) intersected 3.83 metres grading 127.7 grams gold, including a 1.1-metre interval grading 464.6 grams gold. Silver results are not yet available for this hole because samples returned assays above the upper detection limit of 10,000 grams per tonne.
Hole MD089 returned 30.3 grams gold and 1,173 grams silver over 2.85 metres, including 0.32 metre grading 263 grams gold and 9,370 grams silver. Drilling is continuing on the Escondida structure, which remains open along the strike and to depth. The east structure has been traced over a strike length of 700 metres, and to date 300 metres of the western offset has been exposed.
Exeter came into the Cerro Moro property also in 2004, when the company worked out an option agreement with privately-held Cerro Vanguardia S.A. (CVSA) to acquire the rights to all 39 properties contained in CVSAs four exploration projects in Patagonia, Argentina, though not including those surrounding CVSAs Cerro Vanguardia gold mine. Exeter is obliged to spend US$3 million over five years and to drill 10,000 metres on any of the four projects.
The Cerro Moro project is the only CVSA property that has seen exploration, and therefore become Exeters first focus. In all, 22 prospect areas covering 16 vein structures and 6 potential veins were discovered. According to Simpson, those vein structures are obvious targets: prominent, high quartz, high silica structures. Exeter decided to probe to the south of the explored region, and in doing so moved lower in the epithermal system.
Other veins drilled on this project didnt have big sulphide components, but that is what we found in the south in the Escondida veins, Simpson said. The potential for this kind of mineralization is kind of a surprise, but Argentina is like that different kinds of deposits. The Escondida core is also being assayed for base metals, and Simpson expects to release those numbers in a matter of weeks.
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