Focus Ventures Ltd. (TSX-V: FCV.V) has reported that it has signed a contract with MDH S.A.C. of Lima, Peru, to undertake approximately 3,000 metres of drilling at the Chucara project, located in Peru's La Libertad mining district.
The contracted drill is a modified Boyles BBS-45 which is a larger, more powerful rig with the capability to drill HQ size core and reach deeper targets to at least 400 metres. The rig is expected to mobilize to site in early November.
Drilling will test the robust system of high-grade gold and silver veins that outcrop within a northwest-southeast trending corridor at least 2 kilometres long. No previous drilling has ever been undertaken on the property. Extensive sampling by Focus of surface vein outcrops over the length of the property indicates grades averaging between 10 - 15 g/t Au Eq.* over widths of approximately 1 metre.
Specific targets include:
- down-dip and strike extensions of the past-producing Au-Ag (Pb-Zn) veins in the northern part of the concession and their deeper feeder zones, plus conceptual disseminated targets that were successfully outlined during a recent CSAMT survey (see Company press release September 28, 2010)
- stacked, shallowly dipping quartz - semi-massive sulphide veins that were mapped over a 850m x 300m ridge in the southern part of the property, where a total of 91 samples gave average grades of 7.4 g/t Au and 439 g/t Ag (14.1 oz/t Ag) over widths averaging 0.6m
- new high-grade veins and splays discovered by surface mapping and trenching that link the northern and southern areas
* Au Equivalent based on silver:gold ratio of 57:1 and assumes 100% metallurgical recoveries
Project Background
Focus is evaluating a system of intermediate sulphidation-type epithermal veins at Chucara for a high-grade gold and silver deposit. The 700 hectare property, located within a highly endowed mineral belt in north-central Peru, is 45 kilometres southeast of Barrick's Lagunas Norte Mine and 18 kilometres east of the Comarsa Au-Ag Mine. Chucara covers the majority part of an historic Ag-Au (Pb-Zn) mine and the recently defined south-eastern extension of the mineralization. The drill targets are a result of a comprehensive exploration program undertaken by Focus that comprised digital compilation of historical work, property-scale mapping, surface channel sampling, a geophysical CSAMT survey and 3D modelling.
Qualified Person
The scientific and technical information in this release was prepared under the supervision of Mr. David Cass, Focus's President, who is a member of the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of British Columbia, and a "Qualified Person" in accordance with NI 43-101.
Samples were analyzed by ALS Chemex Laboratories in Lima. Gold was assayed by Atomic Adsorption Spectrometry with fire assay gravimetric finish. Silver was determined by multi-acid digestion and ICP-AES, with fire assay gravimetric finish. ALS Chemex's quality control system complies with International Standards ISO 9001:2000 and ISO 17025:2005. Analytical accuracy and precision are monitored by the analysis of reagent blanks, reference material and replicate samples.
Source: Focus Ventures Ltd.