Jul 30 2015
Gentor Resources Inc. reports that it has received the assay results for its Phase 1 drilling at its Karaburun Project. The necessary forestry drill permit from the Ministry of Forestry and Water Resources in Turkey enabling it to undertake its diamond drilling program in the southern part of the Karaburun Project was received in December 2014.
The Karaburun Project is a metavolcanics and schist-hosted VMS (volcanogenic massive sulphide) system in forest terrain about 17 kilometres northwest of the town of Boyabat in the Sinop District of the Black Sea region, northern central Turkey (Figure 1).
The drill permit was for Gentor to prepare access roads and drill at up to 27 locations in the southern part of the project area. Under the Phase 1 diamond drilling program, Gentor completed 7 drill holes for a total of 1,707.80 metres. The logging of the mostly HQ-size core and assays on the split core confirm the presence of a Besshi-style VMS mineralisation marked by over 30 metres thick (to the extent known) and stacked sulphide zones which host chalcopyrite-bearing horizons. With drilling effectively almost across dip, the apparent copper intersections in these horizons so far are narrow and less than 1 metre in length; however, they carry 2 to 6% Cu.
The drill data indicates a gentle northerly dip for both the mineralisation and its black schist hosts. As a result, to drill across dip in the optimum orientation, the attention is now directed to Gentor's own license area in the north of the project. For this purpose, an application to drill at as many as 34 new locations (Figure 2) has been lodged with the Forestry Department in Ankara.
Gentor has outlined at the Karaburun Project a 2.5 kilometre long gossanous, Besshi-style VMS mineralised system within Mesozoic Ophiolite-related mafic metavolcanics and schists, similar in both age and character to the Hanönü copper deposit, some 11 kilometres to the northwest. This deposit is currently being developed.
In a government tender process in September 2014, Gentor successfully bid for the area covering the remaining northern portion of the Karaburun Project, the southern part of which was already held by the Company under an existing Turkish joint venture agreement (Figure 3). Previous work in both the southern joint venture agreement area and the northern license area, confirmed widespread copper and zinc anomalism, in initial hand-held XRF measurement of stream sediment and soil geochemical samples, over outcropping and shallow depth continuations of gossan. Recent work led to a better definition of the gossanous outcrops: while some of the gossans are now known to have more limited extent, the Main Gossan, where most of the drills concentrated on, remains large and impressive.
Drill Review
The geology is dominated by the widespread occurrence of metavolcanics which have intercalations of black schists. The most important results from logging of the cores and an examination of the assay data show that the mineralisation is dominated by massive and semi-massive pyrites and that these are concentrated mostly in black schists. These pyrite rich zones attain an apparent thickness of over 30m and are stacked. They have horizons with significant chalcopyrite content. The most important of the chalcopyrite zones are those intersected by drill hole J9 with 0.60m with 5 ppm Ag and 2.21% Cu and drill hole J29 with 0.50m with 18 ppm Ag and 5.96% Cu in the Main Gossan zone (Figure 4).
These are important in indicating that the massive sulphides occur in a stacked fashion and that they can host high grade copper. The mineralisation was detected in four of the holes and these were sent for assay (Figure 4). The highlights from the assay are listed in Table 1. J21 has intersected 7.25m core with 0.34% Cu; J28 hosts several horizons with 0.25% Cu; J29 has cut 3 significant horizons (18.70m with 0.27% Cu; 32.80m with 0.35% Cu & 4.10m with 1.31% Cu including 0.50m with 5.96% Cu - Table 1).
It is noted that most of the mineralised horizons are affected by chlorite/epidote alteration. Accompanying these alteration minerals is widespread occurrence of pyrite- almost always at about 1% level (Figures 5 & 6). Hence, the wide zones are marked by surface markings of iron.
Another significant finding is the slight divergence between the schistosity and the original bedding (Figure 5). While the schistosity appears to dip very gently to the south, the bedding is gently towards the north. As a result, the bulk of any mineralised package is believed to lie in the Gentor license area to the north. The mineralised package appears to plunge to SW or WSW (Figure 6).
Exploration Review
Rock and soil geochemical results gathered by Gentor at Karaburun have defined widespread Cu-Zn-Ag-Au and Co anomalies coincident with numerous stacked stratigraphic mineralised gossan horizons - numbered Main and 1 to 8. Mapping and insitu soil analyses with portable XRF along 100 metre spaced N-S oriented soil geochemical profiles has confirmed and refined the anomalism in relation to the positions of insitu ironstone gossans and their down-slope boulder trains. This data highlights the stratigraphically lower eastern end Main Lode as Cu-rich (+500 ppm Cu) and the central portion (No. 6/7 lodes) as Zn-rich (+250 ppm Zn), whereas the upper western lodes exhibit a more polymetallic Cu-Au-Ag rich signature.
Stream sediment sampling with portable XRF analysis conducted within the Sevlik Creek drainage encompassing the VMS system, highlights the anomalous copper (Figure 7) and zinc geochemistry for several kilometres down-stream from the gossans and within the exposed system, against a low background elsewhere. To the north of the main gossan zones, several anomalous drainages support potential for more mineralisation in the license area. Ongoing mapping and soil geochemistry over the central northern part of the license area led to the identification of new stringer-style mineralisation marked by narrow argillic and/or hematitic alteration zones with pyrite and copper oxides.
The Company has established good working relations with its Turkish partner to promote local community acceptance and support for detailed exploration of the prospective sequence regionally as well as at Karaburun.