Lundin Gold sees more porphyry potential at Fruta del Norte
Lundin Gold Inc. [LUG-TSX, Nasdaq Stockholm] has announced exploration results from its near-mine exploration program at the Fruta del Norte mine in Ecuador.
The company’s exploration strategy includes growing inferred resources through the extension of known deposits, and the identification of new porphyry targets, including Sandia, Trancaloma and the Castillo target.
“Seventeen rigs, eleven on surface and six underground, are currently turning on our exploration program and a minimum of 108,000 metres of drilling will be completed in 2025, representing the largest drilling program ever conducted on the land package that hosts Fruta del Norte,’’ the company said in a press release.
At the Sandia porphyry, the company said all drill holes returned wide mineralized zones, including the highest-grade intervals ever intercepted in the porphyry program close to surface.
At Sandia, drilling highlights include drill hole SND-2025-335, which intersected 0.49% copper, 0.10 g/t gold, 2.41 g/t silver and 16.43 ppm molybdenum (0.59% CuEq) over 606.70 metres from 21.40 metres.
At the Trancaloma porphyry, the drilling program continues to expand the system, and a large mineral envelope has emerged, remaining open in all directions.
Trancaloma drilling highlights include drill hole TRL-2025-315, which intersected 0.30% copper, 0.09 g/t gold, 1.42 g/t silver and 16.19 ppm molybdenum (0.38% CuEq) ovrr 774.60 metres from 225.50 metres.
At the Castillo target, drilling results include shallow high-grade zones confirming a new discovery, and suggests potential for additional porphyry centres.
“The latest results not only confirm the continuity of mineralization at Sandia, and Trancaloma, but also indicate a much larger scale porphyry system along this main corridor,’’ the company said. “The discovery of higher-grade intervals at Sandia and Castillo is meaningful and highlights further opportunities within these large porphyry systems for both additional scale and higher grade,’’ the company said.
New drill results have been released as Ron Hochstein prepares to step down as CEO and director after 10 years at the helm. He will be succeeded by Jamie Beck, the former CEO and director of Filo Corp. a move that takes effect on November 7, 2025.
Fruta del Norte is one of the highest-grade operating gold mines in the world. The mine reached commercial production in February, 2020. Lundin acquired the asset from Kinross Gold Corp. (K-TSX, KGC-NYSE) in 2014 for $240 million.
The Fruta del Norte deposit is a north-south trending intermediate-sulphidation epithermal gold-silver deposit measuring approximately 1,300 metres along strike and 400 metres down dip.
Lundin was able to acquire Fruta Del Norte for a fraction of the $1.2 billion that Kinross paid for the asset after Kinross was hit with a 70% revenue-based windfall profits tax and halted development after spending US$225 million on drilling.
On Tuesday, Lundin Gold shares rose 0.62% or 59 cents to $95.94. The shares trade in a 52-week range of $116.20 and $29.42.