Collective Mining expands strike at Guayabales gold project amid 10 mines in Colombia

The project in Caldas, 275 km northwest of the capital, Bogota, is within 3 km of 10 operating mines. 

Continuous high-grade copper-silver-gold mineralization from surface was intersected in drill hole APC-39, which extended the strike length at depth from hole APC-35 to 125 metres, Collective said in a news release on Thursday.  

Drill hole APC-39 cut 276.3 metres grading 2.95 grams gold equivalent per tonne (consisting of 2.1 grams gold, 36 grams silver and 0.2% copper) including 33 metres grading 4.9 grams gold equivalent.  

Hole APC-35, reported Mar. 15, cut 359.2 metres grading 3.3 grams gold equivalent including 35.3 metres at 8.1 grams gold equivalent from surface and 47.9 metres at 5.6 grams gold equivalent from 318.3 metres depth. 

Collective has defined the Apollo target as a 1,000-metre by 1,200-metre area of high-grade copper-silver-gold porphyry system. It includes a 130-metre by 100-metre area of surface mineralization, which is open in all directions. Visual inspection of five holes indicates continuous mineralization from surface over core lengths ranging from more than 80 metres to more than 400 metres, the company said.  

“The discovery of the Apollo system within the Guayabales project continues to deliver broad intervals of high-grade copper-silver-gold mineralization,” Ari Sussman, Collective executive chairman, said in the release. “We are excited to have initiated our first deep hole to test the potential of the system over 1,000 metres vertical.” 

The project’s phase two drilling program this year is advancing on schedule with nine holes completed and a further five awaiting assay results from the lab, Collective said. The program aims to further define the high-grade mineralization and dimensions of the Apollo porphyry system near surface while continuing to expand the size of the system through step-out drilling.   

So far, 40 drill holes totalling 17,540 metres have been completed and assayed at the Apollo target. Drill holes APC-36 and APC-38 confirm for the first time that mineralization begins directly at the surface in the pad seven area of the Apollo system, Collective said. Both holes added a new volume of shallow mineralization to the block model. 

The Guayabales project, in Colombia’s Middle Cauca mineral belt, lies beside Aris Mining’s (TSX: ARIS) Marmato mine with proven and probable reserves of 3.2 million oz. of gold at 3.2 grams per tonne and a total resource estimate of 8.8 million oz. of gold.