I heard through the grapvine this was coming.
ECU drills six metres of 7.78 g/t Au in TA 17.5-10
ECU Silver Mining Inc (C:ECU)
Shares Issued 192,105,186
Last Close 8/16/2006 $2.49
Thursday August 17 2006 - News Release
Mr. Michel Roy reports
ECU Silver Mining Inc. is releasing results from drill hole TA 17.5-10 which returned highly impressive assays averaging 7.78 grams per tonne (g/t) gold (Au) over six metres from a portion of the stockwork zone. Results from TA 17.5-10 indicate significantly higher gold concentrations below level 17.5 immediately under the crosscut where the original discovery was made (see Stockwatch news May 8, 2006). On May 8, 2006, the company first reported this completely new discovery and mineralization type which consisted of fractures filling of a host rock by mineralized veins and veinlets. The initial discovery found a host of calcite-rich veins and veinlets between the A4 and the Santa Juana veins, in the crosscut walls.
Location of hole TA 17.5-10 relative to original discovery
As reported previously, the stockwork zone is opened both to the southeast and northwest horizontally and up and down vertically. Today's announcement describes the findings in drill hole TA 17.5-10 which started close to one end of the same stockwork zone and cut it at a minus-45-degree angle.
The company is pleased to report that the geological model now being defined, as confirmed by assays, suggests that the cluster of small veins close to the major A4 vein is going from a calcite-rich to a sulphide-rich geological system yielding much higher gold grades immediately below the 17.5 level.
Highlights of assays from Hole TA 17.5-10 include:
14.8 metres (48.4 feet) grading 5.13 g/t Au, 22 g/t silver (Ag), 0.45 per cent lead (Pb) and 0.5 per cent zinc (Zn);
included in the 14.8-metre intercept are six metres (19.7 feet) grading 7.78 g/t Au, 38 g/t Ag, 0.99 per cent Pb and 1.18 per cent Zn in hole No. TA 17.5-10; and
also included in the 14.8 metres is a 0.64-metre (2.1 feet) vein grading 43.9 g/t Au and 50 g/t Ag.
The importance of the latest data is:
There could be definable enriched sections in the stockwork zone that could be mined separately, therefore improving mining grades and ore value while still lowering costs by using bulk-mining-type methods.
With the continuing increase in gold grades as the company proceeds deeper, its geological model that a major feeder system exists at depth continues to accumulate further evidence that indeed this will be the case.
The entire stockwork zone, even the latest findings below level 17.5, is accessible with existing infrastructure, now that the company's development work has given it full access to level 18.
TABLE 1
DRILL HOLE NO. TA 17.5-10
Sample No. From (m) To (m) Core length Au (g/t) Ag (g/t) Pb (%) Zn (%) Comment
38192 0.04 0.98 0.94 18.35 42 0.99 1.5
38193 1.59 1.83 0.24 17.1 83 2.47 0.33
38194 1.83 2.49 0.66 17.9 50 1.05 0.1
38195 3.52 4.01 0.49 16.2 142 4.18 6.37
38196 5.47 5.99 0.52 9.6 94 2.97 4.35
38201 14.15 14.79 0.64 43.9 50 0.8 0.19
38221 23 24.5 1.50 0.75 143 0.14 0.11
Total section 0.04 26.65 26.61 3.00 25 0.27 0.30 stockwork
Including 0.04 14.79 14.75 5.13 22 0.45 0.50
Including 0.04 5.99 5.95 7.78 38 0.99 1.18
"The company is extremely pleased with the results from hole No. TA 17.5-10 testing a portion of the stockwork zone below level 17.5. We are especially encouraged by the change from a calcite-rich to a pyrite-rich vein type with the corresponding increase in gold grades. With the recent development workings reaching level 18 which has already yielded some superb grades and these new assay results from a portion of the stockwork zone, the company is confident that it is getting ever closer to reaching the feeder system to this entire section of the mine. Not only do we continue to get better grades at depth, but there also seems to be sectors in the upper levels that are exhibiting geological features strikingly close to those of the stockwork zone. There is little doubt at this time that bulk-mining operations will have to be implemented going forward as, despite of all the major discoveries to date, we are still in the early stages of our planned drilling program," noted Michel Roy, president and chief executive officer of ECU Silver Mining.
Following the initial discovery of the stockwork zone, the company began sampling other areas of the Santa Juana mine to look for geological environments similar to those exhibited by the stockwork zone. That is, to look for areas that had closely spaced parallel continuous veins with good grades close to the Santa Juana and A4 veins. This investigation, started in the upper levels of the mine, has already found a sector of interest near the Santa Juana vein on level 15. Several short crosscuts were driven to test and sample this sector and assays are pending. All the samples represent the core length and may not be representative of the true width. Samples were assayed at ERSA, in Torreon, Coahuila, Mexico. Property-specific quality-control samples were inserted at regular intervals in the sample sequence. Mr. Roy, PGeo, a qualified person within the meaning of National Instrument 43-101, prepared the technical information disclosed in this news release.
© 2006 Canjex Publishing Ltd. |
