UPDATE ON EXPLORATION ACTIVITY IN THE PHILIPP2006-03-30 13:07 ET - News Release
Mr. Helmut Wober reports
At the conclusion of a field visit by its president and one of its technical directors, Panoro Minerals Ltd. would like to provide the following update on the exploration activities at its Surigao option and joint venture with Mindoro Resources in the Philippines.
BHP Billiton has moved an additional drill rig onto the Agata nickel laterite prospect located in the Surigao gold district of northern Mindanao. This brings the total number of rigs now testing this prospect to four.
The opening of a second front of porphyry exploration drilling in the Surigao copper-gold porphyry district is imminent. Drilling is expected to start on the Tapian San Francisco project later in April, after rehabilitation of a pre-World War II access road. The first target lies at the heart of an array of induced polarization anomalies, where widespread porphyry-style alteration and copper showings have been located and a trench in porphyry-style mineralization assayed 1 per cent copper and 0.55 gram per tonne gold over 25 metres. This area is situated at the intersection between prominent northwest-striking structural lineaments and a number of northeast-striking lineaments that appear to be the same cross structures to the Philippine fault system as those controlling the location of the Boyongan and Bayugo copper gold porphyry deposits located about 10 kilometres to the northeast.
A drill rig has been moved onto the Agata South porphyry target and will commence drilling within a week. As a result of technical drilling difficulties related to ultramafic cap rock, the joint venture plans to mobilize a reverse circulation drill rig to the Agata North porphyry target to precollar a series of holes that will be finished by diamond drilling into the target zones below.