Torq Resources drills 0.68% copper, 0.94 g/t gold over 98 metres at Margarita, Chile

Torq Resources Inc. [TORQ-TSXV; TRBMF-OTCQX] has extended its initial discovery 190 metres to the north at the 100%-optioned Margarita iron-oxide-copper-gold (IOCG) project in northern Chile, approximately 65 km north of the city of Copiapo.

Drill hole 22MAR-014R intercepted 98 metres of 0.94 g/t gold and 0.68% copper from 32 – 130 metres depth, successfully following up on the original discovery hole, 22MAR-013R, which intersected 90 metres of 0.94% copper and 0.84 g/t gold. The phase II drill program, consisting of 11 drill holes totaling approximately 4,000 metres, has been completed and results will be forthcoming in the coming weeks.

Shawn Wallace, CEO and Chair, commented: “We are extremely pleased to be able to confirm and expand upon the widths and grades of the new discovery at the Margarita project that we announced earlier this year. We also have several more exciting drill holes that we are waiting to obtain results from and will release once available. With the continued success at Margarita, coupled with our recent success in obtaining a community agreement for the Santa Cecilia project, all shareholders and stakeholders of Torq are in for an exciting next twelve months.”

Michael Henrichsen, Chief Geological Officer, said, “We believe we have identified a robust mineralized system at Margarita, with our second drill hole into the Falla 13 discovery zone returning a long, consistent intercept of nearly 1 g/t gold and 0.68% copper over 98 metres. We remain impressed by the high gold content in the mineralization encountered to date and believe that additional gold bearing structures identified on the property will develop into new targets, even further adding to the potential of the property. We look forward to planning the next phase of drilling along the Falla 13 structural corridor and testing new targets.”

The mineralization intercepted in drill hole 22MAR-014R is characterized by a largely gold-only oxide zone from 32 – 80 metres depth, where copper has been largely leached out of the system as evidenced by abundant limonites, boxworks, hematite and minor copper oxides as weathered products of pyrite, magnetite and chalcopyrite respectively. The host rock in the leached zone is characterized by texturally destructive intense argillic and sericitic alteration. The oxide portion of the drill hole has an intercept of 48 metres of 1.15 g/t gold and 0.18% copper.

The boundary between the oxide and hypogene sulphide mineralization is sharp and occurs over a 4-metre wide zone, where secondary chalcocite copper mineralization is observed between 76 – 80 metres depth. The sulphide mineralization observed in drill hole 22MAR-014R is characterized by pyrite and chalcopyrite both disseminated and in veinlets within the host dioritic intrusion and within magnetite breccia bodies. The sulphide portion of the drill hole has an intercept of 50 metres of 0.74 g/t gold and 1.16% copper from 80 – 130 metres.

Due to the extensive surficial leaching of copper observed on surface and now confirmed in drill hole 22MAR-014R, the company plans to conduct an additional geochemical survey to assay for gold and a multi-element package to look for immobile trace elements associated with mineralization. With the presence of abundant gold rock chips in various areas of the project, Torq’s technical team believes this exploration step will derive new targets moving forward (Figure 4). In addition, over the coming months Torq will be reviewing all results and planning a more substantive phase III drill program.