Orvana Minerals has reported initial deep drilling results at its Taguas project in Argentina's San Juan province consistent with a porphyry copper-gold system at depth.
The TSX-listed Canadian miner said hole TADD-278 had reached 1,326 metres by April 7, intersecting a vertically zoned hydrothermal system transitioning from a high-sulfidation epithermal environment into a deeper porphyry setting.
The company is expanding evaluation of Taguas beyond the near-surface oxidized gold-silver resource outlined in its 2021 Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) to include underlying sulfide mineralization and potential porphyry-style copper-gold mineralization.
"We are encouraged by the results obtained to date. The upcoming metres of drilling are expected to further improve our understanding of the Taguas mineral system," Raúl Álvarez, Orvana's Director of Exploration and Technical Services, said in the company's April 8 news release.
Orvana had previously completed an updated geological model and an Induced Polarization and Magnetotelluric geophysical survey designed to identify potential targets to a depth of 1,500 metres. Those results, combined with a review of historical exploration data, were used to prioritize key targets for the current deep drilling campaign.
Early assay data and lithology
Hole TADD-278 intersected rhyolitic tuffs with argillic alteration in the upper section, evolving into dacitic volcanics and a sericitic-altered intrusive from 736 metres. Increased veining intensity, A- and B-type veins, and the appearance of molybdenum-bearing veinlets have been interpreted as consistent with a porphyry-style system, although the core has not yet been intersected.
Preliminary assays between 715 and 920 metres returned 0.25 g/t gold and 0.12% copper over a 205-metre interval of core length. Chalcopyrite is present only in trace amounts, with pyrite the dominant sulfide. Assays from 920 metres to current depth are pending.
Drilling progress has been notably slowed by structurally complex fault zones encountered along the hole.
Planned next steps
Orvana plans to continue drilling TADD-278 to a final depth of 1,500 to 2,000 metres. No additional drilling is planned this field season due to adverse weather expected with the arrival of the Southern Hemisphere winter.
The company expects completion of the hole, full data analysis, geological mapping, petrographic studies, and a technical review to inform planning for the next exploration campaign.
Quality assurance
Samples were prepared and assayed at Alex Stewart International Argentina S.A.'s Mendoza laboratory, which holds ISO 9001, ISO 17025, and ISO 14001 certifications. Samples were prepared under laboratory code P-5: dried, crushed to 80% passing a 10 mesh, split to 1 kg, and pulverized to 95% passing 106 microns.
Analyses included 50 g gold fire assay with atomic absorption finish and a 39-element package with aqua regia digestion and inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) finish. Samples with values above gold and silver detection limits were reassayed by 50 g fire assay with a gravimetric finish.
Quality assurance and control procedures included field duplicates of quarter core, coarse duplicates split after laboratory crushing, pulp duplicates split after laboratory pulverization, coarse analytical blank samples, and two different certified reference materials (CRMs) inserted in batches of approximately 50 samples.