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Meteoric Resources begins gold campaign at Juruena ground in Brazil

Last updated: 20:48 25 Jul 2019 EDT, First published: 05:48 26 Jul 2019 EDT

Snapshot

Meteoric is drilling its Juruena Gold Project, a project on the Alta Floresta Belt that was popular with artisanal miners during a 1980s gold rush.

Man holding Brazilian flag with Rio in background
  • Renewed focus on potential acquisitions and investments with an emphasis on gold and base metals
  • Drilling is underway at a Brazilian Gold project
  • Ongoing exploration across cobalt portfolio with 38 targets areas identified
  • Drill program underway, designed to intersect target zones below massive sulphide outcrops
  • Samples submitted to laboratory for assay

What does Meteoric do?

Meteoric Resources NL (ASX:MEI) is developing a portfolio of cobalt assets in Canada’s Ontario province with a program of systematic exploration.

With the gold price at high levels, Meteoric is currently focusing on recently acquired gold projects in Brazil.

The company also holds interest in several joint venture projects in northern Australia, which are prospective for kimberlite, gold and copper.

Managing director Andrew Tunks has had 30 years’ experience within the resource and academic sectors and is a member of the Australian Institute of Geoscientists.

Tunks holds degrees from Monash and the University of Tasmania and has held senior executive positions in range of companies, including Auroch Minerals Ltd (ASX:AOU), A-Cap Resources Ltd (ASX:ACB), IAMGOLD Corporation (NYSE:IAG) and Abosso Goldfields.

What does Meteoric own?

A key asset Meteoric is advancing is the Juruena Gold Project in Brazil’s Alta Floresta Belt, which is prospective for gold.

The company inked an agreement in March 2019 to snap up Juruena and a second project, Novo Astro, from what was then Crusader Resources Limited and is now Big River Gold Ltd (ASX:BRV).

Extensive artisanal mining has been undertaken at Juruena project, with more than 500,000 ounces of gold produced at the site, mainly during a 1980s gold rush.

The project contains a site office, storage, a 1,000-metre earth airstrip and accommodation for more than 60 people.

Novo Astro is 25 kilometres southeast and contains a soil anomaly of more than 15 square kilometres.

Multiple rock chip samples grading more than 10 g/t gold have been found at the secondary project.

Meteoric reported this week it was kicking off a 4,700-metre, 26-hole program at Juruena project and initially targeting Dona Maria prospect.

Tunks told Proactive Investors on Tuesday the first diamond drill rig had arrived on-site, with a second drill rig due within the week.

Brazil’s largest drilling company GEOSOL is helping Meteoric with the maiden drill program.

Juruena’s mineral resource estimate is 1.3 million tonnes for 261,000 ounces of gold grading 6.3 g/t.

This includes the high-grade Dona Maria and Querosense resources which are a collective 436,000 tonnes grading 14.7 g/t for 205,000 ounces.

The drill program aims to follow up bonanza-grade gold intersections at multiple targets, including Dona Maria, Querosense, Tomate and Uilliam.

Tunks reported the Juruena drill program had been designed to test under-drilled shallow portions beneath artisanal workings at Dona Maria and Querosense prospects.

He told Proactive the company was using diamond drilling, rather than RC drilling in Brazil, because it produced a better sample in the country, albeit more slowly.

The program is to also test new predictive structural models and extend the areas of gold mineralisation outside the declared mineral resources.

First samples from Dona Maria are expected to start arriving at the lab for assaying in about three weeks.

Another project in Meteoric’s portfolio is the Joyce Copper-Cobalt-Gold Project in western Ontario where diamond drilling was undertaken this year.

Meteoric’s six other cobalt projects are in eastern Ontario including Mulligan and Mulligan East, Burt, Beauchamp, Iron Mask and Lorrain.

The company also has three joint venture projects in Australia.

Inflection points

  • Drilling success during current Juruena project drilling campaign
  • Upgrade to Juruena resources
  • Progression of other projects in Meteoric portfolio
  • Significant transactions, such as divestments, farm-outs or acquisitions
  • Financing milestones

Meteoric “excited” to test artisanal targets, shares managing director Andrew Tunks

“This is our first drilling program at this project,” Tunks told Proactive Investors on Tuesday.

“We recently acquired this project and it’s taken us a little bit longer than I anticipated but we’re on-site, the drill rig has arrived and we should be drilling in the next day.

“It’s an area of significant past production from the illegal miners of Brazil, the garimpos produced about 500,000 ounces there and so there is a lot of material on the surface that we had to move to get our drilling positions ready.

“We believe that the fault geometry here is what controls the distribution of gold, so we’ve got some very specific (structural) targets and we thought that diamond drilling would be the most appropriate way to test our ideas.

“We’re very excited because in all honesty, this project has some of the best drill results historically that I’ve ever seen for gold and we’re really just following up on some of that past exploration.”

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