Garibaldi Resources reported that first-ever diamond drilling at the La Patilla gold property in Sinaloa, Mexico, has returned encouraging gold values near-surface, including an interval grading 10.4 g/mt gold over 8.5 m within a wider 30-m interval grading 3.1 g/mt gold. First-pass metallurgical testing is now under way in advance of a planned phase-two drill program.
Five of six holes drilled to test the La Patilla vein system intersected broad zones of mineralization along 75 m of strike length to depths of about 50 m. Mineralization remains open in all directions, including at depth, and consists of gold-bearing quartz veins and breccia bodies in an epithermal, low-sulphidation system.
The presence of mineralization in the wallrocks of the La Patilla vein system could be favorable for a bulk mining open-pit scenario with a relatively low strip ratio. Garibaldi has started a test program to determine the amenability of the mineralization to heap leaching.
