Oroco drills 0.45% CuEq over 328.3 metres at Santo Tomas, Mexico

Oroco Resource Corp. [OCO-TSXV; ORRCF-OTCQB; OR6-FSE] reported additional assay results from its drilling campaign at the Santo Tomas property in northwestern Mexico, having received and quality controlled the drill results from holes N013 and N014 in the north zone deposit. Assay results through the first 14 drill holes (10,293 metres of drilling) have now been received. A total of 20 holes have been completed in the north zone to date.

The 2021/2022 drill program has now spanned 1,100 metres of strike length along the core of the north zone mineral deposit. The drill program is proceeding well, with the targeted mineralization intersected at the anticipated depths and intervals in most drill holes.

The company is pleased that its drilling results continue to confirm the following: Copper grades in holes N009 through N014 are comparable with the historical drilling reported on each related cross-section. Results to date continue to confirm the geological conclusions and the 2009 grade shell model contained in the 2019 technical report. Holes N013 and N014 indicate that the grade shell remains confirmed in its structural strike and dip. However, importantly, the hangingwall mineralization is wider and nearer surface than first modelled from historical drilling. Targeting areas westward at shallow depths for the broader response in the three-dimensional induced polarization model under the Santo Tomas ridge is, therefore, confirmed.

“These drilling results continue to support and guide our exploration campaign and will help the focus on defining the Santo Tomas north zone,” said Richard Lock, CEO.

Drill holes N001 to N014 test the north zone deposit perpendicular to its structural attitude. Core intervals for those holes are within approximately 10% of true thicknesses, except for N004. Assay results from the first 14 drill holes (10,293 m of drilling) have been received and quality controlled.

Over the span of the company’s drilling to date, drill holes N011 southward for 700 metres to N010 establish the tenor of the higher-grade portion of the north zone. Two diamond drill rigs are presently working on the north zone, testing extensions northward, southward and down dip: Northward – Drill hole N013 tests to the northwest and down dip of drill hole N011; Southward – Drilling has stepped out 350 metres south of previously reported drill hole N010 in an area concealed beneath a blanket of limestone and postmineralization volcanic beds. Two drill holes to the south are completed, and a third is in progress. Down dip – Drill hole N014 tests down dip of N012 and N007.

Drill hole N013 intersected a broad 450 m interval of altered, mineralized andesite and monzonite intrusion at the northern extremity of the company’s current north zone drill program. That interval includes 128 metres of 0.32% CuEq (copper equivalent), 30 metres of 0.38% CuEq and 95 metres of 0.45% CuEq. The company’s drill target is the 2009 grade shell model of greater than 0.3% copper of the historical drilling that is described in the company’s 2019 technical report. The higher-grade intervals of N013 confirm the grade shell.

Notably, outside of the grade shell, the hangingwall and footwall in N013 each contain greater than 120 metres of altered lithologies with about 0.3% CuEq, representing a local doubling of the target thickness of the north zone deposit. The deposit is much closer to surface than the company’s initial targeting implied.

Drill hole N014 intersected a broad 330 metres interval of altered, mineralized andesite and monzonite intrusion down dip from the good intervals drilled in N012 and N007. Within that interval, 126 metres of 0.23% CuEq was intersected at the bottom of the grade shell. The hangingwall of the north zone in this section has several short (12 m to 27 m) intervals of promising grade. N014 indicates the north zone is flattening and thinning down dip on section 57, which is common in structurally controlled mineral deposits.

West of N014 is a lobe of increasingly strong chargeability response in the Dias Geo 3-D induced polarization survey. Notwithstanding the results of N014, this shallow, western geophysical target lies only 100 to 200 metres below the flank of the Santo Tomas ridge and is a high-priority drilling target.

The company holds a 73.2% net interest in the collective 1,172.9-hectare core concessions of the Santo Tomas project and may increase that majority interest up to an 85.5% interest with an investment of up to $30-million. The company also holds a 77.5% interest in 8,154.3 hectares of mineral concessions surrounding and adjacent to the core concessions (for a total project area of 23,048 acres).