Aurania Resources finds elevated silver-zinc in outcrop at Tiria-Shimpia target in Ecuador

Aurania Resources Ltd (CVE:ARU) (OTCMKTS:AUIAF) (FRA:20Q) reported that the follow-up of a high-grade boulder found in a stream has led to the discovery of silver-zinc mineralization in an outcrop over 2.7 kilometres (km) in the Tiria-Shimpia target area in the company’s Lost Cities – Cutucu Project in southeastern Ecuador. 

The Toronto-based mineral exploration company said that follow-up exploration, and channel sampling of the mineralized layers, where they are exposed at surface, is turning up “key information” on the distribution of grade on surface within the 15km trend along which, silver-zinc is located at Tiria-Shimpia. 

According to Aurania, the trend was recently extended to 22km after the discovery of a 7km long mineralized zone at Shimpia North. “Within the 2.7km mineralized zone, there is a 500-metre segment of high-grade material with silver up to 73 grams per tonne (g/t) and zinc up to 49%,” noted the company.

READ: Aurania Resources extends Tiria-Shimpia target in Ecuador to 22km after discovering Shimpia North

The high-grade mineralization is open to the north where there is a gap in outcrop of about 1 km. The company said the mineralized sedimentary layer corresponds closely with silver enrichment in soil and remains open to the south.

“In fact, there is a second band of elevated silver in soil that suggests that there is a second mineralized layer in the sedimentary strata, but no outcrop has yet been found of the suspected second layer,” said the company.

A third level of mineralization has been found to the west with the discovery of low-grade outcrop that returned up to 2% zinc. Zinc and silver enrichment continues to the southern limit of ridge and spur soil sampling, and there is therefore potential for the silver-zinc zone to extend further south.

The company also provided geological details of the area sampled pointing out that silver-zinc mineralization is “concentrated in the sedimentary layering in crackle-brecciated dolomitic limestone.” Sphalerite and barite occur in veinlets and as fill between rock fragments in the breccia. The mineralization occurs in sedimentary layering that is folded across north-northwest trending hinge lines.

The rock samples were jaw-crushed to 10 mesh (crushed material passes through a mesh with apertures of 2 millimetres), from which a one-kilogram sub-sample was taken. The sub-sample was crushed to a grain size of 0.075mm and a 200-gram split was set aside for analysis.

Aurania is involved in the acquisition and exploration of mineral property interests, with a focus on precious metals and copper in South America. The firm’s flagship asset, The Lost Cities – Cutucu project, is located in the Jurassic Metallogenic Belt in the eastern foothills of the Andes in Ecuador.

Contact the author Uttara Choudhury at [email protected]

Follow her on Twitter: @UttaraProactive

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