Targa Exploration (CSE:TEX) has completed its maiden drilling program at the El Zanjon Gold-Silver Project in Argentina, with assays to date returning anomalous silver but no significant precious-metal values.
The company drilled 2,475m across 10 holes targeting three areas beneath extensive cover at the 57,000-hectare project in Santa Cruz.
Results from holes EZD0003–EZD0008 included 1m @ 13.97 parts per million (ppm) silver (Ag) at the contact between Tertiary sediment and Jurassic basement in EZD0005.
The widest anomalous interval came from EZD0007, which returned 6.40m @ up to 2.43ppm Ag within an altered felsic unit between 168.70m and 180m depth. Gold values in the hole were below detection.
Other results comprised narrow intervals containing 2–5ppm silver and gold values ranging from below detection to 70 parts per billion.
The six holes intersected Jurassic volcanic rocks from depths of 56–70m beneath Tertiary cover. EZD0007 and EZD0008 also encountered thick intervals of quartz-feldspar porphyritic lapilli tuff, which Targa interprets as welded ignimbrite.
Vice-President Exploration Ryan Weston says the company believes the volcanic sequence dips shallowly southeast, with intermediate tuffs and flows overlying a thicker felsic ignimbrite unit.
Targa compares the setting with the Chon Aike volcanic formation at the Cerro Vanguardia low-sulphidation epithermal vein field, located 30km northwest of El Zanjon.
The company says the broader anomalous silver interval and alteration in EZD0007 could indicate a hydrothermal centre, although further work is required to test that interpretation.
CEO Cameron Tymstra says new geological insights are revealed with the completion of the maiden drilling program.
“This first-pass drill program has produced a significant amount of data and a new understanding of the underlying geology at El Zanjon where there is only a single outcrop in over 57,000 hectares,” Tymstra says.
Assays from the final two holes, EZD0009 and EZD0010, are expected within three weeks. Targa says it plans to integrate the drilling results with its geochemical, geological, and geophysical datasets before determining the next phase of exploration.
Write to France Pinzon at Mining.com.au
Images: Targa Exploration
