HIGHLIGHTS:
- Option agreement signed to acquire the Primavera Project claims, including the Andrade copper occurrence from Referencial Geologia, forming the cornerstone to Aguia’s Rio Grande copper strategy
- Drilling undertaken by Aguia as part of due diligence has uncovered high grade and thick copper intersections
- Hole AND-19-003 returned a thick interval of 28.77 metres grading 1.83% copper from 63.63 metres which includes a higher-grade zone of 19.39 metres grading 2.55% copper from 63.63 metres
- High-grade zones within AND-19-003 include:
- 4.35 metres grading 3.57% copper from 65.80 metres
- 2.25 metres grading 5.40% copper from 76.50 metres
- Hole AND-19-001 returned 24.34 metres grading 0.91% copper from 86.00 metres which includes a higher-grade zone of 12.55 metres grading 1.35% copper from 88.90 metres depth
- Acquisition increases Aguia’s holdings in the Rio Grande Copper Belt by 9,282 hectares for total area of 43,282 hectares
- Exhaustive legal and technical due diligence undertaken over last two months including 382 metres of drilling within the Andrade-Primavera trend
- Multiple opportunities to expand the high-grade zone along the 3.8 km core strike and down-plunge of identified mineralisation
Aguia Resources Limited (“Aguia” or the “Company”) (ASX:AGR) (TSXV:AGRL) announces that having ncountered significant copper intersections during a 60 day due diligence period, it has executed an Option Agreement (the Option Agreement”) to acquire the Primavera Project which includes the Andrade copper occurrence (“Andrade”) rom Referencial Geologia Ltda. (“Referencial”). Andrade is located some 5 km southeast of the city of Caçapava do ul, Rio Grande do Sul State, approximately 17 km to the southwest of Aguia’s Big Ranch target and 65 km north of he Canhada target which were discovered and staked by Aguia last year.
The Primavera Project claims became of interest to Aguia following the staking of the Big Ranch and anhada argets in 2018. Aguia negotiated an option to acquire the properties from Referencial contingent on a 60-day due diligence which commenced at the beginning of January 2019. Due diligence has included an exhaustive legal, financial and technical review of existing data and corporate records.
As part of the technical review Aguia undertook 382 metres of drilling at Andrade and assay results have returned thick and high-grade zones of mineralisation. Hole AND-19-003 intersected a zone with 28.77 metres grading 1.83% Cu and 3.84 gpt Ag and includes a higher-grade zone of 19.39 metres grading 2.55% Cu and 4.54 gpt Ag, with individual samples of up to 7.53% Cu within this intercept.
About Andrade
Copper occurrences at Andrade were first reported in the late 19th century in government surveys. The first drilling program was undertaken by DNPM (the Brazilian mining agency) in the 1940s where the scout program revealed the first mineral intercepts. Between 2009 and 2010, Mining Ventures, a private Swiss exploration company, conducted an exploration program which included mapping, soil geochemistry, trenching, IP and 10,300 metres of diamond drilling (49 holes) at Andrade.
Aguia has engaged its own independent technical consultant, RPA Inc. a Toronto based consulting firm, to complete a preliminary JORC/NI 43-101 compliant mineral resource estimate for the Andrade deposit and the technical report will be lodged with the ASX and filed on SEDAR in the next few weeks. Mineralisation at Andrade occurs along the contact between volcanic rocks at the footwall and sediments at the hanging wall.
The Primavera Target is located 3.8 km south from Andrade in a similar context, where mineralization is located primarily along the contact between sedimentary and volcanic rocks. Historical trenching in Primavera has returned up to 52m 1.03% Cu and 6.20g/t Ag (TRPR11) and 11 metres grading 1.16% Cu and 25.16g/t Ag (TRPR13).
Management Commentary
Technical Director Fernando Tallarico commented:
“We are very excited about this opportunity to substantially increase our footprint in the Rio Grande Copper Belt through the acquisition of a property with an extensive drilling database. By analysing the existing historical data and drilling new holes, we have been able to quickly gather compelling results about the mineralisation at Andrade which will be used to define a NI 43-101/JORC compliant mineral resource.
“Our plan is to explore the oxidized copper mineralization from surface at Andrade that has the potential for a quick-start and low capital cost operation. The Primavera target to the south of Andrade also exhibits promising attributes and presents future optionality.”
Managing Director Justin Reid added:
“The acquisition of Andrade provides us with a low cost, low risk path to create a significant new copper prospect in Rio Grande do Sul. The Primavera Project increases our land base to 43,282 hectares in the Rio Grande Copper belt and nicely fills in our holdings in the region with Big Ranch to the north and Canhada to the south.
“We have completed an exhaustive 60-day due diligence, the results of which lead us to believe that the Project Primavera claims and Andrade in particular, have the potential to create significant value for shareholders. Our due diligence has not only expanded known mineralisation, but we have developed a structural and stratigraphic model that we believe can be applied successfully to the property and to the entire belt. Confirmation of high-grade, thick intercepts along trend points to the potential fertility of the entire western belt and provides us with exciting opportunities for expansion and discovery.
“My congratulations to Fernando and our team for delivering some of the best copper assay results identified in Brazil in a long time. These results, further drilling and sampling work, coupled with Tr?s Estradas and our pending community consultations which will launch our phosphate project to the next stage of development, have made for a very promising start to 2019 for Aguia.”
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