Orea provides Maripa exploration update

Highlights

• The discovery of five new quartz vein systems by prospecting in 2019 and early 2020 has highlighted the potential for high-grade gold ores.
• The 2020 exploration programme is advancing as planned despite certain restrictions being maintained in French Guiana related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Ground geophysical surveying by induced polarisation (IP) method was carried-out in July in the northern half of Maripa over the Filon Dron and Changement gold zones.
• The work declaration for drill testing of the Filon Dron gold zone and surroundings was approved by the State services, where past drilling returned important near surface drill hole intersections of 2.45 g/t gold over 25.5 m and 4.18 g/t gold over 36 m and recent prospecting uncovered three subsidiary veins systems with high-grade gold potential.
• Drilling operations are anticipated to commence in September.

Rock Lefrançois, President and CEO of Orea, commented: “Our initial exploration has proven the value of the Maripa project in the company’s growth strategy with numerous gold zones and prospects identified over a 20 km stretch of a regional structural corridor and geological environment that hosts major gold deposits in the Guiana Shield. We are quite excited to start drilling on the first target in and around Filon Dron where past and recent results are remarkable.”

Induced Polarisation Survey

In preparation for a drilling programme, a ground geophysical survey by IP and electric resistivity Ttomography (ERT) methods was completed by contractor GéophyGuyane with the assistance of Orea’s field staff. The survey was carried-out from 26 June – 19 July 2020 and the report and results were delivered by the contractor on 15 August 2020.

The IP/ERT geophysical survey was intended to trace disseminated sulfide (pyrite) halos associated with the gold bearing shear-tension vein systems over the Changement and Filon Dron zones identified by drilling in the northern half of Maripa by past operators. IP (chargeability) and ERT (resistivity) measurements were taken with an ABEM Terrameter LS2 resistivity meter. Two survey configurations were chosen for data acquisition; Pole-Dipole and ALL64. ALL64 is a combination of three configurations: Dipole-Dipole, Schlumberger and Gradient.

Filon Dron drilling programme

The promising Filon Dron prospect, one of the five partially drill-defined gold zones at Maripa, was prioritised for an initial drill programme in 2020. Filon Dron is located in the central part of Maripa, centred over a 2800 m by 800 – 1100 m gold-in-soil anomaly, straddling the contact between volcanic assemblages of the Paramaca Formation and younger pull-apart basin coarse detrital sediments of the Upper Detrital Unit (UDU or Rosebel Formation). The geological setting is similar to the Rosebel gold mine (15.2 million oz gold) in neighbouring Suriname.

The initial discovery drill programme at Filon Dron, consisting of seven shallow core holes carried-out by IAMGOLD Corp. in 2006, was limited to a 400 m by 200 m area of the extensive gold-in-soil anomaly. Two of the seven cores holes returned important gold mineralised intersections within the surface weathered saprolite layer of 2.45 g/t gold over 25.5 m, including 3.17 g/t gold over 13.5 m, and 4.18 g/t gold over 36 m, including 7.17 g/t gold over 18 m defining a wide gold mineralised zone striking north-northwest, parallel to the local stratigraphic and structural trends. Several other subparallel gold mineralised zones untested by drilling are interpreted from surface geochemical data, defining a 1000 m wide north-northwest trending gold mineralised corridor.

Prospecting by Orea in 2019 and 2020 led to the discovery of three additional quartz-gold vein systems exposed by artisanal mine workings in the vicinity of the Filon Dron gold zone. Select samples of mineralised quartz veins and wallrock collected from the artisanal mine workings and ore stockpiles returned high-grade gold values at all three prospects.

A work declaration for 5000 m of core drilling to test the Filon Dron and subsidiary gold mineralised structures was approved by the State services in late July. An initial 2530 m of drilling in 17 holes was prioritised for 2020 in consideration of the results from the recently completed IP/ERT ground geophysical survey.

Read the article online at: https://www.globalminingreview.com/exploration-development/28082020/orea-provides-maripa-exploration-update/