Vancouver, British Columbia (FSCwire) - Equitas Resources Corp. (“Equitas” or the “Company”) (TSXV: EQT) (US: EQTRF) (Frankfurt: T6UN) is pleased to report that it has succeeded in acquiring two tenements in the prolific Juruena Gold Belt in Mato Grosso State, Brazil.
Major highlights include:
- Licences for two separate tenements, Santa Helena and Colidor Leste totaling over 18,000 hectares have been awarded by Departamento Nacional de Producao Mineral (DNPM), after a protracted bidding process, with the Company as beneficial owner;
- Previous exploration has returned values up to 45.00 g/t Au at the Santa Helena licence where exploration to date indicates potential for bulk minable saprolite oxide and high grade bedrock sulphide gold;
- Geology at the early stage Colider Leste licence is similar to the Company’s high grade Nova Canaa project, with gold mineralization associated with shearing hydrothermal alteration and quartz stockworks;
- The Company will prioritize exploration plans for the tenements as part of an ongoing strategic review of its portfolio and the overall potential of Juruena Belt.
“We are excited about finally obtaining these two key licences. They are promising material additions to our portfolio, with high grade test results and/or good exploration potential” said Chris Harris, President & CEO of Equitas Resources Corp.
Santa Helena License
The Santa Helena licence is located in between our Colider and Rio do Pombo projects. Property geology consists of Nhandu granite in the southern and central portions, and Colider suite micro-granites in the northern parts. North to northeast trending diabase dykes are in part parallel to a broad NNE trending shear, hosting later brittle deformation, hydrothermal alteration, quartz veining and gold associated with sulphides. Sericite alteration, quartz stockworks and pyrite associated with gold mineralization are clearly evident at the old Garimpeiro Edu Mine and at the Gabriel pit. Observed thicknesses and Au grades in the saprolite indicate the potential for discovery of a significant open pit resource at Santa Helena.
Soil surveys conducted by ECI Mining and Exploration Inc. (ECI, 2008-2009) have identified three distinct km-scale Au anomaly target areas along a virtually untested 7 km NNE trend associated with the shear zone. ECI’s Induced Polarization (IP) surveys in the Gabriel Pit area identified chargeability anomalies indicative of underlying bedrock sulphides. Borehole collars in the Gabriel pit area are evidence of limited drilling by Rio Tinto in the late 1990’s; this information is unavailable at present. No exploration has been conducted at Santa Helena since 2009. The licenses have been the subject of a dispute that DNPM announced resolution of on September 28, 2016, ruling in favour of the Company.
The NE trending Gabriel pit is 170m in length, and up to 70m wide. The pit was focus for historic garimpeiro mining, and the Rio Tinto drilling. The ECI soil survey defines an associated gold anomaly 1000m in length and up to 670m in width, indicating a very large untested target area. Notable gold values obtained by sampling in the Gabriel pit are listed in Table 1 below.
Figure 5: Photos of the Gabriel Pit, showing the exposed gold mineralized saprolite
|
Location |
Sample Type |
Length (m) |
Au g/t |
|
Gabriel Pit |
composite chip of saprolite |
n/a |
11.43 |
|
Gabriel Pit |
composite chip of saprolite |
n/a |
11.73 |
|
Gabriel Pit |
composite chip of saprolite |
n/a |
15.10 |
|
Gabriel Pit |
channel sample of saprolite |
3 |
2.70 |
|
Gabriel Pit |
channel sample of saprolite |
1 |
4.81 |
|
Gabriel Pit |
Grab of saprolite |
n/a |
45.00 |
Table 1: Notable Au assays from previous ECI Exploration, Gabriel Pit
Colider Leste license
The Colider Leste licence is an early-stage opportunity, identified by similarities in geology, structure and mineralization with the Company’s advanced high grade Nova Canaa Project. At Colider Leste monzogranites of the San Pedro Intrusive suite are in sheared contact with Nova Canaa Suite biotite granites and syenogranties. Gold is reported to be associated with hydrothermal alteration along the shears, with saussuritization, epidote alteration, and quartz veins and stockworks hosted by a later brittle deformation event, with an overall northwest orientation.
Further Exploration
The Santa Helena Project is a clear candidate for mapping, trenching and IP survey to evaluate the three large soil anomalies. At Colider Leste, detailed mapping and sampling in order to evaluate for the potential of an economic-scale gold target is the logical next step. These two opportunities will be evaluated within the overall framework of the Company’s extensive portfolio within the Juruena Gold Belt.
NI 43-101 Disclosure
Everett Makela, P. Geo., VP Exploration and Director of Equitas Resources Corp., a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, supervised the preparation of the technical information in this news release.
