From Northern Miner website:
Partners confirm gold-rich porphyry
11/07/2000
Vancouver -- Despite showing wide intercepts of mineralization, the latest drill results from the Buyongan copper-gold porphyry prospects failed to meet market
expectations for partners Philex Gold (PGI-V) and Anglo-American (AAUK-Q).
The newest assays from holes 7, 8 and 9 sent Philex shares plunging in early Tuesday trade. By midday, stock in the junior had lost 60¢ to 78¢ on a heavy 800,000
shares.
The ongoing drill program is following up on hole 6, which returned an impressive 365 metres grading 0.81% copper and 1.9 grams gold per tonne.
Hole 7 was collared from the same pad and angled 60° to the south (180° from hole 6). It cut 280 metres grading 0.46% copper and 0.4 gram gold from 128 metres
down-hole.
Hole 9 was set up from the same site and was drilled at a 60° angle towards the west. It returned a robust 421 metres averaging 0.56% copper and 0.9 gram gold from 79
metres down-hole. Included in this interval was a higher-grade section running 0.74% copper and 1.14 gram gold over 259 metres.
Hole 8 was drilled some 300 metres to the northwest and angled at 60° to the north. It failed to hit the mineralized porphyry and cut Quaternary lavas over its entire length of
284 metres.
Hole 10 was collared 200 metres west of the discovery hole and is being drilled at a 60° angle towards the west. It is currently at a down-hole depth of 340 metres. It has
reportedly cut 103 metres of Quaternary lavas, followed by 182 metres of weakly mineralized pyroclastics. It then hit the potassic altered porphyry at 285 metres
down-hole. According to Philex, the intensity of quartz veining and associated mineralization is increasing with depth.
A second rig is currently drilling hole 11 at an angle of 60° to the east from the same site as hole 8. It is still in Quaternary lavas and clastic sediments at 125 metres
down-hole.
Holes 10 and 11 are expected to terminate at 500 metres down-hole.
The 5,186-ha project is located in the northeastern portion of Mindanao island in the province of Surigao del Norte. Over the past year, Anglo-American has identified four
induced-polarization geophysical anomalies there.
The first five holes targeted the Bagacay prospect, where mineralized andesite porphyry float was located over a 1-sq.-km geophysical anomaly. They failed to cut any
significant mineralization.
At the Boyongan prospect, 1.5 km to the south, similar coincidental geophysical anomalies and mineralized boulders were encountered. The first hole there was collared
500 metres east of the discovery hole and drilled towards the south. It hit a pyritic zone with no significant mineralization. The second hole was collared from the same site
but drilled towards the north. It cut 204 metres averaging 0.38% copper and 0.05 gram gold from 134 metres down-hole. Included in this intercept was a 93-metre section
running 0.57% copper and 0.17 gram gold.
Hole 3 was collared 500 metres to the north of the discovery hole and inclined 80° to the north. The hole was terminated at 203 metres, having cut 0.18% copper and 0.64
gram gold over 15 metres from 168 metres down-hole.
Hole 4 was collared some 900 metres northeast of the discovery hole and cut propylitic alteration with no significant values.
Hole 5 was collared 1 km east of the discovery hole. It also hit propylitic alteration with no significant values.
Hole 6 finally cut the high-grade mineralization below volcanic cover at 57 metres down-hole. The copper-gold mineralization is hosted in a diorite porphyry intrusive, with
ore-grade material continuing to the end of the hole at 422 metres.
Applying cutoffs of 0.1% copper and 0.1 gram gold to the hole, the weighted average values of a 329-metre intercept (from 93 to 422 metres) averaged 0.9% copper and
2.07 grams gold.
Mineralization is hosted in polyphasal dioritic intrusives typical of Southeast Asian gold-rich copper porphyry systems. Despite being capped by 57-to-128 metres of
later-staged lavas, Philex reports a deep oxide zone of up to 250 metres, consisting of malachite, azurite, cuprite and native copper.
Anglo-American can earn a 40% stake in the property by spending $2.2 million on exploration over a five-year period. The major can take a 70% interest by completing a
bankable feasibility study.
Philex reported a net loss of US$2.1 million, or US5¢ per share, in the quarter ended Sept. 30. This compared with a loss of US$1.5 million, or US4¢ per share, in the
corresponding period of 1999.
Milling operations at the company's Bulawan mine on the island of Negros resumed in mid-September, following a two-month suspension. For the first nine months of the
year, the mine cranked out 26,869 oz. gold at a cash operating cost of US$334. This compared to 61,190 oz. gold produced at a cash operating cost of US$186 in the
corresponding period last year. |
