Feb 3 2011
Estrella Gold Corporation (TSX VENTURE:EST) has announced drilling results from the Colpayoc gold project, 12 km southwest of the Yanacocha gold mine in northern Peru.
The Company has received assay results from three drill holes, including 462.6 meters of core. The Colpayoc Project contains 4,200 hectares of mineral rights and to date, four discreet areas of mineralization have been identified. Three inclined core holes (-50°) were completed at the Daylight Gold Zone which has a NI 43-101 compliant gold resource measuring 7.6 million tonnes @ 0.60 g/t containing 144,600 oz gold. Drill holes were located at both in-fill and step-out drill sites from the current resource and are intended to provide data necessary to expand the gold resource.
All drill holes encountered wide zones of gold mineralization consistent with a large, near-surface gold system. The depth of oxidation ranges from 45 – 80 meters vertical depth, with the exception of drill hole COL-2, which encountered mixed oxide zones at 25 meters depth. All drill holes intercepted projected zones of previously identified gold mineralization. These drill results indicate the Daylight Gold Zone remains open at depth, and in all directions.
The Daylight Gold Zone is hosted within a Cretaceous – Tertiary age gold porphyry system that was intruded into Cretaceous sedimentary rocks. The gold-bearing zone and the porphyry intrusions are exposed within a roughly 400 meter diameter erosional window within the sedimentary rocks. Mineralization may extend both beneath the sedimentary contact and within the sediments. The geology and gold mineralization are similar to Goldfield Mining Corporation's Cerro Corona mine located 38 km to the north.
The Daylight Gold Zone was initially tested with four drill holes (647 meters) during the mid-1990s, which contained results up to 112 meters @ 0.8 g/t gold in drill hole RCD-1. An initial NI 43-101 compliant resource estimate was prepared by SRK Consultants in 2010, containing 7.6 million tonnes @ 0.6 g/t gold with 144,600 ounces of gold contained (see further description below). The historic drilling and resource block model indicated that the gold zone is open at depth and in all directions with higher grade zones oriented northeast-southwest. Drilling results are consistent with the Company's expectations and confirm that the Colpayoc project has potential to contain a near-surface bulk mineable gold deposit. Estrella has recently suspended the drilling program, following the dissolution of the local Community government in early January after elections in late 2010. The Llullupuquio community owns the surface rights at Colpayoc. Estrella has worked diligently over the last 12 months to develop a transparent community relation with this group. The Company conducted negotiations through January and has accepted the delay and will respect the Community's administrative procedures. The Company continues to conduct surface exploration programs and its program of cooperative work projects with all surrounding communities. The Community of Llullupuquio is expected to re-establish its government in the next month and drilling may resume at that time.
QA/QC: Assay results identify those mineralized intervals that contain a minimum continuous width of 6.0 meters with a minimum gold content of 0.3 g/t. Only one internal or adjacent interval of dilution is allowed. Higher grade intervals are calculated using a minimum continuous width of 6.0 meters with a minimum gold content of 0.7 g/t gold. Drill hole samples were collected in accordance with accepted industry standards and procedures. The samples were submitted to the ALS Chemex Labs (ISO 9001:2000 accredited) in Lima, Peru for analysis. Gold was analyzed by fire assay with an AAS finish and multi-element analyses were determined with aqua regia digestion and ICP MS/AAS techniques. The Company conducts routine QA/QC analysis on all assay results, including the systematic utilization of certified reference materials, blanks and field duplicates.
Colpayoc NI 43-101 Compliant Gold Resource: The initial resource estimate was prepared by SRK Consulting (U.S.) Inc. as part of a NI 43-101 Technical Report completed in June 2010.
Colpayoc Daylight Gold Zone: Inferred Resource (0.30 g/t low-grade cutoff):
The block model utilizes an inverse-distance squared (ID2) model, with 6m x 10m x 10m block sizes, using Mintec's MineSight software. All gold mineralization is hosted within sheeted and stockwork quartz+/magnetite+/pyrite-iron oxide veins, hosted within a highly altered granitic intrusion. Oxidation extends to approximately 45 meters depth, and preliminary bottle-role tests on surface trench samples indicate favorable recoveries for oxidized material. The outcropping area of the intrusion is almost entirely altered and mineralized, however overlying sedimentary rocks limit the exposure of this mineralized rock. Although the property has received only a small amount of drilling, due to the consistent and broad areas of gold mineralization, the Company has prepared this initial gold resource estimate to guide future exploration and expansion of the resource. This initial resource estimate benefits from extensive surface trench data, however the small number of drill holes generally limits the extent of interpolated mineralization at depth. The four drill holes penetrated consistent mineralization to the end of each hole (200 meters), however resources can only be included adjacent to the drill holes, and between the drill holes on interpreted northeast structural trends, until additional drilling is completed. There is exploration potential beneath mineralized trenches that is not fully tested by drilling.
Source: Estrella Gold Corporation