RE:Aw Tocvan: Impressive lab results from trenching show mineable gold grades directly at surface
The first drilling results are also expected shortly
Full screen / An excavator uncovers the gold-silver ore emerging at the surface (source)
Today, emerging Mexico gold-silver explorer Tocvan Ventures Corp. (CSE:TOC; WKN:A2PE64)) fantastic results from 4 trenches mined in December at the Pilar project in Sonora. During trenching, the gold-silver ore emerging at the earth's surface is exposed with an excavator and then analyzed with slot samples ("channel sampling"). Each of the 4 trenches was approved with a length of around 20 m, a width of up to 5 m and a depth of up to 2 m.
Looking ahead to Tocvan's neighbors (Minera Alamos Inc. and Argonaut Gold Ltd.), results released today demonstrate that Tocvan has comparably high grades of direct gold at surface that are ideally suited for low cost open pit mining (with a strategic/financially strong partner (Osisko) Minera went into production last year after an exceptionally short development time; with no resource estimate or feasibility studies; stock increased 8x in 2019-2020 on good results from drilling and a 50,000t bulk sample averaging 0.65g/t gold) .
Full Screen / The Pilar property map released today shows successful results from the trenching program.
Highlights of the Trenching mining program:
• T-21-1: 4.9 m at 0.55 g/t gold and 11 g/t silver
• T-21-2: 19.5m at 0.61 g/t gold and 6 g/t silver (incl. 11.5m at 0.87 g/t gold and 7 g/t silver; incl. 2 .7 m at 3.01 g/t gold and 20 g/t silver)
• T-21-3: 19.8m @ 0.73g/t gold and 8g/t silver (includes 8.6m @ 1.27g/t gold and 12g/t silver)
• T-21-4: 7 m at 0.54 g/t gold and 5 g/t silver
For comparison:
Direct neighbors of Tocvan's Pilar project include Minera Alamos Inc.'s Santana gold mine (market value: $245 million) at average grades of 0.65 g/t gold and Argonaut Gold Inc.'s Colorada gold mine (market value: $647 million ) averaging 0.59 g/t gold. Both are highly profitable gold mines that are mined using a low-cost open pit method. Minera's Cerro de Oro side project has 630,000 ounces of gold resources averaging 0.41 g/t gold and is also expected to be brought into production quickly (thanks to the benefit of an extremely low strip ratio, i.e. ore occurring directly at surface). Magna Gold Corp.'s restarted San Francisco gold mine in northern Sonora. (stock market value: $70 million) has residual resources of 1.4 million ounces of gold averaging 0.45 g/t gold (albeit with a high strip ratio; ie lots of waste rock/tailings, which was the case at Magna last year technical malfunctions in the processing process). Ergo: Gold ore occurring directly on the earth's surface with a content of at least 0.4 g/t is considered to be extremely profitable in the Mexican state of Sonora, since the low production costs are far below the current gold price.
Most encouraging for Tocvan's shareholders is that all 4 trenches returned mineable gold-silver grades, with 2 trenches showing continuous mineralization along the entire length of the trenches:
• T-21-2 intersected 19.5 m @ 0.61 g/t gold along the full length of the trench on the 4-Trench property.
• T-21-3 returned 19.8m @ 0.73 g/t gold and provided important geochemical information on the Main Zone where mineralization is exposed at surface. The first bulk samples of T-21-3 are sent to the laboratory and used for column leach studies. Trenching material recovered from the other 3 trenches will be used for subsequent metallurgical studies.
Tocvan CEO Brodie Sutherland commented in the News Today: "The results of our trenching program are very encouraging, particularly in terms of defining key material for advanced metallurgical studies. Material from these trenches will be used for advanced column leach studies to build on our encouraging progress." to build on bottle roll results from 2021 that returned over 90% gold recoveries. The T-21-2 trench has returned encouraging results on our developing 4-trench trend which we will follow up with systematic drilling."
Full Screen / Summary of Trenching Results
T-21-1: This trench was completed to test a broad mineralized zone with visible copper oxide mineralization along the northwesternmost extent of the main vein trend at Pilar. The trench totaled 21.5 m in length and intersected 4.9 m at 0.55 g/t gold and 11 g/t silver. Weak anomalous copper values averaged 0.1% over the entire length of the trench. Copper mineralization is a unique feature in this northwestern area of the property.
T-21-2: This trench was completed to better understand the control of mineralization along the 4-trench trend. The trench returned significant mineralization along the entire length of the trench and intersected 19.5 meters grading 0.61 g/t gold and 6 g/t silver. A mineralized fault structure returned higher grades over 2.7 meters at 3 g/t gold and 20 g/t silver. The results from this trench confirm the prospectivity (good future prospects) of the 4-trench trend and the importance of continuing systematic exploration along the trend. Material from this trench will be selected for later metallurgical testwork.
T-21-3: This trench was excavated to collect fresh channel samples from the surface area of the main Main Zone showing. Significant mineralization was intersected the entire length of the trench, returning 19.8m @ 0.73g/t gold and 8g/t silver, including 8.6m @ 1.3g/t gold and 12g/t silver. t silver. Historical sampling indicates that the mineralized zone extends on both sides of the trench. Material from this trench will be collected in bulk for detailed metallurgical testwork via column leach.
T-21-4: This trench was completed to test the northwest extension of the surface extension of the Main Zone where a historic working adit is located along the mineralized trend. The trench had a total length of 21m and intersected 7m at 0.54 g/t gold and 5 g/t silver. Material from this trench will be selected for later metallurgical testwork.
Conclusion:
Results from the trenching program released today are a complete success as mineable gold-silver grades are now demonstrated over long lengths directly at surface. Previous drilling programs have shown that grades are even higher at depth and over even greater lengths. However, the trenching results are extremely important for the forthcoming work, since Tocvan now wants to draw attention to itself with bulk sampling. The mining of bulk samples allows a mini test mine to be simulated as the material mined provides important data on how efficiently the ore can be processed into gold bullion. Upcoming metallurgical testing is expected to demonstrate high gold recoveries to justify construction of an open pit mine (previously completed metallurgical testing using drill core material has shown encouragingly high gold recoveries in excess of 90%). Next, the results of the drilling program, which also began in December and will be continued shortly, are eagerly awaited. This large-scale drilling program will provide drill results on a regular basis and an exceptionally strong newsflow can be expected over the next few weeks.
company details
Tocvan Ventures Corp.
Suite 1150 Iveagh House
707 – 7th Avenue SW
Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2P 3H6
Telephone: +1 403 668 7855
Email: dwood@tocvan.ca (Derek Wood)
www.tocvan.com
ISIN: CA88900N1050
Shares in the market: 31,578,701
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Canada Symbol (CSE): TOC
Current rate: $1.09 CAD (01/17/2022)
Market capitalization: $34 million CAD
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Germany symbol / WKN (Tradegate): TV3 / A2PE64
Current rate: €0.76 EUR (01/17/2022)
Market capitalization: €24 million