Goldgroup Mining drills 57 metres at 1.02 g/t gold at La Chicharra
The San Francisco project drill program was about 75 per cent complete by Oct. 31 as Goldgroup advanced studies of a potential restart.
Mara Quinlan
Goldgroup Mining Inc. CVEGORO NYSEAMERICANGORO FRA55G reported on Monday that hole GGD-194 intersected 57 metres at 1.02 grams per tonne gold at La Chicharra in Sonora, Mexico. The assays add results from the second of the San Francisco project's two historical pits to a 26,000-metre program supporting studies of a potential restart.
Shares CVEGORO rose 0.45 per cent to C$4.42 on the TSX Venture Exchange at 4:00 p.m. EST on Friday, before Monday's announcement.
By Oct. 31, Goldgroup had completed 19,556 metres in 112 holes, according to its Monday release. That represents approximately 75 per cent of the planned program, with drilling continuing alongside work to assess pit configurations and a potential return to production. Approximately 7,121 metres were drilled during October.
The strongest La Chicharra results came from the southern portion of the pit. The results follow initial assays reported on Sept. 8 from within the San Francisco pit and are being incorporated into geological and resource models.
The headline interval includes 4.75 metres grading 5.26 grams per tonne gold. Nearby hole GGD-204 returned 19 metres at 1.49 grams per tonne gold. That included 3.80 metres at 3.28 grams per tonne.
Those are reported intercept lengths; true-width estimates were not verified for this account. Goldgroup is integrating these results with historical drilling and updated geological interpretations to refine its resource models.
Hole GGD-192 returned three separate mineralized intervals, with the deepest continuing to the end of the hole at 148 metres. That interval measured 16.50 metres at 1.00 grams per tonne gold, warranting further evaluation at depth, the company said.
Goldgroup also reported mineralization in northeastern La Chicharra and the adjacent northwest pit area. Its drilling is intended to improve understanding of mineralization's distribution, grade and geometry across the pit areas.
"Importantly, this drilling is helping us build a more complete understanding of the mineralized system across both principal pit areas," chairman and chief executive Javier Reyes said in the release.
Goldgroup has commissioned geotechnical work to support final pit-wall design criteria. Mine engineering work will evaluate optimized pit configurations and resource shells under different gold-price and operating-cost assumptions.
The company also said in its Nov. 6 technical update that it was refurbishing the crushing circuit and gold-recovery plant in preparation for a potential restart. San Francisco remains a formerly producing operation under technical evaluation.
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Goldgroup says drilling and technical studies will continue, with additional assays to be reported as they become available.
