(MENAFN - ProactiveInvestors - Australia) Elementos (ASX: ELT) has inked its first in-house resource for the Manantial vein, part of the Manantiales gold-silver project in the San Juan Province of Argentina, delivering 36,310 gold equivalent ounces from 4,559 metres of diamond core drilling and 245 metres of sawn blade channel sampling.
Manantiales is located within an epithermal gold district, adjoining and immediately to the north of Troy Resources' (ASX: TRY) Casposo gold-silver development.
The project shares a similar geological and mineralisation environment to the already producing Casposo.
There is still plenty of exploration upside at Manantiales with the system remaining open along strike, north and south, as well as at depth.
Elementos believes there is the potential for the Manantial vein to support a larger epithermal system at depth.
Substantial progress has been made at the Manantiales project, discovering and defining prospects through mapping, surface sampling, geophysics and drilling.
Three phases of drilling totalling 7,841 metres have been completed on the Manantial, Julieta and La Puerta veins.
At the Manantial vein, drilling has defined the shallow levels of a low-sulphidation epithermal vein system, with further potential at depth and along strike to discover new mineralisation.
The minimum strike length has been extended to 180 metres in a north to south direction and mineralisation extends down to 300 metres deep, with the system still open along strike and at depth.
A new zone of mineralisation positioned about 250 metres south of the main Manantial vein has been identified and remains untested.
The high grade gold mineralisation of the Manantial vein system is enveloped within a larger lower grade gold halo, averaging 0.1 grams per tonne gold and 5 to 20 metres wide.
This increases the overall size of the system, and provides encouragement that the whole system is potentially mineralised.
Ongoing surface exploration is expanding the size of the system through the discovery of new discrete vein outcrops in the vicinity of the Manantial vein.
Many of these have returned low grade gold and silver mineralisation associated with low temperature silica and silica-calcite veining.
Exploration upside
Elementos has a number of other drill targets including Manantial Este, a 2 kilometre long, north to south, highly-resistive anomaly, similar to that of the Manantial vein, 1 kilometre to the west.
Surface examination shows three sub-parallel sub-vertical structures up to 500 metres long containing quartz-calcite veins, pinching and swelling between 0.5 and 2 metres width, but partially covered by talus material.
More than 1,200 metres has been drilled at La Puerta and Julieta Norte. While initial shallow level drilling has not produced economic mineralisation, the results and geological characteristics are similar to the Manantial vein, where subsequent deeper drilling was required to encounter the high grade vein.
Elementos believes both targets justify further exploration and drilling programs.
Initial drilling along 200 metres of the La Puerta vein returned a limited number of low grade, narrow anomalies at shallow levels, compared with the high grades on surface.
At Julieta Norte the system appears to be plunging deeply to the north and any future drilling would focus on the system at greater depths.
The deposit appears to be an extension of Troy Resources' nearby Julieta satellite deposit, which contains a defined gold and silver resource.
Elementos has also identified a number of new vein systems including Valentina, Colorado, Colorado Sur and Gabo.
The new veins are located in the southwestern corner of the Manantiales tenement, in close proximity to the Manantial, Manantial Este and La Puerta vein systems.
The majority of the new veins are topographically lower than the Manantial vein, and are also interpreted as representing a higher level within the epithermal environment.
This is based on the high proportion of calcite-quartz, low silver content, and indications that the host rock is similar to that at the Manantial vein, where the company has drilled the upper levels of a mineralised epithermal system.
Next steps
Elementos is in the early stages of assessing various options in relation to the Manantiales project, including further drilling, divestment, or joint venture.
