Delineation Drilling At The La Romanera Deposit


TORONTO - Emerita Resources Corp. reported on delineation drilling at the La Romanera Deposit at its wholly owned Iberian Belt West project (IBW). IBW hosts three previously identified massive sulphide deposits: La Infanta, La Romanera and El Cura. All deposits are open for expansion along strike and at depth. Presently, there are 13 rigs on La Romanera deposit delineation and 1 rig continues to drill at La Infanta. Six drilling companies are engaged in the program. The most recent drill rig is capable of drilling shallower angle drill holes and will accelerate drilling of some of the thicker, higher base metal grade sections of the deposit, based on the historical intercepts. This area of the deposit was not systematically assayed for gold by previous operators.

Joaquin Merino, P.Geo., President, said, “The upper central area of the deposit is expected to contain a significant proportion of the historical resource, based on the base metal grades and thickness of the sulphide intervals in the historical drill holes. We are interested to see what the gold values are in this section of the deposit. In addition, we expect to commence drilling the El Cura deposit with two drills in December after the hunting season in the area. El Cura is situated between La Romanera and La Infanta deposits.”

Drillhole LR025 intercepted only the Lower Lens mineralization from 184.2 m and encountered 11.2 m of massive sulphide mineralization grading 0.4 % Cu; 1.5 % Pb; 4.2 % Zn; 0.8 g/t Au and 60.8 g/t Ag, including 2.8 m grading 0.3 % Cu; 3.8 % Pb; 12.2 % Zn; 1.72 g/t Au and 131.9 g/t Ag. Drillhole LR026 intercepted massive sulphide in the Upper Lens over 16.9m which in this hole comprises mostly pyrite with no significant values of base or precious metals. The Lower Lens occurs 19.5m below the Upper Lens and consists in 16.3 m grading 0.4 % Cu; 0.2 % Pb; 0.4 % Zn; 0.7 g/t Au and 16.0 g/t Ag, including 2.8 m grading 0.6 % Cu; 0.2 % Pb; 0.0 % Zn; 2.0 g/t Au and 38.6 g/t Ag. Drillhole LR033 was drilled into the central-west part of the deposit and intercepted the two lenses of massive sulphides. The Upper Lens occurs from 326.2 m and has 1.9 m grading 0.5 % Cu; 1.5 % Pb; 1.3 % Zn; 1.2 g/t Au and 83.8 g/t Ag. The interval between the Upper and Lower Lenses is 20.1 m. The Lower Lens consists of 1.2 m of low-grade massive sulphides.

Drillhole LR032 targeted a zone 250 m below surface in the central part of the deposit. It encountered two lenses of massive sulphides. The Upper Lens occurs from 328.3 m and comprises 4.6 m grading 1.5 % Cu; 0.1 % Pb; 0.0 % Zn; 0.5 g/t Au and 39.1 g/t Ag. The interval between the two lenses is 27.4 m. The Lower Lens consists of 7.5 m grading 0.2 % Cu; 0.7 % Pb; 1.0 % Zn; 1.8 g/t Au and 43.8 g/t Ag, including 2.9 m grading 0.3 % Cu; 0.8 % Pb; 0.9 % Zn; 3.51 g/t Au and 65.9 g/t Ag. Drillhole LR006B intercepted the Upper Lens from 472.7 m where it is only 0.5 m thick grading 0.4 % Cu; 1.4 % Pb; 2.2 % Zn; 1.3 g/t Au and 92.0 g/t Ag. The Lower Lens was intercepted 5.5m below and is also characterized by massive sulphide mineralization. The Lower Lens intercept consists of 40.7 m grading 0.3 % Cu; 0.7 % Pb; 0.5 % Zn; 1.6 g/t Au and 32.3 g/t Ag, including 4.8 m grading 0.2 % Cu; 1.3 % Pb; 1.8 % Zn; 4.2 g/t Au and 64.2 g/t Ag with a second high grade gold interval of 3.0 m grading 0.4 % Cu; 0.4 % Pb; 0.3 % Zn; 6.54 g/t Au and 47.8 g/t Ag. Drill hole LR006B shows that excellent gold grades continue to be present at this elevation, approximately 400 m below surface. Drillhole LR030 intercepted mineralization at 300 m below surface in the eastern side of the deposit. It encountered the Upper and Lower massive sulphide lenses. The Upper Lens occurs from 325.4 m down the hole and comprises 5.3 m grading 0.1 % Cu; 0.6 % Pb; 10.2 % Zn; 0.4 g/t Au and 54.5 g/t Ag. The interval between the lenses is 26.1 m. The Lower Lens intercept consists of 6.3 m grading 1.1 % Cu; 0.4 % Pb; 0.7 % Zn; 1.1 g/t Au and 21.4 g/t Ag. Hole LR030 is located approximately 100 m east of the historical Upper Lens drilling and appears to mark a significant extension of the Upper Lens massive sulfides to the east in this area. Copper and gold grades are significant in the Lower Lens in this hole.

As with many of the Volcanic Massive Sulphide deposits in the Iberian Pyrite Belt, metallic zonation is a common occurrence. This appears to be the case at the La Romanera deposit, based on Emerita’s drill results to date. There are zones rich in gold, sometimes with elevated copper, and other areas rich in base metals, mainly zinc and lead. Elevated gold and silver values occur within portions of both the Upper and Lower Lenses and in all areas of the deposit drilled to date, which is a significant new development. Drilling is commencing that will test a large area of the shallower and central portion of the Lower Lens which accounts for a significant proportion of the historical resource. Numerous thick intercepts are reported in the historical data for this area and the precious metal content was not systematically evaluated.