A total of 1,285 metres was drilled in five holes during the fourth quarter at Limon Norte and Panteon: Limon Norte is located approximately 100 metres north of the current open-pit at Limon Central; Panteon is a vein splay that extends from the Santa Pancha underground mine. The Company is currently drilling at Panteon and is mobilizing a second drill to resume drilling along the main El Limon vein-system.
Four of the five holes drill tested the down-dip extension at Limon Norte. The drilling confirms the continuity of gold mineralization, with hole LIM19-4420 intercepting the Limon Norte structure 60 metres down-dip from the currently reported mineral resource. The fifth hole was infill drilling at Santa Pancha to upgrade resource classification to support a future mineral reserve estimate for Santa Pancha and to assist with mine planning and engineering efforts. (See a complete table of drill hole details at the bottom of this press release.)
2020 Exploration Program
Calibre’s program will continue to focus on resource expansion along the main Limon vein-system as well as at Santa Pancha and Atrevesada. Based on the positive results from the 2019 drilling, the Company now plans to increase drilling at El Limon from the budgeted 7,000 meters to between 10,000 and 12,000 metres in 2020.
Concurrent with resource expansion drilling, the Company will explore the broader Limon district through an ongoing program of systematic mapping and geochemical sampling to identify new drill targets at the under-explored Lourdes, Tecomapas/Ramadas and San Antonio areas.
Calibre maintains a Quality Assurance/Quality Control (“QA/QC”) program for all its exploration projects using industry best practices. Key elements of the QA/QC program include verifiable chain of custody for samples, regular insertion of certified reference standards and blanks, and duplicate check assays. Drill core is halved and shipped in sealed bags to Bureau Veritas in Managua, Nicaragua, an independent analytical services provider with global certifications for Quality ISO9001:2008, Environmental Management: ISO14001 and Safety Management OH SAS 18001 and AS4801. Prior to analysis, samples are prepared at Veritas’ Managua facility and then shipped to its analytical facility in Vancouver, Canada. Gold analyses are routinely performed via fire assay/AA finish methods. Analyses for silver and other elements of interest are performed via Induction Coupled Plasmaspectrometry (“ICP”).
Qualified Person
The scientific and technical data contained in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Mark A. Petersen, P.Geo., VP Exploration, a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101.