Mr. Juan Gavidia reports
ORVANA CONFIRMS NEW MINERALIZED STRUCTURE IN EL VALLE
Orvana Minerals Corp. has confirmed the discovery of a new mineralized structure, referred to as Area 208 East, immediately to the east of its current underground mining operations in El Valle, Spain.
Area E2 is located in the easternmost part of the El Valle deposit, 100 metres from Area 208 (the Area A2). It has been identified by exploring the repeatability of structures present in Area A2 located to the east, targeting high-grade oxide gold material. The structure remains open to the north, south and at depth. As previously announced in the company's Q3 fiscal year 2021 update on July 14, 2021, the company planned for a 500-metre drill campaign for Q4 fiscal year 2021, targeting confirmation of continuity of the structure to the north and at depth. The campaign was completed as planned, confirming the discovery of a new mineralized structure Area E2.
Highlights
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Results of completed 3,227 diamond drill hole (DDH) metres and several geological interpretations confirm the discovery of a new mineralized structure identified as Area E2.
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Area E2 is a south-north structure, 500 metres long, 50 metres wide (within several mineralized structures with thickness between one and 12 metres) and 100 metres deep.
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Best intercepts to date are:
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9.0 metres with 7.32 grams per tonne gold, 2.97 per cent copper and 57.88 g/t silver;
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6.9 metres with 22.78 g/t Au and 0.47 per cent Cu;
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8.9 metres with 9.91 g/t Au.
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Area E2 is open to the north -- deep, at depth and to the south.
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Further resource exploration and modelling at Area E2 will be conducted during calendar 2022.
Juan Gavidia, chief executive officer of Orvana, stated: "Our Orovalle exploration team has been working hard to fulfill replenishment of mining depletion for the last six years, ensuring a constant five-year LOM (life-of-mine) at any time. The Orovalle team continues to deliver successful results with the latest discovery of Area E2. We look forward to providing a full picture of Area E2 during next year."
Conceptual background
The eastern part of the El Valle deposit is affected by structures and a set of felsic dikes with direction north 35 degrees east and north to south, through which hydrothermal fluids have been flowing, remobilizing and depositing oxide mineralization. These structures have been identified, modelled and included in the resource estimation of the Area A2. The reason for exploring to the east of the deposit is the search for repeatability of structures similar to those already recognized.
Area E2
Area E2 is located in the easternmost part of El Valle deposit, 100 metres away of Area A2 and following the same north-south direction.
Several Au-Cu mineralized structures have been intercepted so far. These structures are developed into limestones and sandstones (Cambrian-Ordovician), dipping 60 degrees east with a variable thickness between one and 12 metres. The upper part is limited by Alpine thrust (north to south, dipping 40 degrees east). Other minor fault systems displaced the mineralization changing the width.
Mineralization consists in oxide sulphides, gold and native copper into polymictic breccias with limestone, sandstone, porphyry and oxide skarn clasts within an oxide clay matrix.
The Area E2 central mineralized structure is defined over a strike length of 500 metres, six-metre width and 100 metres down dip. It is best defined along level 300. The next drill hole is planned to the north looking for extending the mineralization 200 additional metres.
A total of 3,227 metres in 14 drill holes have been executed on the conceptual target now referred to as Area E2. Key intercepts are:
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9.0 metres with 7.32 g/t Au, 2.97 per cent Cu and 57.88 g/t Ag;
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6.9 metres with 22.78 g/t Au and 0.47 per cent Cu;
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8.9 metres with 9.91 g/t Au.
Area E2 has a mineral resource estimate of 140,000 tonnes, with 3.84 g/t Au and 0.34 per cent Cu of inferred material. The resource is estimated using a gold equivalent cut-off grade of 2.52 g/t, gold price of $1,700 (U.S.) per ounce, copper price of $3.25 (U.S.) per pound and a silver price of $20 (U.S.) per ounce. It is noted that mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. This resource estimate is the initial estimate for Area E2, which will be the start of a larger volume definition, subject to be verified with additional drilling.
Further 2,000 DDH metres are planned for Area E2 during the next 12 months, targeting the north and south sectors, looking for a robust increase in the resource. DDHs targeting resource increase at depth are scheduled after the northbound and southbound efforts, principally due to waiting for the development of galleries to drill from.
INTERCEPTS FROM AREA E2
DDH From (m) To (m) Thick (m)* Au (g/t) Ag (g/t) Cu (%)
19V1715 232.35 232.65 0.3 2.73 2.8 0.07
19V1715 251.05 252.50 1.45 4.78 0.5 0.11
19V1715 262.20 263.35 1.15 2.78 0.5 0.15
19V1753 162.20 171.10 8.9 9.91 0.5 0.01
20V1790 62.10 63.95 1.85 3.08 2.4 0.07
20V1791R 46.45 47.95 1.5 2.23 4.6 0.04
20V1791R 60.85 64.05 3.2 4.81 1.6 0.07
20V1791R 124.60 126.20 1.6 2.09 0.5 0.03
20V1791R 129.40 132.50 3.1 6.05 1.2 0.09
21V1888 45.05 46.60 1.55 3.47 0.5 0.14
21V1889 28.20 39.00 10.8 4.48 1.0 0.15
21V1889 43.50 49.55 6.05 5.95 0.6 0.35
21V1889 58.10 59.15 1.05 20.25 1.6 1.84
21V1889 87.50 91.05 3.55 10.65 0.5 0.51
21V1889 112.05 114.00 1.95 2.47 0.5 0.01
21V1890 No intercepts Au over two g/t
21V1891 15.95 17.45 1.5 4.91 0.5 0.01
21V1892 35.40 36.20 0.8 2.43 1.4 0.07
21V1892 64.55 67.50 3.0 2.96 0.5 0.04
21V1892 72.15 73.85 1.7 2.75 0.5 0.04
21V1892 81.20 82.70 1.5 9.53 1.3 0.14
21V1892 171.10 172.30 1.2 7.89 0.5 0.29
21V1892 193.00 196.20 3.2 3.18 0.5 0.23
21V1892 199.00 202.15 3.2 4.07 0.5 0.23
21V1893 36.00 37.40 1.4 3.15 1.2 0.03
21V1893 50.15 51.95 1.8 8.53 2.1 0.04
21V1893 64.20 64.85 0.7 9.79 2.0 0.16
21V1893 125.00 131.90 6.9 22.78 0.9 0.47
Including 125.00 127.50 2.5 59.83 1.2 1.12
21V1893 154.40 166.20 11.8 3.95 1.5 0.05
21V1893 222.80 227.25 4.5 8.05 70.7 3.93
21V1894 36.20 39.10 2.9 4.27 0.5 0.02
21V1894 78.00 79.50 1.5 2.68 0.5 0.22
21V1894 111.40 122.20 10.8 3.03 0.8 0.68
21V1894 139.20 144.70 5.5 4.53 5.4 0.03
21V1895 37.85 40.35 2.5 3.64 0.5 0.06
21V1895 52.90 53.85 1.0 3.73 0.5 0.03
21V1895 110.80 112.00 1.2 7.49 0.5 0.07
21V1895 127.90 129.30 1.4 5.52 1.1 0.25
21V1895 136.45 138.45 2.0 2.59 1.1 0.15
21V1896 33.30 39.70 6.4 4.32 0.5 0.05
21V1897 7.00 9.20 2.2 3.98 29.8 1.47
21V1897 80.95 89.90 9.0 7.32 57.9 2.97
21V1897 99.90 101.85 1.9 4.56 5.1 0.10
* Not true widths as there are currently insufficient data to calculate true
orientation.
Quality control
The analytical work for the brownfield and infill drilling programs is being performed by the Orovalle laboratory, which is ISO 9001:2015 certified. Sample preparation was carried out at the El Valle facility. All diamond core samples have been prepared using the following procedure, once split, core samples are dried at a temperature of 105 C and then crushed through a jaw crusher to 95 per cent less than six millimetres. The coarse-crushed sample is further reduced to 95 per cent less than 425 microns using an LM5 bowl-and-puck pulverizer. An Essa rotary splitter is used to take a 450-gram to 550 g subsample of each split for pulverizing. The remaining reject portion is bagged and stored. The sample is reduced to a nominal minus 200 mesh using an LM2 bowl-and-puck pulverizer. One hundred forty g subsamples are split using a special vertical-sided scoop to cut channels through the sample which has been spread into a pancake on a sampling mat. Samples are then sent to the laboratory for gold and base metal analysis. Leftover pulp is bagged and stored.
After sample preparation, 30 g samples are analyzed for Au by fire assay with an atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) finish and two-gram samples for silver, arsenic, bismuth, copper, mercury, lead, tin, selenium and zinc by inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES) after an aqua regia digestion.
The reported work has been completed using industry standard procedures, including a quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) program consisting of the insertion of certified reference material, blanks and duplicates samples into the sample stream.
The exploration update was prepared under the supervision of Guadalupe Collar Menendez, a qualified person for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101 and an employee of Orovalle Minerals SL, a subsidiary of Orvana.
About Orvana Minerals Corp.
Orvana is a multimine gold-copper-silver company. Orvana's assets consist of the producing El Valle and Carles gold-copper-silver mines in northern Spain, the Don Mario gold-silver property in Bolivia, currently in care and maintenance, and the Taguas property located in Argentina. Additional information is available at Orvana's website.
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