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TORONTO,
Feb. 5, 2014 /CNW/ - Ecuador Gold
& Copper Corp. (TSX-V: EGX), (the "Company" or
"EGX") is pleased to announce results from exploration
drilling at the North Zone of the Santa Barbara Au-Cu porphyry
deposit located within the Company's 8,300 hectare Condor Gold and
Copper Project in the Zamora Gold
and Copper Belt, Southeast
Ecuador. Assay results from drill holes DSB-39 to DSB-43
have now been received that include: 110 meters of 0.42 g/t gold
and 0.09% copper starting at 158 meters in drill hole DSB-41; 89
meters of 0.69 g/t gold and 0.22% copper from surface in drill hole
DSB-42 and 36 meters of 0.42 g/t gold and 0.13% copper starting at
190 meters in DSB-43. Drill holes DSB-39 and DSB-40 failed to
intersect any appreciable gold or copper values. The previously
announced results of drill hole DSB 38 (see Company's News Release
dated January 8, 2014) returned 294
meters of 0.53 g/t gold and 0.14% copper starting at surface and a
further 28 meters of 0.61 g/t gold and 0.21% copper between 408
meters and 436 meters.
The Santa Barbara North Zone target remains open
to the north, south and at depth.
Drill holes DSB-38 to DSB-43 are exploration
holes drilled in the Santa Barbara North Zone, about 1,000 meters
northeast of the Santa Barbara South deposit where resources now
stand at 236.1 million tonnes at 0.57 g/t gold and 0.1% copper
(4.33 million ounces gold and 520.0 million lbs. copper) in the
Indicated category and 102 million tonnes at 0.50 g/t gold and 0.1%
copper (1.6 million ounces gold and 225 million lbs. copper) in the
Inferred category. For details of previously reported
resources at the Condor Gold and Copper Project, see the Company's
technical report (the "Technical Report") prepared pursuant
to National Instrument 43-101 Standards for Disclosure for Mineral
Projects ("NI 43-101") dated effective October 16, 2013, signed November 28, 2013, and filed on SEDAR at
www.sedar.com on November 29, 2013,
and the Company's news releases dated October 16, 2013 announcing the increased
resources at Santa Barbara South Zone available for viewing at
www.ecuadorgoldandcopper.com. Results of the recent 3,000
meter drill program at Santa Barbara North Zone are tabulated in
Table 1 below.
Santa Barbara North Zone
Previous drilling at the Santa Barbara North
Zone target defined a small Inferred resource of 5 million tonnes
of 0.9 g/t Au (145,000 ounces) reported in the November 29, 2013 43-101 Technical Report. The
objective of the current drill program is an expanded Santa Barbara
North Zone resource targeting the volcanic rocks further to the
south and north, similar in composition to the basaltic andesites
that hosted the best mineralization at the Santa Barbara South
Zone. The Company's geologists in Ecuador have been mapping and exploring in the
Santa Barbara North Zone area and have defined north-northwest
trending drill targets to the north and south of the known Inferred
resource. Drill holes DSB-39 and DSB-40 failed to intersect
mineralization to the east and south, but DSB-42, drilled from the
northwest encountered potassic alteration, abundant B-veins and
renewed gold and copper at depth indicating potential to expand
mineralization to the south of the current Inferred resource and to
the west of the ground tested by DSB-39 and DSB-40.
Drill holes DSB-38, DSB-41 and DSB-43 all
encountered gold and copper mineralization hosted in basaltic
andesites similar to those encountered at the Santa Barbara South
Zone. There is a broad halo of copper mineralization around
the best gold zones at Santa Barbara South. Each of the drill
holes mentioned here encountered at least 400 meters and up to 500m
of copper averaging around 0.1% that indicates potential to
encounter a significant gold zone below the current drilling and to
the north. Further drilling is warranted as the North Zone
mineralization has now been expanded and remains open to the north,
south and at depth. Results from this recent drilling will be
incorporated into a new resource calculation that will be prepared
for Santa Barbara as previously announced in the Company's News
Release of January 16, 2014.
Assays from one last deep drill hole at Santa Barbara South Zone
(DSB-44 to 883 meters) are awaited before recalculating the new
resource model for incorporation into the mine planning for the
Company's Preliminary Economic Assessment (the "PEA"), which
is now expected to be completed by the end of March, 2014.
Table 1: Summary of EGX drill results
at Santa Barbara North (length weighted average assays,
uncapped)
Drill Hole |
From
(m) |
To
(m) |
Interval
(m) |
Au (g/t) |
Cu (%) |
AuEq (g/t) |
DSB-38 |
0.00 |
294.00 |
294.00 |
0.53 |
0.14 |
0.72 |
including |
94.00 |
294.00 |
200.00 |
0.60 |
0.17 |
0.82 |
Including |
256.00 |
294.00 |
38.00 |
0.79* |
0.18 |
1.00* |
and |
408.00 |
438.00 |
30.00 |
0.61 |
0.21 |
0.89 |
DSB-39 |
0.0 |
500.17 |
500.17 |
- |
- |
- |
DSB-40 |
0.0 |
500.02 |
500.02 |
- |
- |
- |
DSB-41 |
158.00 |
268.00 |
110.00 |
0.42 |
0.09 |
0.54 |
DSB-42 |
1.00 |
90.00 |
89.00 |
0.69 |
0.22 |
0.99 |
DSB-43 |
190.00 |
226.00 |
36.00 |
0.42 |
0.13 |
0.59 |
- g/t = grams per metric tonne.
- Gold equivalent grade (AuEq) is calculated assuming 90%
recovery of copper with a $3.00/lb.
long term price of copper and $1,400
long term price for gold.
- The true width of down hole interval lengths are estimated
to be approximately 25% to 50%.
- * Previously released interval 256.00 to 294.00 (38m) in
DSB-38 has been corrected. Gold grade was initially reported
as 0.94 g/t in the Company's news release dated January 9, 2014. Subsequent review revealed
the true average to be 0.79 g/t Au.
Existing Resources
The Condor Gold and Copper Project contains an
Indicated mineral resource of 6.365 million ounces gold (within
318.9 Mt grading 0.62 g/t gold). Additional Inferred mineral
resources contain 2.06 million ounces gold (within 127.0 Mt
grading 0.52 g/t gold). In addition the El Hito Cu-Mo porphyry
deposit hosts an Inferred copper resource of 161 million tonnes
grading 0.31% copper (1.1 billion pounds of Cu). For more
information, please see the Company's resource table at
www.ecuadorgoldandcopper.com or its current Technical Report which
is available under the Company's profile on SEDAR at
www.sedar.com.
These resources were calculated and updated by
Al Maynard and Associates Pty Ltd.
of Perth, Australia as of
October 16, 2013 and are described in
the current Technical Report filed on SEDAR on November 29, 2013. Recent updates to the
Santa Barbara resources reflected in the Technical Report were also
announced in the Company's October 16,
2013 news release.
Qualified Person
Mit Tilkov, P.Geo., Vice-President Exploration
of Ecuador Gold and Copper Corp. is a qualified person, as defined
by NI 43-101, supervised the project field work, and is responsible
for the preparation of the technical information in this news
release.
Cautionary Note
The Company has not completed a preliminary
economic assessment or feasibility study of the Condor Gold and
Copper Project under NI 43-101, and there is no assurance that the
exploration and subsequent development operations of the Condor
Gold and Copper Project will be economically or technically
viable.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its
Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the
policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for
the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Not for distribution to U.S. Newswire
Services or for dissemination in the
United States. Any failure to comply with this restriction
may constitute a violation of U.S. securities laws.
SOURCE Ecuador Gold and Copper Corp.