TORONTO, July 06, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Gran Colombia Gold Corp. (TSX: GCM, OTCQX: TPRFF) (“Gran Colombia” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce results from the recently completed Phase 2 diamond drill program at its 100%-owned Toroparu Project in Western Guyana. The 10,494 meters Phase 2 program was designed to confirm the continuity of both the northwest oriented high-grade gold structures and the cross cutting east-west high-grade structures that create a repeatable pattern of intersecting zones amenable to underground mining methods over the 4 kilometer strike length of the Toroparu Project1.
Serafino Iacono, Executive Chairman of Gran Colombia, commented, “The discovery of the structural control of high-grade gold mineralization at Toroparu has reaffirmed our confidence in the potential value of this project as one of our cornerstone assets. The recently completed, two-phase diamond drill program comprised a total of 20,750 meters in 114 drill holes and has confirmed a 4-kilometer (“km”) strike length of high-grade structurally controlled gold mineralization at Toroparu. In addition, the program identified a repeated pattern of intersections of NW-SE and E-W oriented sub-vertical structures containing high-grade zones extending over mineable widths up to 100 m vertically (“jewelry boxes”)2 that support our belief that a high-grade resource amenable to underground mining methods lies at the core of this very large, disseminated gold deposit. We are currently working with Nordmin to prepare an updated mineral resource estimate and preliminary economic assessment (“PEA”) incorporating the high-grade results from this latest drilling program. We expect the PEA will be completed later this summer.”
Highlights
Assay results from the 2021 Phase 2 High-Grade Definition Drill Program extend high-grade mineralization to the northwest of historical drilling and confirm a 4-km overall strike length of Toroparu Deposit Area.
Drill results identify several additional concentrations of high-grade gold contained in intersecting NW-SE and E-W structures (“pipes”) that occur in a repetitive pattern across the deposit. These structural pipes exhibit continuity over 2 metre (“m”) to 25 m widths extending over 30 to 100 vertical metres and confirm the potential for significant volumes of gold mineralization amenable to underground mining methods exists along the 4 km Toroparu Deposit Area.
The high-grade mineralized pipes, ranging in grade from approximately 5 g/t gold (“Au”) to greater than 20 g/t Au over potentially mineable widths, are often surrounded by a lower grade (0.5 – 5.0 g/t Au) halo of mineralized material.
The high-grade gold grades intersected in structures range from 2.42 g/t Au to 101.7 g/t Au and have a length-weighted average grade of 6.7 g/t Au (uncut) over 113 m and 76 intervals highlighted in this release.
Since historical drilling has been limited to the upper 450 m of vertical extension of the deposit, this remains open at depth across the 4-km of strike length at depths that are relatively shallow for an underground mine. Results from the most northwest set of drill holes, which intersected multiple high-grade intervals indicate that the high-grade structural component of the deposit is still open along strike to the northwest.
Gran Colombia is a mid-tier gold producer with a proven track record of mine building and operating in Latin America. In Colombia, the Company is currently the largest underground gold and silver producer with several mines in operation at its high-grade Segovia Operations. In Guyana, the Company is advancing the Toroparu Project, one of the largest undeveloped gold projects in the Americas. Gran Colombia also owns approximately 44% of Aris Gold Corporation (TSX: ARIS) (Colombia – Marmato), an approximately 27% equity interest in Denarius Silver Corp. (TSX-V: DSLV) (Spain – Lomero-Poyatos; Colombia – Guia Antigua and Zancudo) and an approximately 26% equity interest in Western Atlas Resources Inc. (TSX-V: WA) (Nunavut – Meadowbank).
