Exploration drilling has delineated continuity in the underground zone and potential for expanding the open pit
Great Panther Mining Limited (TSX: GPR) (NYSE-A: GPL) a growing gold and silver producer focused on the Americas, announces drill results for the Urucum North deposit located at its wholly-owned Tucano mine in Brazil.
Rob Henderson, Great Panther’s President & CEO commented: “We are very excited with the exploration results we are seeing from Tucano, which demonstrate the potential for additional near-term gold production. The high grades discovered at Urucum North are encouraging, and we are expediting studies to support a decision to initiate underground production to supplement the open pit feed to the mill. Drilling also identified shallow high-grade mineralization, which we believe will extend the Urucum North pit.”
The URN underground project envisions an estimated 40,000 to 50,000 gold ounce (“Au oz”) per year underground mine planned to extract ore from below the current URN open pit. In late 2020, Great Panther conducted additional drilling as part of a larger exploration program designed to update development studies to support a decision for the start-up of the underground project. The program is ongoing and significant drilling results to-date are presented below.
URN High-Grade Zone (Underground)
The URN High-Grade Zone 1 lies less than 100 metres below the planned URN final pit shell. It is the shallowest high-grade zone defined in the mine plan. Nineteen holes were drilled within and along the up and down plunge extensions of HGZ1. Three of these are deep (i.e., +500 metres) drill holes completed to test the down plunge extension of this high-grade zone to demonstrate the down plunge continuity of the HGZ1 beyond the previous limits (see Figure 1). Key drill intersections from these holes include:
Currently, the HGZ1 is approximately 500 metres long and remains open down plunge. Drill hole 21URNDD021 and 21URNDD024 are currently underway to test the extension.
URN Pit Extension to North
Twenty-six holes drilled between 2020 and 2021 (see Table 1) targeted shallow upper-level stopes defined in the URN underground project mine plan. These were identified for early production during ramp development. This additional drilling has delineated a near-surface zone of relatively high-grades with potential to incorporate the upper-level stopes into an extension of the URN open pit design.
Key highlights from drilling in this zone include:
The Company is conducting a mine planning trade-off evaluation between accessing this near-surface mineralization by extending the open pit or via underground stoping, as early ramp development in the current model will access this zone.
The Mine Trend
The drilling executed by Great Panther has improved our understanding of the high-grade zones at Tucano and the Company is applying this knowledge to the entire Tucano drilling database. Recent modelling of high-grade intersections along the 7-kilometre mine sequence indicates a repetition of high-grade zones with similar characteristics and similar controls, that have either been mined or are inferred from sparse drilling. This revised understanding will assist exploration efforts along the mine trend.
Full drill results are provided in the following table:
Hole Id | Target | Intercept | From | To | Est. Horiz. | Grade | Est. Horiz. |
(m) | (m) | (m) | Thickness (m) | (g/t Au) | gram*m Au |
||
21URNDD001 | Hole abandoned: re-drilled as 21URNDD002 | ||||||
21URNDD002 | HGZ1 up-plunge | 4.3 | 227.5 | 231.8 | 2.2 | 3.24 | 7.0 |
21URNDD003 | Hole abandoned: re-drilled as 21URNDD004 | ||||||
21URNDD004 | HGZ1 up-plunge | 2.9 | 274 | 276.9 | 1.7 | 3.67 | 6.1 |
21URNDD004 | HGZ1 up-plunge | 3 | 342 | 345 | 1.7 | 3.29 | 5.7 |
21URNDD005 | HGZ1 down- plunge |
4.9 | 424 | 428.9 | 2.2 | 2.6 | 5.8 |
21URNDD005 | HGZ1 down- plunge |
6.2 | 480.8 | 487 | 2.8 | 14.26 | 40.1 |
21URNDD011 | HGZ1 down- plunge |
6.2 | 423 | 429.2 | 2.6 | 6.26 | 16.4 |
21URNDD012 | HGZ1 up-plunge | 6.5 | 173.3 | 179.8 | 2.4 | 2.09 | 5.1 |
21URNDD013 | Hole abandoned: to be re-drilled | ||||||
21URNDD014 | HGZ1 up-plunge | 2.75 | 286.8 | 289.5 | 1.5 | 6.19 | 9.0 |
21URNDD014 | HGZ1 up-plunge | 2 | 303 | 305 | 1.1 | 5.21 | 5.5 |
21URNDD015 | HGZ1 down- plunge |
6.05 | 479.6 | 485.6 | 2.6 | 9.34 | 23.9 |
21URNDD015 | HGZ1 down- plunge |
7.4 | 549.6 | 557 | 3.1 | 4.14 | 12.9 |
21URNDD016 | URN Extension | 2.35 | 206.3 | 208.7 | 1.4 | 5.21 | 7.4 |
21URNDD016 | URN Extension | 8 | 235.6 | 243.6 | 4.8 | 3.77 | 18.2 |
21URNDD017 | URN Extension | 3 | 214 | 217 | 1.8 | 6.83 | 12.6 |
21URNDD017 | URN Extension | 7.6 | 235 | 242.6 | 4.7 | 8.03 | 37.6 |
21URNDD018 | URN Extension | 4.8 | 201.2 | 206 | 2.4 | 8.02 | 19.2 |
21URNDD019 | Hole abandoned: to be re-drilled | ||||||
21URNDD020 | URN Extension | 4 | 220 | 224 | 2.4 | 2.82 | 6.8 |
21URNDD021 | HGZ1 down-plunge | Hole currently in progress | |||||
21URNDD022 | HGZ1 up-plunge | 2 | 217 | 219 | 1.03007615 | 9.84 | 10.1 |
21URNDD023 | Hole abandoned: wedge of 21URNDD21 | ||||||
21URNDD024 | HGZ1 down- plunge |
Hole currently in progress | |||||
20URNDD002 | URN Extension | 1.9 | 217 | 218.9 | 1.1 | 5.74 | 6.6 |
20URNDD002 | URN Extension | 4 | 241 | 245 | 2.4 | 2.13 | 5.1 |
20URNDD003 | URN Extension | 6.45 | 354 | 360.5 | 2.7 | 3.55 | 9.7 |
20URNDD004 | URN Extension | 3 | 282.6 | 285.6 | 1.5 | 3.03 | 4.5 |
20URNDD006 | URN Extension | 9.7 | 255.4 | 265.1 | 6.2 | 5.99 | 37.3 |
20URNDD006 | URN Extension | 2 | 279 | 281 | 1.3 | 4.01 | 5.2 |
20URNDD008 | URN Extension | 3.1 | 234.1 | 237.2 | 2.0 | 2.61 | 5.2 |
20URNDD009 | URN Extension | 8.4 | 313.7 | 322.1 | 3.8 | 6.56 | 25.0 |
20URNDD009 | URN Extension | 2 | 376 | 378 | 0.9 | 3.55 | 3.2 |
20URNDD010 | URN Extension | 11 | 247 | 258 | 6.2 | 3.52 | 21.7 |
20URNDD011 | URN Extension | 4.8 | 229.6 | 234.4 | 2.8 | 2.02 | 5.6 |
20URNDD011 | URN Extension | 3.6 | 247.2 | 250.8 | 2.1 | 1.95 | 4.0 |
20URNDD012 | URN Extension | 4.95 | 227.6 | 232.5 | 2.8 | 2.71 | 7.7 |
20URNRC001 | URN Extension | 3 | 80 | 83 | 1.9 | 2.67 | 5.1 |
20URNRC001 | URN Extension | 6 | 83 | 89 | 3.9 | 2.38 | 9.2 |
20URNRC001 | URN Extension | 7 | 108 | 115 | 4.5 | 3.48 | 15.7 |
20URNRC001 | URN Extension | 1 | 118 | 119 | 0.6 | 14.48 | 9.3 |
* Significant results: +3.2 gram*meters (Est. horizontal thickness used). | |||||||
Minimum cut-off: 1.6 g/t Au | |||||||
Max internal dilution: 2 m | |||||||
Estimated horizontal thickness calculated assuming vertical mineralization and inclination of drill hole. |
Technical Disclosure and Qualified Persons
On behalf of Great Panther, Nicholas Winer, Fellow AusIMM and Vice President of Exploration, supervised the preparation of data for the drillholes included in this news release and Nicholas Winer, together with Fernando A. Cornejo, P. Eng. and Chief Operating Officer, approved this news release. Mr. Winer and Mr. Cornejo are non-independent Qualified Persons as defined by National Instrument 43-101 – Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (“NI 43-101”).
The Qualified Person reviewed the Tucano QA/QC program. The QA/QC program for drill core includes the regular insertion of blanks, standards, and duplicates into sample batches, diligent monitoring of assay results, and necessary remedial actions. Resource drilling samples are first assayed at the Tucano onsite laboratory. All intervals with anomalous gold are submitted and re-analyzed by the Certified SGS Geosol laboratory in Belo Horizonte by 50 g fire-assay. All SGS Geosol assays, after diligent monitoring of QA/QC and necessary remedial actions, supersede the Tucano assay results in the database for Mineral Resource and Mineral Reserve grade estimation. QA/QC monitoring of the SGS laboratory also includes inter-laboratory checks on five percent of samples with the Certified ALS laboratory in Belo Horizonte. In addition to the data verification methodology described above, personal inspections of the Tucano property have also been completed.
For more information about the Company’s underground URN project, including its mine plan, see the Company’s Annual Information Form for the year ended December 31, 2020 and the technical report dated February 2, 2021 entitled “Amended and Restated Technical Report on the 2020 Mineral Reserves and Mineral Resources of the Tucano Gold Mine, Amapa State, Brazil” filed with the Canadian Securities Administrators available at www.sedar.com and with the Securities and Exchange Commission available at www.sec.gov.
ABOUT GREAT PANTHER
Great Panther is a growing gold and silver producer focused on the Americas. The Company owns a diversified portfolio of assets in Brazil, Mexico and Peru that includes three operating gold and silver mines, four exploration projects, and an advanced development project. Great Panther is actively exploring large land packages in highly prospective districts and is pursuing acquisition opportunities to complement its existing portfolio. Great Panther trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange trading under the symbol GPR, and on the NYSE American under the symbol GPL.
Figure 1: Location of HGZ1 and significant drill intersections highlights in the 2020 / 2021 drill campaign. (CNW Group/Great Panther Mining Limited)
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