Lundin Gold (TSX: LUG) has discovered two new copper gold porphyry systems at its wholly owned Fruta del Norte district in southeast Ecuador, lifting the number of porphyry centres identified across the concessions from five to seven, and is now targeting a maiden resource estimate for the Sandia deposit in early 2027.
The new systems, Sandia Northeast and Sandia Southeast, were both picked up by scout drilling around Sandia, which was itself discovered in 2025. Sandia Northeast sits roughly 500 metres to the northeast and was tested on the strength of a large copper-molybdenum geochemical anomaly, returning a broad interval with potassic alteration and A-type quartz veining. Sandia Southeast fills a previously undrilled gap between the Sandia and Trancaloma deposits.
Highlight results, reported in drill core lengths rather than true widths, include:
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- SND-2026-502: 0.42% copper, 0.08 g/t gold, 1.62 g/t silver and 17.05 ppm molybdenum over 551.30 metres from a depth of 67.00 metres
- SND-2026-510: 0.38% copper, 0.06 g/t gold, 1.93 g/t silver and 39.06 ppm molybdenum over 909.45 metres from a depth of 29.00 metres
- SND-2026-498: 0.22% copper, 0.11 g/t gold, 0.82 g/t silver and 9.97 ppm molybdenum over 454.00 metres from a depth of 278.70 metres
- TRL-2026-439: 0.22% copper, 0.05 g/t gold, 1.43 g/t silver and 19.20 ppm molybdenum over 172.40 metres from a depth of 254.25 metres
The first two holes are from Sandia itself, where mineralization now measures roughly 1,600 metres along strike, 700 metres wide and 1,000 metres deep, and stays open to the north, east and at depth. Hole 502 extended the higher-grade domain in the northern part of the deposit, while hole 510 pushed mineralization further east and deeper.
Sandia has absorbed 16,920 metres of drilling across 24 holes to date. Four rigs are turning there and geological modelling is underway, with all results received so far feeding into the model behind the planned resource estimate. A single rig is working Sandia Northeast.
Chief executive Jamie Beck said Sandia has rapidly become the most mature of the company’s porphyry discoveries and remains the largest and highest grade system drilled on the concessions, with drilling expanding it in multiple directions and offering room to grow beyond the limits of the first resource estimate. He described the two new discoveries as evidence Sandia belongs to a wider cluster of mineralized centres that points toward “the potential for a significant copper-gold district” next to Fruta del Norte and its known epithermal gold deposits.
Results are still pending on four holes, three at Sandia and one at Sandia Northeast.
Lundin Gold last traded at $79.10 on the TSX.
