Aurania Resources Ltd (CVE:ARU) (OTCQB:AUIAF) has said it is planning to start its Mobile MT geophysical survey this week, a move that will help refine targets on the Tsenken iron oxide copper-gold system in Ecuador.
Results from the survey, which is anticipated to continue through mid-January 2021, will make a “fundamental contribution” to the exploration for the sulphide-bearing core of IOCG targets, and complement magnetic data in refining porphyry copper and epithermal gold-silver and silver-zinc-lead targets, the company told investors.
The firm also revealed that three holes drilled outside of the mineralized zone at Tsenken did not display any significant copper-gold mineralization, a result that Aurania said it had anticipated. Assay results from two other holes drilled closer to the expected core of the system are pending, it added.
READ: Aurania Resources poised for airborne geophysical survey at Ecuador project
"Our exploration model developed from the drilling at Tsenken North had holes TS-001 to 003 located outside of the mineralized zone, so the assay results received come as no surprise,” Aurania CEO Keith Barron said in a statement.
“The Mobile MT survey should complement the scout drilling undertaken to date since it is designed to detect electrical conductivity associated with the sulphide-bearing core of the mineralized system."
Aurania’s objective with the Mobile MT survey is to identify electrically conductive areas related to sulphides in the target area, as well as electrically resistive zones related to silica associated with epithermal systems. If it successfully identifies both conductive zones associated with sulphides and resistive zones associated with silica flooding at the Yawi target, the survey will likely be extended to Crunchy Hill, the company said.
The firm will then turn its attention to scout drilling the copper-silver-bearing breccia at Tsenken N1 and preparing the first targets within the Tiria-Shimpia silver-zinc-lead system for scout drilling. Aurania also plans to integrate the Mobile MT survey data into a 2017 geophysical survey to refine target areas.
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