Altamira Gold (TSXV: ALTA) said drilling has confirmed a new mineralized porphyry body at the western end of its Maria Bonita gold deposit, pushing a system the company has been steadily enlarging all year further out along strike.
Assays from holes MBA-042 and MBA-043 returned the two widest continuous mineralized intersections drilled at the project to date. Both sit on the far side of a northeast-trending fault, occupied by late post-mineral dykes, that separates the newly defined Maria Bonita West body from the established deposit to the east.
Highlights from the results include:
- MBA-043: 0.4 g/t gold over 231.5 metres from a depth of 93 metres
- MBA-042: 0.3 g/t gold over 200.4 metres from a depth of 113.2 metres
- And 0.3 g/t gold over 45.4 metres from a depth of 61.9 metres
- And 0.4 g/t gold over 36.2 metres from surface
Peak individual samples reached 2.5 g/t gold in MBA-043 and 1.8 g/t in MBA-042, and mineralization shows good continuity between the two holes. The body remains open to the west and at depth. Two earlier holes, MBA-040 and MBA-041, helped fix the northern limit of the veined zone, with MBA040 intersecting 0.1 g/t gold over 40.0 metres, and MBA-041 testing 0.2 g/t gold over 10.6 metres.
“We have now confirmed a new mineralized porphyry body at Maria Bonita West, with drill holes MBA-042 and MBA-043 delivering two of the widest coherent mineralized intersections encountered in our drilling to date,” President and Chief Executive Officer Michael Bennett said in a statement. “With our recently secured land access to the adjacent property, we are now in a strong position to continue drilling westward.”
That access, secured last month, covers 58 square kilometres immediately west of the deposit, including the Novo Sonho target and its three-kilometre gold-in-soil anomaly.
Maria Bonita currently hosts indicated resources of 24.19 million tonnes grading 0.46 g/t gold, or 357,800 ounces, plus inferred resources of 25.64 million tonnes at 0.44 g/t.
Altamira plans further drilling, soil sampling and drone and ground geophysics to trace the anomaly westward.
Altamira Gold last traded at $0.195 on the TSX Venture.
