Desert Sun Updates Drilling at Pindobacu and Outlines New Area Of Conglomerates In Bahia Gold Belt, Brazil
Tuesday April 19, 5:00 pm ET
TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 19, 2005--DESERT SUN MINING CORP. (TSX:DSM - News; AMEX:DEZ - News) has received results of further drilling and exploration work in the northern portion of the Bahia Gold Belt in northeastern Brazil (Figure 1). Thus far in 2005, an additional eight (8) diamond drill holes totaling 1,385m have been completed in the Pindobacu area with assay results received from six (6) of these holes as shown in Table 1. In addition, Fugro-Lasa-Geomag completed 50 line kilometres of induced polarization geophysical survey over a number of target areas and priority anomalies, identified from this survey, will be drill-tested later in the program. Detailed geological mapping and soil geochemical sampling continue to be carried out to better characterize the extensive mineralized system in the Pindobacu area. ADVERTISEMENT
Holes PB-05 to PB-07 at Pindobacu were on an east-west section designed to both followup Hole PB-02, which intersected 5.46 g Au/t over a true width of 21.9m as previously reported (see press release January 15, 2005) and to characterize the nature of the faulted contact between the Archean Mundo Novo volcanic rocks and the silicified Proterozoic Jacobina Group quartzites in which most of the gold mineralization appears to occur. Hole PB-05, drilled 28m up-section from PB-02, intersected 0.74 g Au/t over an 18.0m true width in a strongly silicified and oxidized zone. Hole PB-06A, a redrill of Hole PB-6 which was lost to caving, intersected 6.57g Au/t over a true width of 1.9m, 57m below PB-02 before this hole was also lost to caving. The complete zone was penetrated by Hole PB-06B; assays for this hole are pending. Hole PB-07 was the deepest hole drilled and intersected a strongly silicified zone with several intervals of gold mineralization including 2.65 g Au/t over 4.4m true width. Hole PB-04, which was collared 80m south of hole PB-02, intersected 0.51 g Au/t over 15.9m true width in a strongly silicified and oxidized zone.
These holes, which are shown in plan in Figure 2 and in cross section in Figure 3, indicate that the silicified and mineralized zone is approximately 50 metres thick and is along an extensive regional thrust fault that extends to a depth of at least 170m. Regional geological mapping (Figure 1) indicates that the gold garimpos (free miner workings) associated with this structure extend for a strike length of 38km from Biquinha, 23km south of the town of Pindobacu, to Fumaca, 15km north of Pindobacu.
"This drilling continues to confirm that the regional Pindobacu Fault system, which forms the eastern boundary of the Jacobina Basin, is a major focus of hydrothermal alteration and mineralization," commented Dr. Bill Pearson, P.Geo., Vice President, Exploration. "Further drilling and additional geophysical surveys planned will focus on better defining the controls on the distribution of gold mineralization along this very extensive belt."
Major New Area of Conglomerates Identified North of Pindobacu
Dr. Paul Karpeta, an expert on Precambrian quartz pebble conglomerate-hosted gold deposits with extensive experience working on deposits in Witwatersrand, South Africa and Tarkwa, Ghana, recently carried out a study of the Jacobina basin in an attempt to identify additional entry points outside of the Jacobina Mine area. Entry points are the areas in a basin where major streams carry and deposit sediments into the basin and are typically marked by the thickest conglomerates with the largest pebbles. This work, which was done in close collaboration with DSM personnel led by senior geologist Pedro Moura de Macedo, identified a significant area of Jacobina Group sediments with quartz pebble conglomerate layers which are exposed in a large tectonic window across an area 5,000m long by 900m wide about 5km northwest of Pindobacu. Gold garimpos (free miner workings) occur around this "window" near the contact with volcanic rocks of the Mundo Novo Formation which have been thrust over the conglomerates and then subsequently eroded. In contrast to the mine area, the sedimentary rocks here are relatively flat lying hence only a small portion of the overall stratigraphic sequence is actually exposed.
Dr. Karpeta concludes that the Jacobina Basin has been subdivided by cross structures into major compartments, which controlled sedimentation in those compartments. One such cross structure is marked by a prominent lineament about 6km south of the town of Pindobacu, north of which is the Pindobacu Compartment and to the south is the Jacobina Compartment. Each of these compartments will have a different stratigraphy and hence different auriferous conglomerates. Typically, within each compartment there is usually one entry point marked by the thickest conglomerates with the biggest pebbles and typically are the richest conglomerates. Dr. Karpeta concluded that these entry points occur around the Jacobina Mine Area in the Jacobina Compartment and potentially around Mina Velha, 5km northwest of Pindobacu, in the Pindobacu Compartment (Figure 1).
"The findings of Dr. Karpeta's study are very significant as conglomerates are important hosts for gold mineralization in the Bahia Gold Belt," commented Dr. Pearson. "Initial induced polarization surveys in this newly recognized area of conglomerates have outlined targets that appear to be strongly silicified rocks with disseminated sulphides. In the near future, we are planning to drill a section of holes across this area to test the potential for significant gold mineralization."
Assaying for the program was carried out by Lakefield Geosol, an ISO 9001, 2000 laboratory based in Brazil, using fire assay on 50 gram pulps. Check assaying is routinely carried out, by ALS Chemex in Vancouver, on 10% of sample pulps and 5% of sample rejects. Independent standard reference samples are also inserted at regular intervals into each batch of analyses. Security is maintained at the core logging and sampling facility. Dr. Bill Pearson, P.Geo. is the Qualified Person as defined under National Instrument 43-101 responsible for the scientific and technical work on the exploration program.
Desert Sun Mining is a Canadian gold mining company listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange and the American Stock Exchange with 100% ownership of the Jacobina Mine and the 155 km long Bahia Gold Belt in the state of Bahia, in northeastern Brazil. Proven and Probable mineral reserves are 14,378,000 tonnes at 2.12 g Au/t containing 980,000 ounces of gold. As a result of the Desert Sun's exploration programs to date, Measured and Indicated resources total 24,800,000 tonnes at 2.53 g Au/t containing 2,050,000 ounces of gold, and Inferred Resources total 22,200,000 tonnes at 2.61 g Au/t containing 1,900,000 ounces of gold. The mineral reserves are included within the Measured and Indicated mineral resources. For additional information, please see Desert Sun's website at www.desertsunmining.com.
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