Goldplay Exploration Receives Permit for Drilling Program at El Habal Gold Project
VANCOUVER, April 23, 2018 /CNW/ - Goldplay Exploration Ltd. (TSXV: GPLY - the "Company" or "Goldplay"), is pleased to announce the receipt of the surface drill permit for the Company's El Habal Gold Project in Rosario, Sinaloa, Mexico ("El Habal"). With this permit in hand together with recently approved surface agreements with all landowners, the Company is preparing a Phase I drill program to commence in May 2018. The Company plans to complete an initial 4,000 m HQ core drill program based on successful results from its recent ground geophysical survey ("CSMAT") and the mapping and sampling of historical shallow underground workings. The initial drill program will focus initially on a 600 m long mineralized corridor (see Figure 01), open along strike and down dip within a highly prospective 6 km long mineralized corridor.
The drill targets identified in the 2017 surface exploration program and CSMAT are located close to small historical shallow underground workings known as Santos, La Reina, and Arenal. These targets have been defined by positive trench results, representing areas with presence of low resistivity anomalies identified by the CSMAT survey and with evidence of intense hydrothermal alteration-quartz stockwork.
Known mineral deposits in the Rosario Mining District shows firm structural control and the Company has recently completed detailed geological and structural mapping over the drill target area identifying major structures and geological controls to the mineralization.
Marcio Fonseca, Goldplay's Chief Executive Officer, stated, "We are extremely excited to begin drilling on an attractive exploration project located in the vicinity of historical high-grade historical gold-silver Rosario mine. We have an experienced team working full time on site with a track record of discoveries in the Rosario Mining District. We look forward to developing a continuous flow of results with the upcoming drill program."
The Qualified Person under the NI 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects for this news release is Marcio Fonseca, President and CEO of Goldplay, who has reviewed and approved its contents.
About Goldplay Exploration Ltd.
Goldplay owns an advanced stage exploration portfolio in the Rosario Mining District, Sinaloa, Mexico. Goldplay currently focuses on exploration activities including drilling, resource update at the recently acquired San Marcial Resource Stage Project and the El Habal Project.
The San Marcial consists of an attractive near-surface high-grade silver, zinc and lead project with a historical National Instrument 43-101 – Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101") (1) with an immediate opportunity for resource expansion.
The historical NI 43-101 resource estimate is based on a cut off of 30 g/tAg for open pit and 80 g/t Ag for underground resource classification completed by Micon International Ltd. for Silvermex on November 5, 2008. The historical resource is based on 4,884 meters of drilling in 30 core drill holes. A qualified person has not done sufficient work to verify and to classify the historical estimate as current mineral resources, and the Company is not treating the historical estimate as current mineral resources. Further work must be carried out to verify all historical information before a resource estimate is possible, and there can be no assurance that when established, that any such resource would be economically recoverable.
The existing historical NI 43-101 resource estimation exhibits significant exploration upside as it only comprises 30 drill holes completed up to November 2008. Additional 22 drill holes were completed post-filing of historical NI 43-101, representing an immediate opportunity to update and expand the resources. The historical NI 43-101 covers 600 m of a mineralized trend which is open along strike for an additional 3.5 km, supported by positive surface exploration results. The mineralization is an open down dip as most of the historical drilling was completed only up to 250 m below the surface in the resource estimation area. Historical preliminary metallurgical results from oxide and sulfide samples from San Marcial have indicated column leach tests recoveries in the range of 80% for a 72-hour leach period and preliminary flotation test work in drill core composite samples reporting recoveries in the range of 90%.
The mineralization at San Marcial is typical of the low sulphidation, epithermal systems hosted near the contact of the Tertiary, Upper and Lower Volcanic units in the Sierra Madre Occidental Geologic Province.
Along the 3.5 km mineralized trend, there are highly altered hydrothermal breccias, conglomerates, and relatively fresh dacite porphyry intrusive. Faulting is an important structural feature related to the silver gold zinc lead copper mineralization, and the intersection of east-west with northwest structures are considered the most prospective areas for exploration at San Marcial.
There are two main mineralized zones (upper and lower), located in the center of the mineral concession and both outcropping at surface. Both mineralized zones and associated host rocks exhibit fracture filling and typical hydrothermal textures of epithermal deposits. There is local brecciation hosting mineralized zones.
San Marcial exhibits significant exploration upside supported by historical regional exploration programs completed by previous operators with the identification of 14 exploration targets like San Marcial inside the concessions. Some of these exploration targets consist of old shallow pits, caved shafts and historical underground workings in areas with extensive hydrothermal alteration hosted by major regional structures.
The El Habal Project is a low sulphidation epithermal exploration-stage project. The El Habal Project is near the historical Au-Ag Rosario Mine ("Rosario Mine"). The Rosario Mine reportedly operated for 250 years. Goldplay's team has over 30 years' experience with senior roles in exploration, financing, and development in the mining industry, including over ten years of extensive exploration experience in the Rosario Mining District, leading to previous successful discoveries. A current NI 43-101 report on The El Habal Project is filed on SEDAR.
Goldplay is providing the historical drill data and historical NI 43-101 for informational purposes only. Goldplay has not completed any quality control assurance program to the historical drill data and NI 43-101. Although the Company believes that the work was completed by competent persons to the standards of the day and the Company cautions the reader that the drill results are historical in nature and have yet to be verified by the Company's "Qualified Person" under NI 43-101.
