Highlights:

• Latest drill results confirm gold and silver mineralisation hosted in the oxide zone at Loma Bonita with highest assays at the top of the hole
• Drill hole MDPD-007 intersected:
  • 20.0m @ 1.52g/t Au & 62g/t Ag1 (193g/t AgEq) from surface;including
  • 10.7m @ 2.76g/t Au & 66g/t Ag2 (287g/t AgEq) from surface
• Gold and silver is present in outcrop throughout the 600m-800m long Loma Bonita ridge (ASX: 16 & 21 October 2015), presenting a large, highly prospective target zone for drilling
• Diamond drilling is continuing

Azure Minerals Limited (ASX: AZS) (“Azure” or “the Company”) is pleased to advise that diamond drilling has intersected a zone of strong and consistent gold and silver mineralisation in the first hole drilled on the Loma Bonita ridge, located 300m east of the Mesa de Plata silver discovery.

Azure’s Managing Director, Tony Rovira described this gold intersection as “very positive for the mineral potential of the project”.

“This result strongly complements the nearby Mesa de Plata silver deposit and confirms the prospectivity of the Mesa de Plata – Loma Bonita area for hosting a large precious metal mineralised system.

“Significantly, the mineralisation is situated at surface within oxidised rocks, as is the nearby Mesa de Plata silver mineralisation. I am confident that our ongoing exploration will continue to reveal more significant occurrences of silver and gold mineralisation in this locale and within the greater Alacrán project area.

“Further to the description of the geology provided in the announcement to the ASX on 7 March, the four holes completed to date all intersected near-surface silicification underlain by large widths of breccia. Preliminary interpretation is that this breccia represents part of a feeder system that may be the conduit for the introduction of the silver and gold mineralisation at Mesa de Plata and Loma Bonita. The intensity of brecciation, the degree of silicification, and the sulphide content appears to increase from south to north, into the area where we are currently drilling.

“The discovery of gold has significantly enhanced the Mesa de Plata – Loma Bonita area, and is testament to the enormous mineral potential within the overall property.”

DETAILS

Drill Hole MDPD-007:

This hole is located mid-way along the north-south trending Loma Bonita ridge (see Figure 3). This area is characterised by outcropping vuggy silica, silicified volcanic rocks and siliceous breccias which returned numerous significant gold and silver assays from surface sampling (ASX: 16 & 21 October 2015). Geological mapping indicates that the rock units at surface are sub-horizontal, possibly with a shallow north-easterly dip, hence MDPD-007 was drilled vertically.

The upper 15-20m of the hole is within the oxide zone, characterised by strongly weathered rocks (see Figures 1 & 2) with consistent gold and silver mineralisation throughout this zone (see Table 1).

Table 1: Significant gold and silver intercepts from MDPD-007

Beneath this gold and silver mineralised zone, the rocks are predominantly silicified and quartzveined dacite and hydrothermal breccias. Minor to moderate amounts of sulphide mineralisation (mostly disseminated pyrite but occasionally also comprising copper sulphides) are present in the dacite and the breccia throughout the remainder of the hole.

Importantly, a 26.9m wide zone containing disseminated and veinlets of a copper sulphide (possibly chalcocite) mineralisation grading 0.29% Cu is hosted in breccia between 75.1m – 102.0m, including a 3.0m wide zone which returned an intercept of 1.55% Cu (see Table 2).

Table 2: Significant copper intercepts from MDPD-007

Drill Hole MDPD-006: 

MDPD-006 is located near Puerto del Oro approximately 450m southeast of MDPD-006. It was designed to test coincident chargeability and resistivity anomalies identified in Azure’s Induced Polarisation (IP) survey (ASX: 2 July 2015). These geophysical anomalies are situated at +300m below surface.

The hole was drilled to a depth of 539m in dacite and hydrothermal breccias with varying intensities of silicification. Variable, and in some locations, significant quantities of disseminated pyrite are contained in the breccia matrix in the lower 300m of the hole, which may explain the geophysical anomalies.

Assays demonstrate significant geochemical anomalism in copper, molybdenum, gold and silver at various positions within the hole. Significant mineralised intercepts and maximum values are shown in Table 3.

Dill Holes MDPD-008 & 009:

Within the northern part of the Loma Bonita ridge, outcrop occurs as both shallow northeast-dipping strata formed of vuggy silica and also steeply dipping to vertical, north-easterly trending “ribs” of silicified breccia. In this area two holes, MDPD-008 and 009, were drilled at a dip of -60o towards the northwest in order to test the surficial strata and also the vertical features. Both holes intersected vuggy silica, silicified volcanic rocks and siliceous breccias containing variable amounts of sulphide mineralisation. Silicification and brecciation in these holes is intense. Assays for these holes are awaited.

The intensity of the brecciation and silicification within these holes is significantly greater than that observed in holes MDPD-006 and 007. This suggests a vector indicating that the feeder system responsible for the deposition of the Mesa de Plata and Loma Bonita high sulphidation mineralisation may be present in this area. Drill testing of this geological model is continuing.

Table 4: Diamond drill hole information

-ENDS-

Information in this report that relates to Exploration Results is based on information compiled by Mr Tony Rovira, who is a Member of The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. Mr Rovira is a full-time employee and Managing Director of Azure Minerals Limited. Mr Rovira has sufficient experience which is relevant to the styles of mineralisation and types of deposit under consideration and to the activity which he is undertaking to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2012 Edition of the “Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves”. Mr Rovira consents to the inclusion in the report of the matters based on his information in the form and context in which it appears.

Information in this report that relates to previously reported Exploration Results has been crossed-referenced in this report to the date that it was reported to ASX. Azure Minerals Limited confirms that it is not aware of any new information or data that materially affects information included in the relevant market announcement.

Original Article and Figures: http://www.azureminerals.com.au/azs//assets/2016/03/Major-Gold-Hit-at-Loma-Bonita.pdf