Aurania Resources begins drilling at Tsenken N1 target

Aurania Resources Ltd (CVE:ARU) (OTCQB:AUIAF) (FRA:20Q) said scout drilling has commenced at the Tsenken N1 target at its Lost Cities – Cutucu project in Ecuador. 

The exploration company said the target is a copper-silver mineralized zone exposed at surface, with an underlying area of interest having been identified in MobileMT data. It added that the mineralized zone is expected to be intersected at 75 metres (m) to 100m below surface, while the MobileMT target is at about 700m depth. Previous surface sampling has also yielded results of up to 7.1% of copper and 55 grams per tonne (g/t) of silver. 

READ: Aurania Resources identifies initial drill sites at flagship Lost Cities – Cutucu project in Ecuador

“Tsenken N1 is an area where there are a number of small, mineralized breccia bodies with limited exposure on surface in some stream beds. Most of the area in between the breccias is covered by thick foliage and not outcropping. Breccias, which essentially are bodies of broken and cemented rock, in this case with copper mineralization between the fragments, can be formed geologically in many ways, but here a key to their interpretation is the presence of “exotic fragments”, which are clearly not from the wallrock,” Aurania chairman and chief executive Keith Barron said in a statement.

“These fragments have been brought, probably from considerable depth, up the breccia conduit, by volcanic eruption. Breccia conduits or “breccia pipes” commonly will coalesce at depth into a larger breccia body or into the upper levels of a porphyry. Several years ago, I examined a group of meter-scale copper breccia pipes underground and on surface at Tres Chorreras in Azuay Province in Ecuador, and these ultimately merged downward into a copper porphyry that was intersected in drilling. I am hopeful that we have a similar geological scenario here,” the CEO added.

Contact the author at [email protected]

Follow him on Twitter @Cal_Proac

Story by ProactiveInvestors