Challenger Exploration (ASX: CEL) has obtained strong results from the company’s flagship Hualilan Gold Project in San Juan, Argentina.
The results are from the next eight holes of the company’s drill programme at Sentazon which has now been expanded to include a minimum of 17 additional drill holes with further holes in planning.
All holes intersected significant gold mineralisation with a best result of over 256 gram x metres in GNDD-044e.
Managing Director, Kris Knauer, said the results extended both zones of high-grade mineralisation at Sentazon, the main Sentazon Manto and the underlying Footwall Zone, another 100 metres down dip.
Results included 11.3m at 8.8g/t AuEq including 4.0m at 17.4 g/t AuEq (GNDD-352) and 4.6m at 25.6 g/t AuEq plus 10.2m at 14.2 g/t AuEq (GNDD-044e).
Both the new Footwall Zone of mineralisation and the main Sentazon Manto appear to have greater down-dip extent than originally anticipated. Several deeper drill holes in this program (assays pending) have intercepted zones of massive sulphides in limestone containing pyrite-sphaleritepyrrhotite with garnet-silica-pyroxene (skarn) alteration over 100 metres down-dip of the current high-grade results
This alteration style and mineral assemblage is consistent with other mineralised intervals in the limestone where high-grade gold results were received. Additionally, a series of holes were drilled on the projected southern extent of the Verde Zone, south of the Magnata Fault, up to 400m south of the Verde Zone mineralisation. All holes in this programme intersected wide zones of lower grade mineralisation hosted in sediments. Examples include 25m at 0.6 g/t AuEq and 28.8m at 0.7 g/t AuEq in GNDD-306.
This mineralisation appears analogous to the lower grade halo of mineralisation that extends into the overlying sedimentary rocks in the Verde Zone. A series of deeper holes are planned to test underneath this drilling for higher-grade Verde Zone style mineralisation. The first of these deeper holes, GNDD-432, is currently underway to a planned depth of 450 metres.
Our drilling continues to demonstrate that Sentazon, which was historically thought to be a small zone at the southern end of Hualilan, is on track to make a significant contribution to the high-grade gold endowment at the Hualilan Gold Project,” Mr Knauer said.
“This series of step-out drill holes has extended the high-grade mineralisation down dip by 50 percent.
“Additionally, several deeper holes for which assays are pending, have intersected massive sulphides and strong skarn alteration further down dip so we expect to extend Sentazon a further 50 percent.
“The high-grade mineralisation at Sentazon now extends considerably deeper than we initially believed. Accordingly, we will continue to dedicate additional drill metres from our 120,000 metre programme means at least one rig to Sentazon for the foreseeable future.”