ECUADORIAN MINERALS CORPORATION
15721 N. Greenway-Hayden Loop, Suite 201, Scottsdale,
Arizona 85260
Tel: (480) 483-9932 Fax:
(480) 483-9926
April
13, 2000 NEWS RELEASE Trading: TSE.EMC
ECUADORIAN ENCOUNTERS BONANZA GRADE GOLD
AND SILVER
VALUES IN NEW EXPLORATION ADIT AT BEROEN
Ecuadorian Minerals Exploration (“EMC”)
has received the initial assay results from the exploration tunnel (“adit”) in
progress across the Alejandra gold/silver zone within the Beroen property in Ecuador. The first 17.4 meters of the adit
(see attached map), planned for a total length of 30 meters and driven in variably
silicified breccias, have returned average, uncut grades from 30 face panel and
tunnel round samples of 24.1 g/t gold
and 311 g/t silver. Included within
this mineralization is a 4.5 meter wide bonanza style zone which gave average
uncut values of 83.0 g/t gold and 1,060
g/t silver based on 7 samples (116-122), with a high value (uncut) of 132.5 g/t
gold and 1,451 g/t silver over a one meter sample length. A complete table of results is shown below:
Alejandra Adit - Sample Results
|
Sample Number |
Type |
Au(g/t) |
Ag(g/t) |
|
101 |
Tunnel Round |
7.1 |
734 |
|
102 |
Face |
9.9 |
122 |
|
103 |
Tunnel Round |
9.2 |
136 |
|
104 |
Face |
7.0 |
96 |
|
105 |
Tunnel Round |
5.0 |
107 |
|
106 |
Tunnel Round |
5.3 |
14 |
|
107 |
Tunnel Round |
28.6 |
377 |
|
108/110 |
Face |
1.5 |
11 |
|
109 |
Tunnel Round |
0.3 |
16 |
|
111 |
Tunnel Round |
0.7 |
13 |
|
112 |
Tunnel Round |
0.8 |
13 |
|
113 |
Tunnel Round |
1.4 |
23 |
|
114 |
Tunnel Round |
2.8 |
40 |
|
115 |
Face |
7.4 |
37 |
|
116 |
Tunnel Round |
56.0 |
724 |
|
117 |
Face |
75.8 |
1254 |
|
118 |
Tunnel Round |
25.5 |
502 |
|
119 |
Face |
41.6 |
590 |
|
120 |
Tunnel Round |
132.5 |
1451 |
|
121 |
Face |
128.5 |
1447 |
|
122 |
Tunnel Round |
121.4 |
1450 |
|
123 |
Face |
4.9 |
69 |
|
124 |
Tunnel Round |
5.2 |
53 |
|
125 |
Face |
3.1 |
26 |
|
126 |
Tunnel Round |
4.6 |
55 |
|
127 |
Face |
5.4 |
54 |
|
128 |
Tunnel Round |
7.7 |
149 |
|
129 |
Face |
6.9 |
126 |
|
130 |
Tunnel Round |
11.1 |
263 |
|
131 |
Face |
5.0 |
37 |
Sample preparation and assaying were
undertaken by Bondar-Clegg’s Quito and Vancouver facilities respectively, with
analysis by conventional fire assay methods.
Duplicate samples and internal standards inserted by the laboratory show
good reproducibility. Results of the
program have been reviewed by EMC’s designated “Qualified Person”, Dr. Barry
Rayment, a director of, and technical consultant to, EMC.
EMC controls 100% of a consolidated property
position covering an extensive, epithermal gold/silver system at Beroen that
persists for a strike length of approximately 2 km, is some 800 meters wide and
spans approximately 1,000 vertical meters.
High-grade bonanza-style and bulk mineable gold/silver mineralization
occurs within veins, silicified zones and breccias hosted by volcanics and
intrusives.
EMC’s initial core drill program (2,029 m
in 21 holes) carried out in the summer of 1999 tested three different areas
within the 2 km long mineralized zone resulting in partial delineation of the
Alejandra and Dorada zones of gold/silver mineralization. A preliminary in-house inferred resource estimate of 1.55 million ozs
gold and 13 million ozs silver was calculated by EMC’s Qualified Person for the
Alejandra and Dorada mineralized zones
(see news release dated September 1, 1999). EMC’s estimate excluded any
contribution from known high-grade veins outside of the mineralized breccia in
the Alejandra Zone, which has been traced so far over a length of 300m with an
estimated true width of approximately 30m.
Based on information generated by drilling, surface and underground
mapping and sampling, the Alejandra and Dorada Zones exhibit many similarities,
in terms of style of alteration, mineralization, gold/silver values and
structural setting (based on published data) with Meridian Gold’s high grade El
Peñon gold/silver deposit in northern Chile.
Within the hydrothermal breccia that
forms the partially exposed Alejandra Zone (tested to a vertical depth of 130 m
below surface), several high-grade intercepts were reported from the 1999 drill
program, including BC 5 with uncut values of 53m
at 8.3 g/t gold and 57 g/t silver, including 16m at 24.9 g/t gold and 189 g/t
silver and 6m at 46.7 g/t gold and 358 g/t silver. The Alejandra exploration adit is located
below the trace of drill hole BC 5 and above that of BC 2 which provided an
intercept of 35.2m at 8.1 g/t gold and
80 g/t silver including 19.m at 12.0 g/t gold and 103 g/t silver (all assay
values are uncut).
Complete assay results for EMC’s drilling
program over the Alejandra and Dorada Zones are provided in the EMC news
release dated
(see news release dated September 1, 1999).
Further assay results from sampling of the Alejandra exploration adit,
which is still in progress, and from the proposed Dorada adit will be released
as they become available.
In addition to the Alejandra adit, it is
planned to drive an exploration adit through a portion of the Dorada Zone, the
second significant body of gold/silver mineralization outlined during EMC’s
1999 drilling program, located approximately 800m to the south of Alejandra
(see attached map) with projected dimensions estimated to date of 200m length
and 30m width. A second phase drilling
program (approximately 2,500 to 3,000m) is planned to begin in the second
quarter of this year in order to further define the width, together with the
strike and depth extensions, of the gold/silver mineralization within the
Alejandra and Dorada Zones and to test additional targets that may be generated
by the current remodeling of the existing geophysical data.
Vetaspata Gold Property, Peru
An extensive follow-up underground and
surface sampling program involving approximately 250 rock panel samples has now
been completed by EMC and results are awaited.
The program was carried out in order to assess gold grade distribution
in the high grade manto bodies previously outlined by EMC during preliminary
surface and underground sampling and a first phase drilling program completed
in December, 1999
(see news release dated January 14, 2000). The preliminary underground sampling program
by EMC encompassed two of the principal adits on the property used by local
miners (known as the Rosario and Calisaya adits) which host the EMC-designated
manto #1. Uncut values, from the adit
rock panel samples, averaged 17.9 g/t
gold over 54 meters and 39.7 g/t gold over 32 meters respectively (15.9 g/t and
17.6 g/t respectively when gold values are cut to 30 g/t), with individual
values ranging from 3.6 to 184 g/t
gold.
A total of 19 widely-spaced core holes
totaling 1,728m were drilled during the 1999 first phase drilling program. The program outlined an extensive, stacked
sequence of manto horizons (up to seven mantos in drill hole VC 17) open to the
northwest and southeast (along strike) and to the northeast and southwest (up
and down dip). Drill hole VC 6 provided the highest grade
intercepts (uncut) encountered during the program including manto #2 with an interval of 1.8m grading 14.4 g/t gold (including 0.8m
at 24.4 g/t gold) at a depth of 15m and manto #3 with an intersection of 0.8m carrying a grade of 28.8 g/t gold at a depth of 32.7m. A 2m by 1m rock panel sample of manto #1
material collected from outcrop located close to the collar of drill hole VC 6
yielded an uncut value of 24.0 g/t gold.
A full listing of drill hole assays is provided in the news release
dated January 14, 2000.
Results from this recently completed
underground sampling program will be released as they become available. A second phase drilling program is planned
for later this year following the interpretation of underground and surface
sampling results and additional ongoing exploration work in the area.
Paccha Property, Ecuador
EMC
has been advised by Southern Metals Corporation that it has completed a first
phase drilling program comprising seven drill holes totaling 530 meters on the
Paccha high-grade gold property in southern Ecuador in which it has the right
to acquire up to a 70% interest from EMC
(see news release dated July 6, 1999). Assay results are expected in
the first half of May.
The Toronto Stock Exchange neither approves nor disapproves
the information contained in this News Release.
For additional information, contact Linda
North at Tel: (480) 483-9932 or Fax: (480) 483-9926
Internet Site:
http://www.emcinfo.com/emc/