Rugby Resources Ltd. (“Rugby” or the “Company”) is delighted to declare that the new exploration has considerably improved the potential of the Venidero epithermal gold-silver project of the Company in Santa Cruz Province, Argentina.
Venidero Project Location. Image Credit: Rugby Resources Ltd.
Highlights:
- New ground magnetic surveying and reprocessing of earlier survey information have characterized potential structures for ore deposition.
- Identification of several regions of silica alteration with blocks of vein material.
- Planning of follow-up mapping and geochemical sampling.
- The project is undrilled.
The Venidero project contains 80 km2 around the western margin of the Deseado Massif, Santa Cruz Province, Argentina. It is 60 km south of Newmont’s Cerro Negro gold mine (reserves of 2.56 million ounces of gold grading 8.89 g/t - 2021 Newmont Reserves Release).
Venidero gold mineralization is in the same Jurassic Chon Aike volcanic formation that hosts the Cerro Negro deposit. Before this program, exploration had found two high-priority targets at the “Gorgonzola Vein” and another 12 km to the south, called the “Silica Cap”.
High-level hydrothermal breccia and chalcedonic to opaline colloform banded veins inside a regional fault structure are shown by the undrilled north-south trending Gorgonzola Vein. Grades up to 4.45 g/t gold were returned by preceding surface rock chip sampling.
Within an epithermal gold vein system, geochemistry and textures show the veins are exposed at a high level. To assess the system, drilling is needed at deeper levels, as illustrated in the Conceptual Model.
Two ground magnetic surveys have been conducted by Rugby: a Northern grid with readings on 80 meters (“m”) spaced 045° lines and a Southern grid with readings on 200 m spaced E-W lines.
On the Southern grid, the new 132-line km ground magnetic program displays a strong magnetic low (structure) that bifurcates from the main trend towards the southeast. Mining during the progression of the survey on the Southern grid found 14 areas of low-temperature silica, along with blocks of vein material up to 1 m in diameter.
The silica zones are up to 100 m long and seem to be associated with interpreted structures within magnetic lows that are considered potential for ore deposition. At the time of the program, the veins were not sampled owing to the lack of appropriate sampling equipment. Nevertheless, detailed mapping and geochemical sampling of the potential regions will be performed when the area is accessible after the winter.
Venidero is emerging as an extensive epithermal vein field. The geologists who discovered the Cerro Moro gold silver deposit identified strong north-westerly structures within the ground magnetic data at Venidero. It is well known that such flexures are important for localising gold silver mineralisation. The magnetics also define favourable structures under overburden in the central sector of the vein system. Experience has shown that sulphide-rich veins can be higher grade and preferentially eroded. This is certainly the case at Cerro Moro and Cerro Negro.
Yale Simpson, Chairman, Rugby Resources Ltd.
An exploration campaign that includes geological mapping and elaborate rock chip geochemistry is scheduled for H2-2023.