Lundin Gold drills 77.18 g/t gold over 1.9 metres of at Fruta del Norte mine, Ecuador

Lundin Gold Inc. [LUG-TSX, NASDAQ Stockholm; LUGDF-OTCQX] reported additional results from its conversion and near-mine exploration programs at its 100%-owned Fruta del Norte (FDN) gold mine in southeast Ecuador. From the conversion program, drilling in the second quarter returned high-grade results while the near-mine program advanced the Bonza Sur and FDN South (FDNS) targets with encouraging drilling intercepts confirming their significant prospectivity. Highlights from the conversion and near-mine programs are outlined below.

Highlights from underground conversion holes drilled (not true widths): Drill hole FDN-C23-016 intersected 10.19 g/t gold over 23.3 metres from 9.0 metres and 7.58 g/t gold over 21.5 metres from 191.5 metres. Drill hole FDN-C23-021 intersected 12.48 g/t Au over 15.6 m from 7.0 m and 20.08 g/t Au over 12.8 m from 31.7 m.

Drill hole FDN-C23-025 intersected 22.95 g/t Au over 16.4 m from 10.2 m, including 77.18 g/t Au over 1.9 m. Drill hole FDN-C23-028 intersected 11.33 g/t Au over 35.0 m from 69.0 m, including 76.04 g/t Au over 4.0 m.

Highlights from near-mine surface exploration holes drilled (not true widths): Drill hole FDNS-2023-024 (at FDNS) intersected 11.54 g/t Au over 7.1 m from 412.4 m, including 76.5 g/t Au over 1.0 m. Drill hole BLP-2023-025 (at Bonza Sur) intersected 7.59 g/t Au over 5.1 m from 212.9 m, including 12.43 g/t Au over 2.1 m.

Drill hole BLP-2023-026 (at Bonza Sur) intersected 4.53 g/t Au over 8.8 m from 264.7 m, including 7.36 g/t Au over 2.0 m from 264.7 m and 7.13 g/t Au over 2.0 m from 271.5 m.

Ron Hochstein, president and CEO, commented: “I am pleased to announce additional results from Lundin Gold’s 2023 exploration programs. The conversion program has successfully defined zones of high-grade mineralization within the FDN deposit that we expect will continue converting resources to reserves. Results from the near-mine program confirm the continuity and expansion potential of recent discoveries, Bonza Sur and FDNS, and improve our understanding of their mineralization geometry. Nine rigs are currently turning on our conversion and exploration programs, and a minimum of 43,000 metres of drilling are planned in 2023. This represents the largest drill program in the district since 2007.”

Lundin Gold has been advancing its conversion program at FDN, with the objective of converting mineral resources to mineral reserves. In the past months, conversion drilling has focused on the southern extension of FDN, where high-grade intercepts are associated mainly to vein and/or veinlet zones hosted in volcanic or porphyritic intrusive rocks. Drilling results from the program have significantly increased confidence in the geologic model of the southern extension of the deposit, and have revealed a vein-type higher-grade mineralization within the mineral inferred envelope. The 2023 program is planned to comprise approximately 7,600 metres of drilling, and since January, a total of 4,612 metres across 30 drill holes have been completed.

The near-mine program focuses on exploring sectors located along trend of the FDN deposit and within extensions of its major controlling structures. Initial drill results published in January and May confirmed the discovery of two new mineralized zones to the south of the FDN deposit, FDNS and Bonza Sur.

At FDNS, progress was made in delineating this buried epithermal mineralization located immediately south of the current resource envelope of FDN and to the west of the East fault. Drilling at FDNS is continuing with one rig turning.

At Bonza Sur, drilling is enabling expansion of this target located 1 km south of FDN. Five new drill holes have been completed. Mineralization has been intercepted for 500 metres along strike from north to south and 300 metres along the down-dip and remains open in all directions. Drilling at Bonza Sur is planned to continue to focus on the 1.2-km-long soil geochemical anomaly to the south, and a systematic follow-up will be initiated focused on the higher-grade intercepts returned from this target. Two rigs are currently turning at Bonza Sur.

The near-mine exploration program also discovered new targets of interest through a detailed geological interpretation of exploration data and additional surface work. The program is continuing with two rigs turning, and is currently testing the FDN North and FDN East targets.

The 2023 regional exploration program continues to advance in the southern region of the Suarez basin with a total of 2,796 metres completed to date. Targets of interest, such as Quebrada La Negra and Crisbel, located along the basin’s western border, have been the primary focus. The 2023 regional drilling program comprises 12,500 metres of drilling, and a second rig was recently added to the program to advance exploration at additional targets.