SolGold reports first resource estimate for Cacharposa deposit in Ecuador

SolGold (TSX: SOLG; LSE: SOLG) has released an initial resource estimate for its Cacharposa porphyry copper-gold deposit, part of the company’s Porvenir project in southern Ecuador, about 100 km south of Lundin Gold’s (TSX: LUG) Fruta del Norte deposit, and roughly 100 km north of the country’s border with Peru.

The resource was based on about 18,636 metres of diamond drilling and 440 metres of surface rock-saw channel sampling from 23 outcrops.

At a 0.16% copper-equivalent cut-off grade, Cacharposa’s indicated resources total 397 million tonnes grading 0.35% copper and 0.14 gram gold per tonne (0.44% copper-equivalent) for 1.4 million tonnes of contained copper and 1.8 million oz. gold (1.75 million tonnes of copper-equivalent).

Inferred resources add 96.9 million tonnes grading 0.29% copper and 0.12 gram gold per tonne (0.37% copper-equivalent) for 280,000 tonnes of copper and 380,000 oz. of gold (360,000 tonnes copper-equivalent).

The company noted that the resource “includes strong grades exposed at surface over a 650 metre long strike length,” and that open-pit optimization studies “show that this near-surface zone is indicative of a potential starter pit of 44 million tonnes grading 0.64% copper-equivalent (0.44% copper, o.34 gram gold per tonne).”