Orla Mining drills 36 m of 3.41 g/t Au at Camino Rojo
2024-01-25 09:51 ET - News Release
Mr. Sylvain Guerard reports
ORLA MINING PROVIDES AN UPDATE ON INFILL DRILLING AT CAMINO ROJO SULPHIDES DEPOSIT WITH MULTIPLE HIGHLY POSITIVE DRILL INTERSECTIONS
Orla Mining Ltd. has provided an update on its exploration activities at the Camino Rojo sulphide deposit during the second half of 2023.
2023 exploration highlights -- Camino Rojo sulphide deposit (Mexico)
In 2023, Orla undertook a 37,677-metre drill program, strategically focusing on infilling higher-grade parts of the Camino Rojo sulphide deposit to support a potential underground mineral resource estimate. The primary objective was to enhance the understanding of geological controls of the deposit while extending selected drill holes to explore for sulphide mineralization beyond the current open-pit mineral resource boundaries, referred to as the Camino Rojo extension. Orla previously presented results from 15 of 56 drill holes in the 2023 sulphide drill program (June 22, 2023), and this news release presents results from an additional 23 drill holes. Results from the remaining 18 drill holes will be shared in the coming weeks.
Over all, infill drilling of Camino Rojo has consistently yielded long intercepts (greater than 30 metres down hole) of greater than two grams of gold per tonne. These significant drill results align with previous work, reinforcing the potential for an underground mining scenario. Recent drilling has returned notable high-grade intercepts exceeding 10 g/t Au over core lengths ranging from 0.7 metre to three metres. These high-grade intersections are part of wider intervals of greater than two g/t Au over tens of metres. The presence of high-grade gold highlights the opportunity to enhance value through the potential implementation of more selective and targeted underground mining techniques.
"New drill results at Camino Rojo are revealing more about controls on mineralization and hinting at potential for significant expansion below the current mineral resource in the Camino Rojo extension. This data is crucial for our upcoming underground resource estimation, enhancing our understanding of this important part of our growth pipeline," said Sylvain Guerard, Orla's senior vice-president, exploration.
This most-recent drilling campaign, part of Orla south-oriented drill hole programs, has continued to reduce overall drill hole spacing to approximately 25 to 30 metres within part of Camino Rojo (historical north-oriented drill holes had approximately 50-metre spacings). The 2023 drilling efforts consistently intercepted extensive zones (greater than 30 metres down-hole drill length) of higher-grade gold mineralization (greater than two g/t Au), often including zones of greater than three g/t Au over tens of metres, with more narrow intervals of 0.7 metre to three metres of greater than 10 g/t. Assay results from 19 of the 23 drill holes reported in this news release have returned 27 significant mineralized drill intercepts with a grade-by-thickness factor greater than 50 g/t Au by metre, including 11 intercepts with grade-by-thickness factor of greater than 100 g/t Au by metre. The newly acquired drill data significantly improve the company's understanding of the location and continuity of structures controlling higher-grade gold mineralization, providing more precise insights compared with what was achievable with historical drilling results.
All metres reported herein are down-hole intervals, with true width estimates ranging from 60 per cent to 98 per cent of the reported interval for all composites greater than five grade-by-thickness factor. A standard sampling length of 1.5 m is used with a minimum of 0.5 m, when required, based on geologic contacts. Drill core is HQ diameter. The reported composites were not subject to capping; however, a preliminary analysis suggests that only four out of 4,111 samples from the reported holes exceeded the potential capping level of 27 g/t. These samples averaged 43.6 g/t gold (maximum of 69.1 g/t). Orla believes that applying a top cut would have a negligible effect on overall grades. Composites for the sulphide drilling were calculated using a one g/t Au cut-off grade and maximum six m consecutive waste.
2024 plans
The final assay results from the 2023 sulphide infill and extension drilling programs, comprising 18 drill holes, are anticipated to be released in the coming weeks. The successful completion of the 2023 infill drill program marks a significant milestone. Looking ahead to 2024, the company remains committed to near-mine exploration, now shifting its primary focus toward evaluating the extensive potential of the open Camino Rojo deposit, extending into the promising Camino Rojo extension beneath the current sulphide mineral resource. To achieve this objective, Orla plans to execute an aggressive 30,000-metre drill program in 2024. Building on insights gained from the 2023 drilling efforts and historical work, this program aims to further investigate the exciting potential beneath the existing mineral resource.
Qualified person statement
The scientific and technical information in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Sylvain Guerard, PGeo, senior vice-president of exploration, who is the qualified person as defined under the definitions of National Instrument 43-101.
To verify the information related to the 2022 and 2023 drilling programs at the Camino Rojo property, Mr. Guerard has: visited the property in the past year; discussed logging, sampling and sample shipping processes with responsible site staff; discussed and reviewed assay and quality assurance/quality control results with responsible personnel; and reviewed supporting documentation, including drill hole location and orientation as well as significant assay interval calculations.
Quality assurance/quality control -- 2023 drill program
All gold results at Camino Rojo were obtained by ALS Minerals (Au-AA23) using fire assay fusion and an atomic absorption spectroscopy finish. All samples are also analyzed for multielements, including silver, copper, lead and zinc, using a four-acid digestion with ICP-AES finish (ME-ICP61) at ALS Laboratories in Canada. If samples were returned with gold values in excess of 10 parts per million or base metal values in excess of 1 per cent by ICP analysis, samples are rerun with gold (Au-GRA21) by fire assay and gravimetric finish, or base metals (OG62) by four-acid overlimit methods. Drill program design, quality assurance/quality control and interpretation of results were performed by qualified persons employing a quality assurance/quality control program consistent with NI 43-101 and industry best practices. Standards were inserted at a frequency of one in every 50 samples, and blanks were inserted at a frequency of one in every 50 samples for quality assurance/quality control purposes by the company as well as the laboratory. ALS Minerals and ALS Laboratories are independent of Orla. There are no known drilling, sampling, recovery or other factors that could materially affect the accuracy or reliability of the drilling data at Camino Rojo.
Historical drill results at Camino Rojo were completed by Goldcorp Inc., a prior owner of the project. The company's independent qualified person, Independent Mining Consultants Inc., was of the opinion that the drilling and sampling procedures for Camino Rojo drill samples by Goldcorp (and prior to its acquisition by Goldcorp, Canplats Resources Corp.) were reasonable and adequate for the purposes of the Camino Rojo report, and that the Goldcorp quality assurance/quality control program met or exceeded industry standards.
About Orla Mining Ltd.
Orla is operating the Camino Rojo oxide gold mine, a gold and silver open-pit and heap-leach mine located in Zacatecas state, Mexico. The property is 100 per cent owned by Orla and covers over 160,000 hectares. Orla also owns 100 per cent of Cerro Quema, located in Panama, which includes a gold production scenario and various exploration targets. Cerro Quema is a proposed open-pit mine and gold heap-leach operation. Orla also owns 100 per cent of the South Railroad project, a feasibility-stage, open-pit, heap-leach project located on the Carlin trend in Nevada.
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