VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / June 17, 2024 / Pampa Metals Corp. ("Pampa Metals" or the "Company") (CSE:PM)(FSE:FIR)(OTCQB:PMMCF) is pleased to provide a summary of its highly successful maiden drill program at the Piuquenes porphyry project, San Juan, Argentina. The Piuquenes project was optioned on 30 November 2023 and the Company mobilized a 3 diamond drillhole program for 2,592m on 7 December 2023, which was completed to high safety, environmental and community standards.
As reported on 18 March 2024, 6 May 2024 and 23 May 2024, each of the three drillholes intersected significant intervals of copper, gold and silver mineralization as follows:
PIU01-2024DDH
- 422 m @ 0.48% Cu, 0.61 g/t Au, 2.9 g/t Ag (198-620m);
- including 132 m @ 0.71% Cu, 0.85 g/t Au, 4.3 g/t Ag (220-352m)
- Including 80 m @ 0.6% Cu, 0.77 g/t Au, 3.2 g/t Ag (468-548m)
PIU02-2024DDH
- 448 m @ 0.42% Cu, 0.46 g/t Au, 2.44 g/t Ag (214-662m)
- including 188m @ 0.59% Cu, 0.63 g/t Au, 3.49 g/t Ag (450-638m)
- including 126 m @ 0.66% Cu, 0.74 g/t Au, 3.94 g/t Ag (450-576 m)
PIU03-2024DDH
- 801 m @ 0.40% Cu, 0.51 g/t Au, 2.87 g/t Ag (54 - 855m (EOH))
- including 518 m @ 0.53% Cu, 0.73 g/t Au, 3.45 g/t Ag (192 - 710)
- including 176 m @ 0.71% Cu, 0.74 g/t Au, 4.86 g/t Ag (192 - 368)
- including 64 m @ 0.75%, 1.2 g/t Au, 4.60 g/t Ag (554 - 618m)
- including 32m @ 0.64% Cu, 0.71 g/t Au, 4.54 g/t Ag (642 - 674m)
Key Technical Findings
- Delineation of a continuous body of high-grade porphyry Cu-Au mineralization from surface to depths of greater than 800m at Piuquenes Central.
- High grade Cu-Au mineralization remains open to depth and to the north-east.
- Confirmation of a multi-phase porphyry system, with strongly developed A type quartz stockwork veining hosting extensive chalcopyrite and bornite mineralization carrying significant copper and gold grades.
- Abundant bornite mineralization encountered both centrally and within the outer margins of the porphyry system, highlighting significant potential for an underlying bornite rich core to the deposit.
- Low average arsenic content reported in assays.
Property Wide Upside Potential
Pampa Metals' mineral tenure extends for over 3km to the north of the Piuquenes Central porphyry Cu-Au deposit, with minimal exploration conducted over the area to date. The underlying geology is almost entirely masked at surface by thin transported cover, with no exploration drilling having been completed under this cover.
Isolated outcrops of advanced argillic alteration have been mapped up to 3.5 km northeast of the Piuquenes Central system. (Fig. 1).
At Piuquenes East, sheeted and locally stockworked fine grey quartz-sulphide veins have been mapped at surface in an area of rare outcrop. These veins are similar in character to veins encountered in some of the gold-rich Miocene porphyries in Chile.
Porphyry districts typically contain multiple mineralized centres, and the Company considers it extremely encouraging to have already delineated a highly mineralized system, with a second highly promising target also outlined within a substantially talus covered property package that has been subject to minimal exploration.
Current Activities
Following completion of its maiden drill program at Piuquenes, the Company is now focused on the integration of recent drilling data with historical information. Concurrent work programs include geological modelling, grade and lithology interpretation aided by multi-element geochemical data, and reprocessing and interpretation of historical geophysical data.
Metallurgical testing and mining concept studies for Piuquenes Central are also being considered.
Preparations are underway for the next field season, which will include further drill evaluation of the Piuquenes Central deposit, the initial drill testing of Piuquenes East, field mapping and further geophysics if required.
Joseph van den Elsen, Pampa Metals President and CEO commented: "We are very pleased to have reported extraordinary, long intervals of primary copper and gold mineralization from our maiden drill-program at Piuquenes Central. Our initial drilling has extended the depth and lateral extensions of mineralization at Piuquenes Central and confirmed a highly mineralized multi-phase porphyry system which remains open to depth and to the north-east. The Piuquenes project is a Company making asset and we look forward to more fully delineating the size and grade potential of this first deposit and concurrently testing a second undrilled, outcropping porphyry already identified at Piuquenes East. We see the potential for a cluster of deposits and will continue to advance several other nearby targets with surface exploration and geophysics."
Historical Exploration - Piuquenes Central
The Piuquenes copper-gold porphyry project covers ~1,880 ha in the San Juan Province of Argentina, adjacent (to the north) with the Altar copper-gold porphyry project (Aldebaran Resources Inc.) and approximately 190 km west of the city of San Juan. Other large porphyry copper projects in the San Juan Miocene porphyry belt include, El Pachón (Glencore), approximately 30 km to the south, the operating Los Pelambres copper mine (60% Antofagasta plc) in Chile, and Los Azules (McEwen Mining) 50 km to the northeast. Since its discovery, the Piuquenes project has remained privately held.
The first evidence of copper oxides at Piuquenes was reported in 1970 by Compañia MInera Aguilar SA, who subsequently completed the first exploration program between 1973-1975. Between 1995 and 1997, Inmet Mining Corporation (IMC) completed a heli-magnetic/radiometric survey, surface geology, rock and soil geochemistry, ground magnetics, PD-IP and eight diamond drillholes (P1A to P8A) for a total of 1,894.2m. Subsequently, in 2015-2016, Anglo American Argentina (AAA) completed detailed 1:2,500 geology and geochemistry, 17.8 km of gDAS24 deep 3D PD-IP/NSMT and a 920.2 m diamond drill hole (PIU16-DDH01).
Inmet Mining Corporation (subsequently acquired by First Quantum in 2013) intersected significant copper and gold mineralization including:
P8A 413.5 m (167-580.5 m) @ 0.47% Cu, 0.52 g/t Au;
P4 67.5 m (207-274.5 m) @ 0.63% Cu, 0.51 g/t Au ; and
P2 158 m (3-161 m) @ 0.32% Cu, 0.6 g/t Au.
In November 2023, Pampa Metals re-logged and assayed the 920.2 m Anglo-American Argentina diamond drill hole which had crossed the mineralized zones intersected by IMC. Results were reported in a news release dated 5 December 2023 as follows:
PIU16-DDH01 558 m @ 0.38% Cu, 0.42 g/t Au, 2.4 g/t Ag (362-920m EOH)
including 296 m @ 0.5 % Cu, 0.5 g/t Au, 2.7 g/t Ag (362-658 m)
including 180 m @ 0.71% Cu, 0.61 g/t Au, 3.8 g/t Ag (362-542 m)
including 130 m @ 0.81% Cu, 0.6 g/t Au, 4 g/t Ag (362-492m)
Drill Hole | East_UTM WGS84 | North_UTM WGS84 | Elevation (m) | Azimuth | Dip | Length (m) |
PIU01-2024DDH | 357,670 | 6,518,620 | 3,744 | 205° | -59° | 867 |
PIU02-2024DDH | 357,775 | 6,518,430 | 3,735 | 270° | -60° | 870 |
PIU03-2024DDH | 357,460 | 6,518,460 | 3,808 | 85° | -75° | 855 |
Table 1: 2024 Drill Program Collars (operator Pampa Metals)
Drill Hole | East_UTM WGS84 | North_UTM WGS84 | Elevation (m) | Azimuth | Dip | Length (m) |
P1A | 358,120 | 6,518,710 | 3,620 | 240° | -55° | 167 |
P2 | 357,630 | 6,518,460 | 3,803 | 270° | -49° | 219.7 |
P3 | 357,620 | 6,518,210 | 3,833 | 330° | -50° | 141 |
P4 | 357,775 | 6.518,430 | 3,735 | 270° | -50° | 274.5 |
P5 | 358,030 | 6,518,390 | 3.762 | 270° | -50° | 57.5 |
P6 | 357,980 | 6,518,630 | 3,641 | 240° | -60° | 236.4 |
P7 | 357,845 | 6,518,370 | 3,749 | 130° | -65° | 241.2 |
P8-A | 357,680 | 6.518.600 | 3,744 | 215° | -48° | 580.5 |
PIU16-DDH01 | 357,410 | 6,518,240 | 3,908 | 45° | -65° | 920.2 |
Table 2: Historical Drill Collars (IMC & AAA)
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD INVESTOR CONTACT
Joseph van den Elsen | President & CEO Joseph van den Elsen | Joseph@pampametals.com
ABOUT PAMPA METALS
Pampa Metals is a copper-gold exploration company listed on the Canadian Stock Exchange (CSE:PM), Frankfurt (FSE: FIR), and OTC (OTCQB: PMMCF) exchanges.
In November 2023, the Company announced it had entered into an Option and Joint Venture Agreement for the acquisition of an 80% interest in the Piuquenes Copper-Gold Porphyry Project in San Juan Province, Argentina.
Sampling Procedure and QAQC
PIU01-2024DH, PIU02-2024DH and PIU03-2024DH drill holes were collared with a PQ drill bit, reduced to HQ and, sequentially, to NQ as the drill hole progressed deeper.
Drill core was extracted from the core tubes by the drill contractor under the supervision of Pampa Metals, marked for consistent orientation and placed in core boxes with appropriate depth markers added. Full core boxes were then sealed before being transported by Pampa Metals to the Piuquenes core-cutting facility in Barreal, San Juan. Core was processed, quick logged, checked for recovery, photographed, and marked for assays. Core trays were weighed before being cut using a diamond saw by Pampa Metals. Pampa Metals supervising geologist double-checked the selected two-metre sample intervals, placing the samples in sealed bags and ensuring that the same side of the core was consistently sampled. Reference numbers were assigned to each sample and each sample was weighed. The core trays with the remaining half-core were weighed and photographed and stored at the Pampa Metals facility in Barreal. From Barreal samples were sent to the ALS preparation facility in Mendoza, an accredited laboratory which is independent of the Company. Prepared samples were then sent to the ALS laboratory in Lima, Peru where they were routinely analyzed by method gold fire assay 30 gr and AAS (AA-Au23), multi-element 4-acids (ME-MS61) and 4-acid copper overlimit (Cu-OG62).
1291 drillhole samples were analyzed, in addition to 140 controls (~ 11%) comprised of 47 blanks, 47 duplicates and 46 standards distributed according to the Sampling Plan and QAQC protocol prepared by Pampa Metals. The blanks consisted of silica samples collected from the Gladys mine in northern Chile (Calama). Duplicates were field control samples and comprised of 1/2 of the original sample and 1/4 of the drill core, whilst CDN-CGS-29 was used as a certified standard sample.
The QAQC demonstrated compliance with the established protocol, with most controls within acceptable ranges. Only copper in the blank samples reached a low level of concern, albeit within an acceptable percentage of samples, likely due to the presence of some samples with high copper content. An updated sampling protocol is in the process of being prepared and presented to the laboratory for use in future programs.
Qualified Person
Technical information in this news release has been approved by Mario Orrego G. Mr. Orrego G. is a Geologist, a Registered Member of the Chilean Mining Commission and a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. Mr. Orrego G. is a consultant to the Company.
Neither the CSE nor the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENT
This news release contains certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". All statements in this release, other than statements of historical fact, that address events or developments that Pampa Metals expects to occur, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will" or "may" occur. These statements are subject to various risks. Although Pampa Metals believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guaranteeing of future performance and actual results may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements.
SOURCE: Pampa Metals Corp.
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