Three more holes at Mariana Resources Ltd’s (LON:MARL) Hot Maden have returned high grades of gold and copper.
Drilled down to more that 300m, best intercepts from holes HTD-51 to HTD-53 included gold at 4.4g/t and 8.8g/t over 31m and 40m and 0.77% copper.
Mariana added that hole HTD-52 had confirmed high grade gold-copper mineralisation 140m downdip of the discovery in a previous hole, HTD-4.
This extension is outside the current mineral resource model and will boost the next mineral resource update, the company added.
Glen Parsons, chief executive, said: "The confirmation of these high grades, following visual identification of sulphides, is extremely encouraging both in the current resource area as well as further to the south.
“Specifically hole HTD-52 is now confirming the deeper resource extension below discovery hole HTD-04, and holes HTD-51 and HTD-53 highlighting further potential to the south in the new discovery area.
"In the South, we are seeing multiple narrow but extremely high grade quartz sulphide vein and veinlet zones, typical to what was mined by the Russians in the early 1920's, as well as wider zones of well mineralised veinlet/breccia style mineralisation.
The southern area is becoming a priority exploration target as continual high grade mineralisation is intersected, he added.
Two drill rigs are currently working on site he added, one carrying out in-fill exploration and the other exploring new areas.