Luminex Resources drills 5.4 g/t AuEq over 33 metres at Cuyes West, Ecuador
Luminex Resources Corp. [LR-TSXV; LUMIF-OTCQX] reported drill results from four holes (CU23-23 to CU23-26) that targeted the Cuyes West structure, Ecuador, with hole CU23-25 also intersecting a new breccia pipe discovery underneath the existing Cuyes open-pit mineral resource. The company is now allocating more drill holes to the breccia pipe that has been displaying long mineralized intercepts, with grades increasing as Luminex drills deeper.
Hole CU23-25 intersected multiple high-grade structures in the breccia pipe, notably three metres from 223 metres grading 17.47 g/t goldand 46.4 g/t silver (18.02 g/t AuEq (gold equivalent)), within a wider intercept of 203 metres from 134 metres which graded 1.38 g/t gold and 8.4 g/t silver (1.48 g/t Au Eq).
The highest-grade drill core ever assayed at the Cuyes deposit was just intercepted in CU23-26, a one-metre interval grading 115.80 g/t gold and 220.1 g/t silver (118.44 g/t Au Eq) from 290 metres in a structurally controlled vein. This sample is part of a broader intercept of five metres from 286 metres grading 24.44 g/t gold and 62.8 g/t silver (25.19 g/t Au Eq).
Hole CU23-24 intersected multiple high-grade intercepts, including 2.3 metres returning 23.14 g/t gold and 115.2 g/t silver (24.53 g/t Au Eq) from 457.4 metres, within a broader 11.7-metre zone of 5.02 g/t gold and 32.2 g/t silver (5.41 g/t Au Eq) from 449 metres. This hole stepped out approximately 75 metres laterally on the Cuyes West structure, west of hole CU22-05, which cut five metres grading 29.43 g/t gold and 86.5 g/t silver (30.47 g/t Au Eq) from 277 metres. Hole CU23-23, also a step-out of hole CU22-05, approximately 75 metres to the east, intersected one metre from 223 metres of 9.23 g/t gold and 13.2 g/t silver (9.39 g/t Au Eq).
Other high-grade intervals are present in additional structures in holes CU23-23, CU23-24, CU23-25 and CU23-26.
The style of mineralization at the Cuyes West structure is identical to that at the Camp deposit, 600 metres to the west. At a property scale, these mineralized structures are interpreted to be hosted in ring and radial fractures around the Los Cuyes caldera.
The newly discovered breccia pipe is hosted primarily within caldera-fill pyroclastic and volcanoclastic rocks, and is flanked to the north and south by dacite porphyries that appear to focus the mineralization in the breccia pipe. The pipe was a blind discovery and comes within 100 metres of surface, but does not outcrop. Mineralization within the breccia pipe occurs mainly within hydrothermal crackle-veinlet breccias with minor shatter breccias, as well as patches, veinlets and replacements.
While the geological model is evolving and more drilling is required, the Cuyes deposit may contain a higher-grade breccia pipe, similar to the Kelian deposit in Indonesia or the Rosia Montana deposit in Romania.
Luminex Resources is focused on gold and copper projects in Ecuador. Luminex’s inferred and indicated mineral resources are located at the Condor Gold-Copper project in Zamora-Chinchipe Province, southeast Ecuador. Luminex also holds a large and highly prospective land package in Ecuador, including the Pegasus and Orquideas projects, which are being co-developed with Anglo American and JOGMEC respectively.