Jun 25 2020
Image Credit: Shutterstock.com / Jose L. Stephens
Turmalina Metals Corp. reports that it has expedited drilling at its San Francisco gold-silver-copper project by adding a second drill rig to the current program.
Highlights
- The first drill rig will be retained at the San Francisco de Los Andes (SFdLA) breccia.
- Using the second rig, a new hole will be drilled at SFdLA before the start of exploration drilling at the newfound gold-copper-silver mineralized breccia pipes.
- Drilling has started with a strong cash position and balance sheet.
In the last month, the operations team at Turmalina has set up a camp and built multiple drill pads and access roads. This process was smooth and Turmalina started the drilling at the SFdLA breccia pipe three weeks earlier, which it drilled previously in 2019.
The second rig is now onsite and will bore a single hole at SFdLA before it is assigned for the testing of high-priority exploration targets, with about 2000 m of drilling scheduled along four gold-copper mineralized breccia pipes.
These new exploration targets were found as part of the summer field program, which involved mapping and sampling of the entire project area measuring 3400 ha, thus resulting in the finding and sampling of more than 60 breccias.
All these new breccia pipes are situated in the close vicinity of SFdLA. Rock chip samples obtained from one of the new targets exhibited 385 g/t silver, 79 g/t gold, and 7.7% copper—which are assay grades higher compared to those acquired from rock chips over the SFdLA breccia pipe bored by Turmalina in 2019. The mapped extent of the four to-be-tested breccia pipes is larger than that of the SDdLA breccia pipe.
The first drill rig that is now located at the SFdLA breccia will be retained at the breccia pipe, with about 2500 m of drilling scheduled at SFdLA to investigate for extensions to high-grade gold-copper-silver mineralization unraveled in the first phase of drilling by Turmalina in 2019.
The 2019 drill results included 36.95 m at 122 g/t Ag, 6.31 g/t Au, and 0.88% Cu (8.7 g/t AuEq; SFDH-001); 85.30 m at 109 g/t Ag, 4.43 g/t Au, and 0.79% Cu (6.6 g/t AuEq; SFDH-002); and 26.75 m at 97 g/t Ag, 5.47 g/t Au, and 3.30% Cu (10.6 g/t AuEq, SFDH-004).
As part of the ongoing program, the first holes will investigate 60–80 m beneath the deepest holes bored by Turmalina so far. Then, additional holes will extend this to greater depths and investigate shallower lateral extensions.
We are pleased to accelerate the drilling program at San Francisco with two rigs now turning at the project. This second rig will test some exciting recently-discovered breccia pipes that are not only larger on surface than the SFdLA pipe but in some cases have returned higher gold, silver and copper rock chip assay results than found on the surface of the SFdLA breccia pipe.
Dr Rohan Wolfe, Chief Executive Officer, Turmalina Metals Corp.
Dr Wolfe continued, “Drilling at the SFdLA breccia is progressing well, with a series of holes that test for vertical and lateral extensions to this high-grade breccia pipe: a breccia that returned some of the highest gold grades ever reported for this style of mineralisation during our 2019 drill program.”
The San Francisco gold-silver-copper project is situated in the Argentinian state of San Juan. Authorities of the state reacted promptly to the COVID-19 pandemic threat, and thus, only 8 COVID-19 cases have been recorded in the state as of June 22nd, 2020.
Turmalina has rigorous protocols in place throughout the program to further reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission to its team and the community. These protocols include improved hygiene, social distancing, longer rosters at its remote field camp, screening of all staff and contractors for their health, and an onsite medical professional to track health and ensure protocols are followed.
Furthermore, Turmalina has granted 2,070,000 incentive share purchase options to management, technical staff, directors, and advisors of the company, which can be exercised at a cost of $1.30 for 5 years.
Turmalina singed 12-month investor relations agreements with Highland Contact (controlled by Adam Ross), from Canada, on January 15th, 2020. CAD $7,000 per month will be paid to Highland Contact, which will coordinate all North American investor relations for Turmalina. This will include materials creation, advertising, and handling all inbound investor relations communications for 12 months.
A total of 150,000 incentive stock options were granted to Adam Ross on August 9th, 2019, for a 5-year term and an exercise cost of $0.50, to offer corporate finance services to Turmalina. Highland Contact, a corporate communications firm, helps public and private companies with corporate communication and to create a capital markets strategy.
About the San Francisco Project, San Juan, Argentina
The San Francisco project with a 3404 ha extent is situated in San Juan, Argentina. The project area includes over 60 tourmaline breccia occurrences, a majority of which include supported small-scale mining. The focus of Turmalina is to map and sample the breccias and to perform drill testing on prioritized targets.
Work Programs
At the San Francisco gold-silver-copper project, the summer field program extended geological mapping, geochemical sampling (rock chips and soils), and portable XRF analysis across the entire project area.
High-priority breccia targets identified by the first-pass sampling underwent detailed channel sampling and mapping, which resulted in the selection of drill targets for the pending drill program. Moreover, Turmalina is consolidating its regional holdings as San Francisco is situated inside an 80-km-long gold-copper mineralized belt.