Radius Gold Inc. (TSX-V: RDU) has reported that diamond drilling is continuing on the HB property in Guatemala with hole 10 presently underway.
To date all holes have targeted the Pyramid Hill Zone, a >3km long north - south trending structural corridor that hosts broad zones of gold/silver bearing quartz veins, vein breccias and quartz vein stock work zones.
Previous work along this corridor, which included trenching and shallow drilling, returned mixed results. The objectives of the current drill program are to firstly test below the previous mineralized drill intercepts along this structural corridor, and secondly to test the zone substantially deeper (200-500m) than any previous drilling.
The results of the first seven holes, all of which were drilled to explore down dip of historic intercepts, have been received and they are in line with previous drilling, with a best intersection of 6.1m @ 2.4g/t Au + 79g/t Ag from 82.9m downhole in hole 1. This hole targeted 50m below hole 22, the last hole of the 2002/2003 drill program which returned 6.7m @ 3.9g/t Au + 69.8g/t Ag (see Radius Explorations news release dated April 13, 2004).
All of the 2010 holes cut a consistent, wide mineralized structure, with a quartz vein stock-work in the hanging wall, a central vein or vein breccia zone before passing through a well defined footwall breccia and into propylitically-altered andesites. The strength of the main mineralized structure has been confirmed. However, the gold/silver results to date have been disappointing.
Deep Drilling Program
All previous drilling on the HB project has been between 850m and 1,100m above sea level (ASL). Recent trenching at the southern limit of the Pyramid Hill zone, the lowest part topographically, has returned more consistent gold results associated with anomalous mercury and antimony values, something not seen at higher topographic elevations.
Mercury and antimony are generally associated with the higher levels of the precious metal zone in a gold-bearing epithermal system, indicating that the mineralized structure needs to be tested at 700m ASL and lower. Therefore, a larger rig has been mobilized to the property to enable completion of the proposed deeper holes.
Other Targets
Several other drill targets remain to be tested on the HB property, including the M28 zone - where gold-silver mineralization is potentially pooled below a rhyolite cap- and the Holly target - where several high grade intercepts drilled in 2002 have yet to be followed-up. In addition, Radius's exploration in the belt is targeting regional stream sediment geochemical and Landsat anomalies.
Radius is the largest landholder in south-eastern Guatemala, an area that has been proven to host world class silver-gold deposits.
Qualified Person
Roger Hulstein, BSc, is a member of the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of British Columbia and is the Company's Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. Mr. Hulstein is responsible for the accuracy of the technical information in this news release.
Source: Radius Gold Inc.