Intersections At The Siriema Deposit In Brazil
VANCOUVER - Ero Copper Corp. reported on the ongoing exploration drill programs on its 99.6% owned Vale do Curaça Property located in Bahia State, Brazil and its 97.6% owned NX Gold Mine located in Mato Grosso State, Brazil. This update encompasses drill results received from late May 2020 through early September 2020. Drilling during the period continued to focus primarily on further extending mineralization and infill drilling within the Pilar and Vermelhos Mines, as well as further defining mineralization of the Santo Antonio Vein at the NX Gold Mine ahead of the Company’s updated National Instrument 43-101, Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (NI 43-101) compliant technical reports and mine plans, expected to be completed during the fourth quarter of 2020. All of the Company’s near-mine drilling activities continue to progress according to budget despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
Two newly discovered zones of mineralization, one to the northwest of the Siriema Deposit and the second to the southwest of the UG1 orebody of the Vermelhos Mine. These new zones, in addition to the previously identified Keel Zone at Siriema suggest that multiple “stacked” mineralized structures may be present between the Siriema deposit and Vermelhos Mine, a distance of approximately 700 meters. The two new zones, currently identified by four new drill holes, were discovered as a result of ongoing down-hole electromagnetic (EM) work. The new zones are highlighted by: Siriema, FSI-40 (a previously reported hole that was extended): 10.0 meters grading 4.50% copper, 0.68% nickel including 4.0 meters grading 8.53% copper, 1.25% nickel (Platinum Group Metals “PGM” assay results are pending); Siriema, FSI-99: 13.2 meters grading 1.92% copper, 0.78% nickel including 2.5 meters grading 5.73% copper, 3.33% nickel (PGM assay results are pending); UG1, FVS-608: 16.6 meters grading 0.95% copper and 7.0 meters grading 1.30% copper and FVS-905: 5.6 meters grading 0.84% copper and 3.1 meters grading 0.82% copper; and, Down-hole EM work and further drilling is ongoing with seven drill rigs being used to evaluate the full potential of these stacked structures to the north, south and to depth.
Completion of the Deepening Extension Project drill program within the Pilar Mine in support of the Company’s upcoming 2020 updated mineral resource estimate. Results continue to extend the limits of high-grade ‘Superpod’ mineralization to the north and depth and further highlight that mineralization remains open in both directions. Results are highlighted by: FC5378: 12.4 meters grading 2.82% copper including 2.0 meters grading 8.39% copper, 14.0 meters grading 1.80% copper including 2.0 meters grading 6.05% copper, and 4.4 meters grading 1.66% copper; FC5513: 21.1 meters grading 2.02% copper including 3.0 meters grading 4.36% copper; and FC5514: 22.0 meters grading 2.14% copper including 9.0 meters grading 3.22% copper.
Further extensions of the known limits of high-grade mineralization within the Vermelhos Mine main orebodies, highlighted by: FVS-994: 12.9 meters grading 13.56% copper including 7.0 meters grading 16.43% copper, representing a 100% increase in the interpreted thickness of this area relative to the current (2019) mineral resource, located along the western edge of the central Toboggan orebody.
Ongoing success in demonstrating down-plunge continuity and extensions of the high-grade mineralization of the Santo Antonio Vein at the NX Gold Mine, highlighted during the period by the best results drilled to date by the Company: SA85: 6.5 meters grading 17.11 grams per tonne gold, the highest grade-meter intercept drilled by the Company at the NX Gold Mine to date, further confirming continuity of a thicker core of high-grade mineralization at depth; and, SA83: 5.8 meters grading 17.79 grams per tonne gold, the deepest intercept drilled to date within the Santo Antonio Vein.
David Strang, President and CEO, said, “The latest results from our ongoing exploration programs continue to demonstrate the potential of the Pilar, Vermelhos and NX Gold Mines. We are pleased with the completion of the current phase of drilling within the Deepening Extension zone of the Pilar Mine that will be used to determine the mineral resource and mineral reserves for the Deepening Extension Project. The design of this project is currently underway for inclusion in our 2020 life-of-mine plan update that remains on track for completion during the fourth quarter. As evidenced in the drilling conducted over the past several quarters, including this update, continuity of high-grade mineralization within the Deepening Extension zone continues to be well defined and remains open to the north and to depth. We have not reached the limits of this high-grade zone and are currently using directional drilling equipment to further evaluate its growth potential. While the current phase of drilling for the Deepening Extension Project has been completed, drill rigs will remain in place to continue upgrading the newly identified mineral resource classifications. Based on results to date, we believe that in addition to meaningfully increasing the size of the Pilar mineral resource and extending the overall life of mine, the size and continuity of the Deepening Extension zone may have the potential to support an expansion of the Pilar Mine. This work remains ongoing and is being evaluated in conjunction with our 2020 life-of-mine plan update.
At Vermelhos, we see the two newly discovered mineralized zones at Siriema and UG1 combined with the previously identified Keel Zone at Siriema as the potential foundation for a zone of stacked mineralized structures between the Siriema deposit and Vermelhos Mine that, with further drilling, may demonstrate continuity between these two deposits. Including ongoing drilling at Siriema, seven surface drill rigs are currently focused on evaluating continuity within this target zone, which extends approximately 700 meters in a north-south direction between UG1 and Siriema, approximately 300 meters on east-west section and approximately 400 meters to depth.
The exploration program at the NX Gold Mine continues to deliver outstanding high-grade results both within the known limits of mineralization and in testing down-plunge extensions of the Santo Antonio Vein. Exploration results include the best hole on a grade-meter basis we have drilled as a Company at the NX Gold Mine, and the deepest hole drilled to date within the Santo Antonio Vein. These results showcase that the best is yet to come for this mine. While our drill program remains ongoing, all of the drilling for our updated NI 43-101 technical report has been completed.
Our regional exploration program continues to advance with eight drill rigs currently focused on the program. While the COVID-19 pandemic has had an influence on the program with respect to travel restrictions that have limited our geology team’s ability to travel to site and manage the program, we continue to make good progress albeit at a slower pace than anticipated. The team has uncovered a number of interesting opportunities that we are investigating further. Consistent with our overall approach, we will only make announcements on new copper discoveries once we are comfortable that there is sufficient grade and tonnage continuity to support the delineation of a mineral resource. In parallel, we continue to evaluate the potential for the discovery of additional metals often associated with magmatic-sulphide deposits.
I would like to thank our operating and exploration teams in Brazil for their tireless efforts in minimizing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business. Our exploration programs continue to progress largely as planned, a remarkable accomplishment during these unprecedented times.”
Twenty-six drill rigs are currently operating in the Curaça Valley, including nine within the Pilar District, eleven in the Vermelhos District, and eight operating on regional exploration targets throughout the Curaça Valley. Five additional drill rigs are currently operating at the NX Gold Mine.
Expansions and extensions, as referenced herein, reflect mineralization not captured in the Company’s mineral resource and mineral reserve models used in the current (2019) mineral resource and reserve estimates. There has been insufficient work and analysis surrounding new discoveries, as referenced herein, to define a mineral resource and it is uncertain if further exploration and analysis will result in such targets being delineated as a mineral resource.