Sunstone Metals Ltd (ASX:STM) has fielded a very wide intersection of gold-silver mineralisation – grading 2.85 g/t gold equivalent over a 185-metre interval from 90 metres – in drilling outside the current resource boundary at Limon prospect within the Bramaderos Copper-Gold Project in Ecuador.
Within this broad intersection was 101 metres at 4.9 g/t gold equivalent (4.64 g/t gold and 18.9 g/t silver) from 106 metres, including 31 metres at 12.93 g/t gold equivalent (12.53 g/t gold and 32.7 g/t silver) from 146 metres.
STM is targeting a 10-million-ounce, open-pit-amenable exploration target at the Bramaderos Project, which sits along the Pan American Highway in Ecuador, close to hydroelectric power sources.
Sunstone’s current interpretations of the Limon prospect suggest the presence of multiple mineralised structural orientations with higher-grade shoots at intersections, which have delivered multiple drilling targets for further exploration.
“Very significant breakthrough”
“These latest results are a very significant breakthrough with big positive implications for the size, grade and development prospects at Bramaderos,” Sunstone Metals managing director Malcolm Norris said.
“Limon is a high-grade orebody with mineralisation extending from surface to at least 250 metres deep and is open to the east, west, at depth and potentially to the north if the system plunges in that direction.
“The initial discovery hole LMDD017 intersected 176.7 metres at 1.1 g/t gold equivalent from 6.8 metres. Hole LMDD026 now eclipses that with 185 metres at 2.85 g/t gold equivalent, including 31 metres at 12.93 g/t gold equivalent and demonstrates the huge potential for the Limon epithermal system."
Norris emphasised that the drilling at Limon had delivered substantially higher grades than those in the existing Bramaderos resource estimate and exploration target, despite the shallow depth explored so far.
“Our broader Limon target is 1.7 kilometres long by up to 700 metres wide and contains multiple gold-in-soil anomalies that require drill testing.
“These results will further grow the resource base at Bramaderos and will underpin development options which may include higher-grade starter pits.
“They support our view that the Bramaderos Project has every potential to be a 10-million-ounce district with multiple deposits within 4 kilometres of one another.”
The Bramaderos Project’s initial mineral resource estimate sits at 156 million tonnes at 0.53 g/t gold equivalent, for 2.7 million ounces of gold equivalent.
Sunstone has a conceptual exploration target at Bramaderos of between 3.3 million and 8.6 million ounces gold equivalent, from 255 to 360 million tonnes at a grade between 0.40 and 0.74 g/t.