Aurelian starts Condor follow-up exploration
2007-05-14 08:47 MT - News Release
Mr. Patrick Anderson reports
AURELIAN INITIATES FOLLOW-UP TO REGIONAL GOLD EXPLORATION AT THE CONDOR PROJECT
Aurelian Resources Inc. is providing an update on the continuing exploration of its regional gold targets within the company's wholly owned Condor project in southeastern Ecuador. The Fruta del Norte gold-silver epithermal discovery was just the first gold target to be tested from a list of more than 30 that was generated by the company's initial two-year regional exploration program. The current and continuing regional follow-up program will systematically advance the remaining targets to a point where they, too, can be tested by diamond drilling.
"It is evident that our FDN discovery occurs in a widespread belt of epithermal mineralization that is coincident with the Las Penas fault zone," says Aurelian president and chief executive officer, Patrick Anderson. "We have a team dedicated to advancing the targets that fall within this central corridor to a stage of drill readiness. The current areas of focus, outside of FDN and El Tigre are: Naranjilla, Barbasco and Emperador. As the targets reach a stage that we feel warrants drilling we will move one of our rigs to test the prospect."
Maps of the regional exploration targets mentioned in this press release may be viewed on the company website.
Many of the gold targets that were generated by the initial regional reconnaissance program are associated with the Las Penas fault zone, a major regional structure that hosts the FDN deposit and which is interpreted to have created the Suarez pull-apart basin. The north-south-trending structure can be traced on satellite images for over 20 kilometres, and sampling has returned anomalous gold values from outcrop along eight kilometres of the central portion of the fault. Equally encouraging is a 20-kilometre-long belt of anomalous gold, arsenic and antimony in stream sediments that coincides with the LPFZ and the Suarez pull-apart basin. These elements are important pathfinders for epithermal systems.
Three kilometres north of FDN, the Naranjilla target occurs where the Machinaza River bends to the east and cuts across the north-south-trending LPFZ. The target is marked by a cluster of stream sediment samples anomalous in gold (up to 1.90 grams per tonne Au) and the epithermal pathfinder elements arsenic and antimony, as well as lead and zinc. Recent mapping has identified quartz and quartz-sulphide float and outcrops of intensely silicified and pyritic andesite. Eight grab samples were taken from float and outcrop, with a sample of quartz-sulphide vein float assaying 11.20 g/t Au and 9.2 g/t Ag and a sample from outcropping silicified and pyritic andesite assaying 0.42 g/t Au and 8.1 g/t Ag. Outcrop in this area is limited by the Hollin sandstone cover present over much of the area between Naranjilla and FDN.
Approximately eight kilometres south of FDN, near the southern end of the Suarez pull-apart basin, prospecting at the Barbasco target has identified significant alluvial gold in the small streams that drain the area, with up to 45 colours in one pan of sediment and 46 of 149 pan concentrate samples containing 10 or more colours per pan of sediment. Silicified andesite, quartz vein and breccia float have also been identified in the streams, with grab samples assaying up to 1.12 g/t Au and up to 34.8 g/t Ag, with 11 out of 19 samples assaying over 0.1 g/t Au. Continuing mapping and sampling indicates the source of the mineralization is a one-by-two-kilometre area of Suarez conglomerate, within which zones of marcasite replacement of the conglomerate matrix have been identified. Marcasite replacement of the conglomerate is also an important feature of the buried FDN epithermal and was key in the discovery process. Grab samples have been taken and assays are pending.
Farther south along the LPFZ, prospecting has located boulders of vuggy silica at the Emperador target. Residual vuggy silica typically occurs due to leaching of volcanic rocks by acidic hydrothermal solutions associated with high-sulphidation epithermal systems. Although not anomalous in gold, the occurrence is considered significant as it may indicate the proximity to an epithermal system. Outcrop in the area is very limited, and exploration will be carried out by additional prospecting, mapping and sampling.
Stephen Leary, MAusIMM, Aurelian's exploration manager, is acting as qualified person in compliance with National Instrument 43-101 with respect to this release. He has reviewed the contents for accuracy.
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