Filo Mining Corporation announced the first assay results from the 2016/2017 drill program at the Filo del Sol project located in San Juan Province. A total of 3,830 metres in 20 holes has been completed to date. Highlights include VRC097 with 84 metres at 1.36 g/t gold and VRC099 with 78 metres at 1.02 g/t gold. These are the best and third best gold intersections in the deposit (gold grade times width) received to date and are holes that were drilled within the current resource envelope to test the potential for higher grades in the oxide gold portion of the resource. These results confirm the presence of higher grade zones within the oxide gold zone. Mineralized zones within the Filo del Sol deposit are flat-lying, and drilled widths are interpreted as true widths.
Three main types of oxide mineralization occur in the Filo del Sol deposit. A gold-rich oxide zone occurs within the upper portion of the deposit and contains low silver values and almost no copper. Below this zone is a copper-rich zone comprised of copper oxide and sulphate minerals. This copper zone typically contains moderate gold and silver values. Underlying the copper zone is a silver-rich zone characterized by high-grade silver and moderate gold and copper values.
Filo del Sol is a high-sulfidation epithermal deposit. Other deposits of this type include Veladero, Pierina, Lagunas Norte, and Yanacocha. High-sulfidation deposits are often characterized by large volumes of low to moderate grade material commonly <1g/t gold, cut by higher grade structures and/or sub horizontal zones that were more favorable for gold deposition. The company’s interpretation is that these drill holes have intersected both styles of mineralization.
Together these holes lie to the east of a gap in the drill pattern which is a result of challenging drill setups due to surface topography. This gap is approximately 400 metres north-south by 150 metres east-west and is interpreted to be bounded by a north-south fault to the west. Drills are currently testing step out targets outside the current resource outline including the Filo South porphyry target and the Filo North target.
