Jan 7 2013
Condor, a gold exploration company focused on delineating a large commercial reserve on its 100%-owned, CIM compliant Mineral Resource of 2,375,000 oz gold at 4.6g/t at La India Project in Nicaragua, is pleased to announce that a soil sampling survey has been completed over a 1400m by 600m area centred on the Central Breccia Prospect.
Location of the Soil Sampling in the Central Breccia area within the La India Project area
The soil sampling was undertaken on a 100m by 25m grid over an area with similar geological characteristics to those associated with gold mineralisation on the Central Breccia and has identified a number of anomalous zones that may indicate the presence of hidden/buried gold mineralised breccia zones spread over a 1200m by 500m area.
Highlights
- Three soil geochemical anomalies identified within 1200m by 500m area containing the Central Breccia Prospect.
- Potential for 3 additional breccia pipes within this area.
- Significant, as the location is interpreted the structural centre of La India Gold District
Mark Child, Chairman and CEO commented:
"The Central Breccia is interpreted as a breccia pipe with a surface area of 300m by 150m. The recently conducted soil sampling programme has identified 3 geochemical anomalies, which may identify 3 additional breccia pipes within an area of 1200m by 500m containing the Central Breccia. It is important to emphasis that this hydrothermal breccia area, containing pyrites, is a very different gold mineralization than the epithermal gold mineralization that contains the bulk of Condor's 2.4M oz gold at 4.6g/t resource within La India Project. Condor completed 866m drilling and 1329m trenching on the Central Breccia in the first half of 2012. The hydrothermal breccia contain wide zones of moderate to high grade gold mineralization, such as the best drill intercept of 45.8m (apparent width) at 4.24g/t within much wider, albeit lower grade gold mineralization such as drill intercept 102.11m at 0.31g/t. The structural setting of the 3 geochemical anomalies is significant as the Central Breccia area is interpreted as the structural centre and possible "feeder zone" of La India Gold District; there remains the prospect of significant additional gold discoveries within the vicinity."
The Central Breccia Prospect, which was discovered by Condor's geologists in 2011, is a hydrothermal breccia zone extending over an area of at least 300m by 150m defined by 1329m of trench sampling and extends to at least 100m below surface as demonstrated by five drillholes for 866m. The entire breccia is anomalous in gold as demonstrated by drill intercepts such as 102.11m at 0.31g/t gold. Within this broad mineralisation envelope high grade gold mineralized zones are recognized with dimensions of up to 25m width and 70m to 150m length as defined by trench intercepts of up to 23m at 3.63g/t gold and a best drilling intercepts of 45.8m (apparent width) at 4.24g/t gold (see RNS announcement dated 28th May 2012). Hydrothermal breccia, stockwork veining and alteration patterns similar to those found in the halo around the Central Breccia with weak background gold anomalies have been found in outcrop elsewhere within the soil sampling area suggesting that there might be other hidden/buried high-grade breccia pipes within 100m of the surface.
The Central Breccia is located in the structural centre of La India gold mining District within an east-west to northwest-southeast orientated graben-like axis, a likely location of the heat source and potentially a "feeder zone" for the gold bearing fluids that transported and deposited the gold. The hydrothermal breccia is hosted by andesitic rocks with crustiform and vuggy quartz-calcite veining forming the matrix throughout the hydrothermal breccia, in both the high and low-grade zones. The high-grade gold mineralized zones are characterized by intense argillic alteration and pyrite mineralization and in some cases a series of narrow, 10-20cm thick banded quartz-calcite veins. The Central Breccia is the first example of wide zones of moderate to high grade gold mineralization hosted by a hydrothermal breccia system in the La India District. It is unlikely that the Central Breccia is a unique hydrothermal system and the wide distribution of epithermal vein-hosted gold mineralization over an area of more than 100km² in La India Mining District suggests that there was abundant movement of gold bearing fluids in the geological past and that there are more gold mineralized hydrothermal breccia systems to be discovered.
The soil sampling survey was designed to characterise the geochemical footprint of the Central Breccia gold mineralisation and to look for a similar geochemical signature in the vicinity that might point to the location of other hidden/buried breccia pipes. The results will be used to direct and prioritise future exploration aimed at the discovery of further high-grade gold mineralised breccias.
Six hundred soil samples were collected at 25m intervals along 200m spaced north-south oriented lines and analysed for a 31 element suite. The assay results returned an average value of 0.028g/t gold and a standard deviation of 0.073g/t1. The average value is elevated by the residual effects of known epithermal quartz veins on the northern and southern margins of the survey area. Visual inspection of the mapped results suggests that a background value over barren rock is less than 0.020g/t gold (see Figure 2). A strong gold, silver and weaker arsenic anomaly is recognised over the Central Breccia prospect with a maximum gold value of 0.719g/t gold, 2.3g/t silver and 172ppm arsenic. Three other locations are recognised with similar geochemical signatures which may indicate the presence of other hidden/buried gold mineralised breccias (Figure 2 below):
- A.a significant anomaly is identified 200m to the west of the Central Breccia with a maximum of 0.143g/t gold in soil,
- B.another less significant anomaly 300m to the north-west with a maximum of 0.024g/t gold can be distinguished from surrounding background values of less than 0.02g/t gold, and
- C.the smallest anomaly with a maximum of 0.115g/t gold is located 800m to the west of the Central Breccia.
In addition to the three targets well defined gold, silver and arsenic anomalies are recognised along two linear east-west trends on the northern and southern bounds of the soil survey area. These have been interpreted as associated with the Las Lajitas-Tatiana Vein and the Constancia vein respectively based on known outcrops.
The three soil anomalies are identified as potential indicators of hidden/buried breccias and provide positive targets for further exploration work and, subject to continued positive geological indicators, potential drill targets.
To view "Figure 1. Location of the Soil Sampling in the Central Breccia area within the La India Project area", please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/La-India-Project.pdf.
To view "Figure 2. Map showing interpreted gold anomalies from the Central Breccia area identified by anomalous gold values, in yellow areas that correspond to known vein systems and in red the central breccia discovery hill. Areas A, B and C in green represent other anomalous gold areas that have been identified by soil sampling", please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/Central-Breccia.pdf.
Competent Person's Declaration
The information in this announcement that relates to the mineral potential, geology, Exploration Results and database is based on information compiled by and reviewed by Dr Luc English, the Country Exploration Manager, who is a Chartered Geologist and Fellow of the Geological Society of London, and a geologist with seventeen years of experience in the exploration and definition of precious and base metal Mineral Resources. Luc English is a full-time employee of Condor Gold plc and has sufficient experience which is relevant to the style of mineralization and type of deposit under consideration, and to the type of activity which he is undertaking to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the June 2009 Edition of the AIM Note for Mining and Oil & Gas Companies. Luc English consents to the inclusion in the announcement of the matters based on their information in the form and context in which it appears and confirms that this information is accurate and not false or misleading.