Sunstone Metals (ASX:STM) has discovered a well-mineralised gold-silver-base metal epithermal system outside of the existing Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) at the Limon target.
Located within the company’s Bramaderos Gold-Copper Project in Southern Ecuador, ‘significant’ assays recorded at Limon include hole LMDD017 with 176.7m @ 1.1g/t Au-Eq (0.97g/t Au and 10.1g/t (Ag) from 6.8m, including 15m @ 4g/t Au-Eq (3.9g/t Au and 7.7g/t Ag) from 81.2m, including 1.7m @ 22.3g/t Au-Eq (22.2g/t Au, 6.8g/t Ag) from 81.2m. Sunstone also recorded 26m @ 2.3g/t Au-Eq (2g/t Au, 36.2g/t Ag) from 157.5m.
Commenting on the drill results, Sunstone Metals Managing Director Malcolm Norris says: “This is a phenomenal result which could have a substantial impact on the total resource, the overall grade and the upfront development options at Bramaderos. The widths of gold and silver from surface, the high-grades and the visible gold shows that this is an exceptional mineralised system.
“The widths of gold and silver from surface, the high-grades and the visible gold shows that this is an exceptional mineralised system”
The shallow and higher grades allow us to contemplate development options that may include higher grade starter pits and support our view that Bramaderos has every potential to be a 10Moz district with multiple deposits within 4km of one another.”
Sunstone reports this discovery emphasises the concept of several mineral deposits within the 50km-square Bramaderos concession, and highlights the potential for ‘significant’ growth of mineral resources at ‘higher grades’.
The company states the discovery is located at the Limon target area, 2.7km north-east of the Brama-Alba gold-copper deposit, which hosts a porphyry mineral resource of 2.7 million ounces (Moz) of gold equivalent.
A single drill rig is currently operating at Limon, drilling hole LMDD020, which has drilled through a shallow epithermal zone and is currently drilling deeper, targeting an underlying porphyry system.
Further holes are planned to follow-up on drillhole LMDD017, which is planned to begin in April once LMDD020 has been completed.
In northern Ecuador, the company reports drilling at the T2 target at El Palmar is progressing well. Additionally, the upper part of hole EPDD026 intersected trace levels of mineralisation and ‘encouraging’ alteration.
Sunstone Metals is a mineral exploration company with ‘high-quality’ gold and copper assets in Ecuador. The company’s portfolio consists of the Bramdaderos Gold-Copper Project and the El Palmar Copper-Gold Project in Southern and Northern Ecuador.
Images: Sunstone Metals Ltd
