Jan 24 2019
Rugby Mining Limited takes pleasure in announcing that it has received a drilling and exploration permit for its Mabuhay project in Philippines, which includes the Mother Lode gold target.
Pelican Resources 2005 Drilling Results. (Image credit: Rugby Mining Limited)
Despite the fact that Rugby’s earlier permits covered a large area, they particularly excluded the old gold mine area, and as a result, in the past, it had been unable to drill the Mother Lode target.
The Mother Lode, situated at the center of the wider Mabuhay project area of 878 hectares, is located 12 km south of Surigao City, the capital city of the Surigao del Norte province.
The Mother Lode, previously known as the “Mindanao Mother Lode Gold Mine,” is a high-grade epithermal vein system. It has reported that the production from 1937 to 1953 yielded nearly 500,000 ounces of gold at a recovered grade of 14 g/t. In and of itself, the deposit was regarded to be one of the highest grade gold producers in Philippines.
Mining at the Mother Lode vein system was more than 765 m in length and 245 m in vertical depth. Rugby’s subject of interest in the area are the strike as well as depth extensions.
Since mining started, a number of holes have been drilled into the Mother Lode vein system; however, the most recent post-mining drilling by Pelican Resources, in 2005, targeted the depth as well as lateral extensions to the vein system. Results from previous drilling are better and reflect the down hole widths, but not the true widths.
Rugby intends to continue to explore the extensions to this attractive vein system with the help of these drill intercepts as a guide to prospective vein extensions.
Significant time and effort over several years has finally paid off for this project. The intriguing results reported by Pelican clearly warrant follow up drill testing. Plans are now underway to diamond drill the Mother Lode area targeting both the high-grade epithermal veins and the deeper gold-copper porphyry.
Paul Joyce, President and CEO, Rugby Mining Limited
Speaking about the Cobrasco copper project in Colombia, Mr Joyce stated, “We continue to await a drilling permit on Cobrasco. We had been optimistic that the permit would be received before Christmas however with personnel changes in the relevant government department earlier in January, we are now expecting approval during the quarter.”
Mabuhay Option
About 80% of the Mabuhay project can be earned by Rugby through staged payments, completion of a pre-feasibility study, and by incurring committed expenditures.