Oct 12 2015
Cornerstone Capital Resources Inc. ("Cornerstone" or "the Company")announces the following project update for the Cascabel copper-gold porphyry joint venture exploration project in northern Ecuador, in which the Company has a 15% interest financed through to completion of a feasibility study.
HIGHLIGHTS:
- CSD-15-012 ("Hole 12") confirms extension of the mineralized porphyry copper-gold system at Alpala Central.
- CSD-15-013 ("Hole 13") nears target depth.
References to figures, photographs and tables related to the version of this release on the Company's website (www.cornerstoneresources.com) or visible in PDF format by clicking the link below:
http://www.cornerstoneresources.com/i/pdf/NR15-22Figures.pdf.
FURTHER INFORMATION:
Hole 12 was completed on September 30, 2015 at a depth of 1683.0 metres. Hole 12 intersected over a kilometre of visible porphyry copper-gold mineralization, and confirms that the mineralized system at Alpala Central remains open further to the southeast. Final assay results are expected mid-October.
Hole 12 intersected strong copper-gold mineralization in two distinct zones:
- The upper portion of the "Eastern Limb" zone (234m) from 128 to 362 metres depth, hosted within the San Juan de Lacas Volcanics.
- The "Main Limb" zone (952m) from around 440 metres to 1390 metres depth, hosted within early diorite and quartz-diorite porphyry.
The 234 metre intersection over the upper portion of the "Eastern Limb" zone includes two distinct fingers of higher grade copper and gold mineralization from 128 to 186 metres and from 224 to 366 metres. These zones are associated with strong chalcopyrite and bornite mineralization. The occurrence of this strong mineralization within the volcanic cover may be indicative of stronger intrusive hosted mineralization at depth.
The 952 metre intersection through the "Main Limb" zone reflects characteristically strong mineralized early stage diorite and quartz diorite intrusives from approximately 444 metres, and from 1151 metres respectively. This broad interval includes extensive zones of intense quartzstock work veining and potassic alteration. Examples of drill core from the remaining intersection beyond 979.8 metres depth are presented in Figure 1.
SolGold geologists anticipate that the Eastern Limb likely coalesces with the Main Limb into a broader zone of high grade mineralization at depth (Figure 2).
Drill testing of this prospective zone of deep coalescence is planned in the near future in order to assess the potential for a much wider target at depth (Figure 3; see planned Hole 'C'). The geometry of the high grade porphyry at Alpala Central, as defined by the limited drilling completed to date, remains open in its largest window to the northeast.
Rig 1 is currently being moved to the previous CSD-13-004 ("Hole 4") drill site where it will be positioned to drill towards the northwest, to assess the northeast extension of very high grade copper-gold mineralization intersected in CSD-14-009 ("Hole 9"), CSD-15-010 ("Hole 10"), and the lower portion of CSD-14-008 ("Hole 8")(Figure 3; see planned Hole 'B'). Several other holes have been planned for Rig 1, in order to define the extent of the copper-gold mineralization Alpala Central (Figure 3: see Holes 'A','C', and 'D').
Rig 2 commenced drilling Hole 13 at the Alpala North West drill site on August 29th, 2015, and is currently at a depth of 881.3m. This hole tests the inferred porphyry centre at Alpala Northwest, where contiguous geochemical, mineralogical and geophysical targets mark a target defined at depth by magnetic vector inversion ("MVI")(>0.008 S) and induced polarization magneto telluric ("IP MT") conductivity (>100 ohm-m) (Figure 4).
Hole 13 intersected 835.9m of volcanics, before passing into a late stage intra-mineral diorite dyke which has persisted to the current depth of 933.0 metres. Intra-mineral diorite and quartz-diorite dykes at Cascabel are known to be of limited width and extent. Geological modeling predicts that Hole 13 will pass into more prospective early stage intrusives around the 1000m mark. This predictive interpretation is supported by increasing magnetic and conductivity below 900m depth (as shown in Figure 4). Increasing magnetite content as well as an increasing chalcopyrite/pyrite ratio, from around 850m depth, further support the interpretation that the hole is nearing the mineralized system inferred at Alpala Northwest.
About Cascabel
SolGold Plc owns 85% of the equity of Exploraciones Novomining S.A. ("ENSA"), an Ecuadorean company that holds 100% of the Cascabel concession in northern Ecuador. Cornerstone owns the remaining 15% of ENSA, which also holds the rights to the La Encrucijada gold-silver project. SolGold is funding 100% of the exploration at Cascabel and is the operator of the project. Cornerstone's 15% interest is financed through completion of a feasibility study.
Cascabel is located in north-western Ecuador in an under-explored northern section of the richly endowed Andean Copper Belt, 60 km northeast of the undeveloped inferred resource of 982 million tons at 0.89% Cu Junin copper project (0.4% Cu cut-off grade; Micon International Co. Ltd. Technical Report for Ascendant Exploration SA, August 20, 2004, pages 28 & 29). Mineralization identified at the Junin copper project is not necessarily indicative of the mineralization on the Cascabel Property.
Qualified Person:
Yvan Crepeau, MBA, P.Geo., Cornerstone's Vice President, Exploration and a qualified person in accordance with National Instrument 43-101, is responsible for supervising the exploration program at the Cascabel project for Cornerstone and has reviewed and approved the information contained in this news release.
Logging, sampling and assaying
Holes referred to in this release were or are being drilled using HTW, NTW, NQ and BQ core sizes (respectively 7.1, 5.6, 4.8 and 3.7 cm diameter). Geotechnical measurements such as core recovery, fracturing, rock quality designations (RQD's), specific density and photographic logging are performed systematically prior to assaying. The core is logged, magnetic susceptibility measured and key alteration minerals identified using an on-site portable spectrometer. Core is then sawed in half at the ENSA core logging facility, and half of the core is delivered by ENSA employees for preparation at ALS Minerals Laboratories (ALS) sample preparation facility in Quito. Core samples are prepared crushing to 70% passing 2 mm (10 mesh), splitting 250 g and pulverizing to 85% passing 75 microns (200 mesh) (ALS code CRU-31, SPL21 and PUL-32). Prepared samples are then shipped to ALS in Lima, Peru where samples are assayed for a multi-element suite (ALS code ME-ICP61, 1g split, 4-acid digestion, ICP-AES finish). Over limit results for Ag (> 100 g/t) and Cu, ( > 1%) are systematically re-assayed (ALS code Ag-AA62, 4-acid digestion, AAS finish). Gold is assayed using a 30 g split, Fire Assay (FA) and AA finish (ALS code Au-AA23).
Quality assurance / Quality control (QA/QC)
The ALS Laboratory is a qualified assayer that performs and makes available internal assaying controls. Duplicates, certified blanks and standards are systematically used (1 control sample every 15-20 samples) as part of Cornerstone's QA/QC program. Rejects, a 100 g pulp for each core sample and the remaining half-core are stored for future use and controls.