Solaris Resources drills 567 metres of 1% CuEq at Warintza; shares up
Solaris Resources Inc. [SLS-TSXV] has released assay results for the first hole from the continuing 40,000-metre diamond drill program at its Warintza Project in southeastern Ecuador. The company began trading on the TSXV on July 13.
This is the first drill program made possible in nearly 20 years at Warintza and aims to expand the lateral footprint and depth extent of the high-grade Warintza Central Zone, discovered by the late David Lowell in 2000.
Highlights
The first hole, SLS-01, returned a consistent, high-grade interval starting from surface of 567 metres of 0.80% copper, 0.04% molybdenum and 0.1 /t gold (1.00% copper equivalent – CuEq), including 446 metres of 0.88% copper, 0.04% molybdenum, 0.1 g/t gold (1.09% CuEq) and terminated in a barren dike (true width cannot be determined with the information currently available).
SLS-01 greatly extends mineralization to depth and improves upon the grade of Warintza Central in which historical drilling averaged less than 200 metres in depth.
Geological interpretation places this interval in the outer halo of the porphyry system, with the higher-grade core to be vectored toward with additional drilling.
An advanced airborne geophysical survey commencing next week is expected to aid in targeting at Warintza Central and within the broader five-kilometre-long Warintza trend.
A secondary objective of the geophysical survey is to refine the series of three multi-kilometre gold-in-soil anomalies located northeast of Warintza and generated by soil sampling last year.
Additional drill results are expected by early September, with more frequent results expected as drilling ramps up thereafter.
Jorge Fierro, Vice-President, Exploration, commented: “We are very pleased to have intersected a long interval of consistent, high-grade porphyry mineralization from surface on the first-ever deep hole drilled on this property. The hole was collared within the footprint of Warintza Central but greatly extends mineralization to depth before terminating in a barren dike. As expected, no significant values of deleterious elements were detected in assaying.”
Daniel Earle, President and CEO, said: “We are delighted to report the results of the first drill hole completed on the Warintza Project in nearly 20 years, an achievement made possible through the strategic alliance with the Warints and Yawi indigenous communities that forms the foundation of social support for this project. With this result, we have begun to write a fitting epilogue to David Lowell’s legendary career.”
Warintza Central is presently defined by a pit-optimized mineral resource estimate of 124 million tonnes of Inferred Resources grading 0.56%, 0.03% molybdenum and 0.1 /t gold (0.70% CuEq), based on historic drilling totalling less than 7,000 metres and averaging less than 200 metres in depth. The resource is entirely open laterally and at depth and is set within the five-kilometre-long Warintza trend of porphyry mineralization. There has been no drilling outside of the Warintza Central area.
In August 11 trading, shares of Solaris gained $0.32 to $2.75, up 13.2%, on a volume of 665,200 shares traded.