Altamira Gold (TSX-V:ALTA) is continuing to advance testing of exploration targets within the Cajueiro Project in Brazil, after completing initial scout drilling on the Tavares Norte and Morro Verde targets.
Both targets lie within a corridor extending 8km east-west which is defined by a series of gold anomalies in soils and rock chip samples with coincident hydrothermal alteration and magnetic anomalies.
CEO Mike Bennett says the company is also conducting resource extension and delineation drilling at the Maria Bonita and Central gold deposits.
This news comes in conjunction with Altamira completing five holes for 1,256m of drilling. Four of the five holes intersected porphyritic intrusive rocks with associated potassic alteration and hydrothermal breccias and quartz veining – similar in style to the Maria Bonita deposit.
A second deep diamond drillhole is currently in progress at Maria Bonita aimed to further test the depth extension of the deposit towards the south.
Bennett adds the initial findings support the company’s geological model of multiple porphyritic centres occurring in clusters or alignments.
“Importantly, we are also seeing disseminated and vein-hosted sulphide minerals, including chalcopyrite and molybdenite, suggesting proximity to a higher temperature hydrothermal centre,” he says.
Assays remain pending for the five drillholes.
The Cajueiro Project consists of two independently estimated gold resources at Cajueiro Central and Maria Bonita, plus a series of additional untested targets within a 8km radius of Cajueiro Central.
Cajueiro Central area has a current open-pit resource of 5.66 million tonnes @ 1.02 grams per tonne gold for 185,000 ounces in the indicated category and 12.66 million tonnes @ 1.26g/t gold for 515,000 ounces in the inferred category.
Maria Bonita has an open-pit resource of 24.19 million tonnes @ 0.46g/t gold for 357,800 ounces in the indicated category and 25.64 million tonnes @ 0.44g/t gold for 362,400 ounces in the inferred resource.
Altamira Gold operates three key projects covering more than 100,000 hectares in west central Brazil.
According to the World Gold Council, Brazil is ranked 15th in the world for its gold production, totalling 83,700 tonnes in 2024.
During the 18th century, around 1,200 tonnes of gold was extracted from the Minas Gerais, Goiás, Bahia, and Mato Grosso provinces. Science Direct reports that in the last 120 years, industrial mining projects have spread throughout Brazil, culminating in more than 80 mines.
Write to Aaliyah Rogan at Mining.com.au
Images: Altamira Gold
