Sunstone Metals Ltd (ASX:STM) is gearing up to produce a maiden mineral resource estimate for the El Palmar Copper-Gold Project in northern Ecuador after raising $4 million in a share purchase plan (SPP) in addition to a recent $2.5 million placement.
The company also intends to advance exploration over the high-grade Limon gold-silver discovery within the Bramaderos Gold-Copper Project in southern Ecuador and develop partnership opportunities for both projects.
Accelerating exploration and resource growth
Sunstone Metals is focused on two core projects in Ecuador - El Palmar to the north and Bramaderos to the south.
At Bramaderos, STM has already defined a mineral resource of 2.7 million ounces of gold equivalent for Brama-Alba prospect and has outlined an exploration target of between 3.3 million to 8.6 million ounces of gold equivalent for the greater project.
Within Bramaderos at Limon, STM is operating with an exploration target of 900,000 to 1.7 million ounces of gold equivalent, offering high potential for a sizeable discovery.
El Palmar is at an earlier stage of exploration but has already demonstrated characteristics of both at-surface and deeper porphyry gold-copper systems.
Based on drilling results to date Sunstone believes that El Palmar has potential to host a large starter open pit development and plans to reveal a maiden mineral resource estimate by the end of the year.
The company foresees potential for a multi-decade gold-copper mining centre within its Ecuadorian projects.