Erdene drills 12 metres of 5.3 g/t gold Eq. in Mongolia
Erdene Resource Development Corp. [ERD-TSX] has provided positive drilling and trenching results from the Union North deposit at its 100%-owned Altan Nar gold-polymetallic project in southwest Mongolia. Drilling at Union North (UN) continues to demonstrate excellent continuity of the high-grade, near-surface mineralization, while step-out trenching has expanded the main mineralized zone by 200 metres to the east. Additional drilling and trenching results for the Discovery zone (DZ) deposit at Altan Nar are anticipated by mid-fourth quarter, 2015.
“Today’s results achieved our stated objectives of confirming continuity of near-surface, high-grade zones within the Union North deposit and significantly expanding the mineralized zone, increasing our confidence in initial development and demonstrating excellent growth potential,” said Peter Akerley, President and CEO. “This marks the first reporting of a series of results anticipated in the coming weeks including those from our main Altan Nar deposit, Discovery zone and the new Bayan Khundii gold discovery 15 km southeast of Altan Nar.”
- Infill drilling returns high-grade intersections within 30 m of surface:
– TND-81: nine m of 6.2 grams per tonne (g/t) gold equivalent (AuEq);
– TND-81: excluding two postmineral dikes, 28.3 m of 2.6 g/t AuEq;
– TND-82: 12 m of 5.3 g/t AuEq (including five m of 10.9 g/t AuEq);
– TND-83: 5.2 m of 7.7 g/t AuEq;
– TND-85: 12.8 m of 3.4 g/t AuEq;
- Main UN mineralized body extended 200 m east with step-out trench:
– ANT-41: 28.5 m of 2.5 g/t AuEq;
- Deposit remains open at depth and along strike.
Union North deposit
UN is one of 18 gold-polymetallic target areas identified to date along the 5.6-km Altan Nar mineralized trend. In first quarter 2015, Erdene reported an overall mineral resource for Altan Nar that included both the UN and the DZ deposits located 1.3 km apart. The UN resource was largely restricted to an area 260 m along strike and to a vertical depth of 100 m. UN is characterized by a series of gold-lead-zinc-silver mineralized, easterly dipping, subparallel epithermal veins and breccia zones, up to 50 m wide, hosted by andesitic volcanic lithologies that were subsequently cut by post-mineralization porphyritic dikes. Excluding the dikes, the mineralized zone is typically 10 to 30 m wide.
Trenching to the south and now east of the resource area has established continuity of the mineralized zone over a strike length of approximately 600 metres. Previous trenching at UN has provided some of the highest grade mineralization to date, including 19 metres of 8.9 g/t gold, 66 g/t silver, 7.7% lead and 2.5% zinc. The third quarter 2015 drilling and trenching program achieved the objective of increasing confidence in the high-grade central area and expanding the resource potential outside the current resource boundary. Go to company website for compete assays.
Union North trench results (ANT-41) include 28.5 metres grading 1.88 g/t gold, 4.3 g/t silver, 0.78% lead and 0.35% zinc (2.52 g/t gold Eq.), including 8.0 metres of 3.55 g/t gold, 5.0 g/t silver, 0.70% lead and 3.26% zinc (4.15 g/t gold Eq.), including 2.0 metyres of 8.44 g/t gold, 10.0 g/t silver, 3.3% lead and 0.52% zinc (11111110.55 g/t Eq.).
NOTE: Reported intervals represent horizontal surface intersection within trenches. The orientation of the mineralized zone, and therefore the true width, has not yet been determined.
In Q1 2015, Erdene announced an initial NI 43-101 mineral resource estimate for DZ and UN. The mineral resource consists of 147,000 ounces AuEq averaging 2.5 g/t AuEq (grading 1.7 g/t gold, 11.1 g/t silver, 0.61% zinc and 0.54% lead) in the indicated category, and 102,000 ounces AuEq averaging 2.1 g/t AuEq (grading 1.5 g/t gold, 10.4 g/t silver, 0.54% zinc, 0.39% lead) in the inferred category, at a 1.0 g/t AuEq cut-off, within 1.8 million tonnes (Mt) indicated and 1.5 Mt inferred, respectively. Gold equivalent calculations assume metal prices of US $1,200/oz gold, US $18/oz silver, and US 90 cents per pound for lead and zinc. The mineralized zones are orientated at close to 45-degree dip at UN and range from vertical to subvertical at DZ, with little to no overburden cover, and with widths in the range of a few metres up to 50 m, with approximately 90 % of the mineral resource identified to date within 150 metres of surface.