Mr. Michael Bennett reports
ALTAMIRA GOLD INTERSECTS 131.75M OF DISSEMINATED GOLD MINERALIZATION IN FIRST DRILL HOLE AT MUTUM, APIACAS PROJECT
Altamira Gold Corp. has released the results of the first two diamond drill holes at the Mutum target within the Apiacas project area and has providedan update on exploration at the Santa Helena project. Both projects are located within the Alta Floresta gold belt in northern Mato Grosso, Brazil.
Highlights are as follows:
Results from the first two diamond drill holes at Mutum confirm the presence of a broad zone of disseminated gold within altered intrusive rocks. Drill hole DDMUT-0001 returned 131.75 metres of 0.15 gram per tonne gold, indicating the potential for significant volumes of primary gold mineralization within the project area.Two new environmental permits totalling 110 hectares have been received to allow drill access to additional areas of the central zone of the former Mutum alluvial workings, which extend over an east-west distance of six kilometres.A second diamond drill rig has been contracted to begin Altamira's maiden drill program at the Santa Helena project. An initial 2000 metres of diamond drilling is planned to test both high-grade gold and copper vein mineralization and possible porphyry targets with drilling expected to begin in November, 2021.
Michael Bennett, president and chief executive officer of Altamira Gold, commented: "The results of the first drill holes at Mutum are encouraging and demonstrate that primary gold mineralization is disseminated over wide intervals within altered intrusive rocks. Although the average grade encountered in the first drill hole is subeconomic, permitting considerations meant that we were only able to commence drilling on the periphery of the target area at Mutum. The new environmental permits now doubles the area of the central portion of the Mutum target that Altamira can now drill test.At the same time, in the Santa Helena project area, we are preparing to drill test several targets for the first time with porphyry-style mineralization and high-grade gold and copper veins to be targeted. Diamond drilling of these targets is expected to begin during late November."
Mutum target, Apiacas project
The Mutum target is part of the Apiacas project area and is located 50 kilometres west of Altamira's Cajueiro gold project, which hosts National Instrument 43-101 compliant indicated resources of 5.66 million tonnes of 1.02 grams per tonne gold for a total of 185,000 ouncesand inferred resources of 12.66 million tonnesof 1.26 grams per tonne gold for a total of 515,000 ounces. An estimated one million ounces of colluvial gold was historically recovered from the Mutum target, suggesting the presence of a significant underlying hard-rock deposit.
In 2019, geological mapping outlined an area of pervasive disseminated-style gold mineralization over at least four square kilometres at Mutum. A total of 93 surface rock samples of disseminated and altered rocks collected on surface over this area returned gold values of up to 406.6 grams per tonne gold (see news release dated Sept. 11, 2019). Recent exploration has also identified four high-grade vein structures with channel samples returning values up to three metres of 10.39 grams per tonne gold. Silver assays have also returned high-grade values up to 871 grams per tonne silver (see news release dated March 8, 2021).
In 2021, Altamira completed an extensive induced polarization (IP) geophysical program, which identified an east-west-trending chargeability feature six kilometres in length, associated with quartz-sericite-pyrite alteration and disseminated gold mineralization in intrusive rocks within the area of historic placer gold workings.
Initial diamond drilling has been limited to the areas with active drill permits covering a 1.5-kilometre east-west corridor within the Mutum target. The first six diamond drill holes were drilled to downhole depths of between 126 metres and 276 metres and targeted both chargeability anomalies and the depth extension of the surface gold mineralization indicated by both the historic artisanal mining and the channel sample results collected by Altamira (see press releases dated June 4,2019, and June 8, 2021).
The first diamond drill hole, DDMUT-0001, returned 131.75 metres of 0.15 gram per tonne gold, indicating the presence of widespread disseminated gold mineralization within intrusive rocks at Mutum. The drill hole DDMUT-0001 shows a wide section of silicified and sericitized syenogranite, which is foliated and displays disseminated pyrite mineralization similar to that mapped and sampled on surface. The second drill hole DDMUT-002 collared to the south of the first hole did not intersect the same silicified and sericitized syenogranite seen in the first hole but cut a two-metre-wide zone, which assayed 0.45 gram per tonne gold within sericitized syenogranite host rock. Drilling of the first six holes was limited to a 1.5-kilometre east-west corridor, but, with the extension of the environmental permit published recently, drilling will be expanded a further 1.5 kilometres to the west in areas that have been historically heavily worked for gold on surface. Both disseminated pyritic and gold mineralization and northeasterly trending higher-grade vein structures will be targeted in the next series of drill holes planned for this recently permitted area. Analyses from holes DDMUT-0003-6 are awaited.
Santa Helena project
The Santa Helena project is located immediately adjacent to the paved BR-163 federal highway in the state of Mato Grosso and 60 kilometres southwest of Anglo American's Jaca porphyry copper discovery. Previous artisanal mining activity has focused on high-grade gold hosted in vein structures. However, mapping, soil and rock-chip sampling by Altamira has identified both extensions to the known vein gold targets plus significant copper, molybdenum and gold anomalies related to areas of porphyry-style alteration in a zone that extends seven kilometreseast-west by four kilometres north-south, indicating the presence of a very large hydrothermal system.
The area consists of undulating farmland with generally poor outcrop and deep weathering. Thus far, five main target areas have been identified, all of which have significant gold and/or copper values on surface. These include Flecha Dourada (17 surface rock samples average of 31.2 grams per tonne gold plus 0.13 per cent copper), Gabriel (20 surface rock samples average of 19 grams per tonne gold plus 0.11per cent copper), Dorival (six surface rock samples average of 24.6 grams per tonne gold) and Tucura (six surface rock samples average 7.2 grams per tonne gold).
A trenching program has been initiated at the Dorival North target, where visible gold and copper oxides in quartz veining have been observed and mapped from surface float and trench samples.
The most easterly target, Gabriel, includes a small historic open-pit artisanal mine that previously produced gold from a series of high-grade veins. A total of 20 rock-chip samples were collected on surface from this area in 2018 and returned gold values ranging up to 171.6 grams per tonne gold and 0.96 per cent copper and averaged 19.0 grams per tonne gold and 0.11 per cent copper. Seven samples returned values above 10 grams per tonne gold.
Recent channel sampling in the former Gabriel garimpo pit has exposed a zone of stockwork quartz veining, 60 metres wide, in intrusive rocks. This type of alteration is characteristic of porphyry deposits and additional trenching is in progress to assist with the siting of the initial drill holes on this target.
Qualified person
Guillermo Hughes, FAIG, MAusIMM, a consultant to the company as well as a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, supervised the preparation of the technical information in this news release.
About Altamira Gold Corp.
The company is focused on the exploration and development of gold projects within western-central Brazil. The company holds eight projects comprising approximately 190,000 hectares, within the prolific Juruena gold belt, which historically produced an estimated seven million to 10 million ounces of placer gold. The company's advanced Cajueiro project has NI 43-101 resources of 5.66 million tonnesof 1.02 grams per tonne gold for a total of 185,000 ounces in the indicated resource category and 12.66 million tonnes of 1.26 grams per tonne gold for a total of 515,000 ouncesin the inferred resource category.
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