Titan Minerals (ASX:TTM) has its sights set on an upgraded resource estimate at the Dynasty Gold Project in southern Ecuador, saying new targets outlined by mapping and soil geochemistry “indicate a substantially larger gold footprint”.
Dynasty’s current mineral resource stands at 3.1 million ounces of gold and 22 million ounces of silver.
Recent diamond drilling in December consisted of 13 holes for 1,360m, which delineated epithermal gold mineralisation over a 250m strike and to a depth of 80m to 100m at the Julia vein system.
Titan, which has a market capitalisation of $67.25 million, has now completed its Cerro Verde geological model, which has been handed over for resource estimation work to start.
Meanwhile, the Papayal geological model is also near completion and is expected to be handed over to independent resource geologists in the coming weeks. The updated Papayal geological interpretation also incorporates drilling and trenching from the newly discovered Julia vein system.
Titan says the updated geological models are expected to support resource classification updates and will provide a more robust resource estimate to be used as the basis of future development studies at Dynasty.
Oxidation surfaces are also being refined, as part of the resource update, with geological observations and geochemical ratios being used to better understand the level of oxidation across the project.
The company says the latest portable x-ray fluorescence (pXRF) analysis of soil samples have confirmed the presence of several epithermal gold targets, while also further extending previously recognised targets within the Dynasty corridor.
Over the 2km Gap Zone, early mapping has confirmed the presence of epithermal gold veining. Titan says this provides evidence that mineralisation is potentially connected from the Iguana and Trapichillo prospects.
As a result, Titan is confident that further resources are likely to be added in this area.
“Our soil sampling continues to reveal further geochemical anomalies, indicating that the Dynasty gold system is significantly larger than what is currently defined by drilling and contained in resources,” CEO Melanie Leighton says.
“We are now fully focused on exploring the 2km Gap Zone, an area which has seen very limited exploration and has never been drill tested.
“It represents a direct extension, linking the Iguana and Trapichillo epithermal gold vein systems. The company believes that there is strong potential to add resources in this highly prospective, underexplored area.”
The Gap Zone represents an area with potential to grow resources directly along strike of the existing Iguana mineral resource, which contains 700,000 ounces of gold and 4.8 million ounces of silver.
Meanwhile, at the Gisell target, mapping and trenching have confirmed mineralisation to be related to a porphyry copper system, with mapping unveiling argillic and phyllic alteration, abundant copper oxide mineralisation, and A-type porphyry veins.
Titan adds that strong, coherent lead and zinc anomalies are also observed in soil geochemistry on the western periphery of the Gisell target. These anomalies are likely related to an epithermal or mesothermal system with massive sulphide veins.
Further mapping and development of trenches over Gisell is ongoing and will provide information on mineralisation controls and extent, which will be used to optimise drill targeting.
Titan is conducting soil sampling over the Gap Zone to uncover the extent of epithermal vein hosted gold mineralisation. Further soil geochemical results are due between two and three weeks.
The company will also rank and prioritise new targets to determine the best targets to be drill tested. Resource growth drilling is planned to start early in the third quarter of 2024.
Write to Aaliyah Rogan at Mining.com.au
Images: Titan Minerals
