VANCOUVER, Oct. 18 /PRNewswire/ - Radius Gold Inc. (TSX-V:
RDU) is pleased to announce that drilling will commence shortly at
its HB silver/gold projects in eastern Guatemala. Radius discovered and drilled
these projects with a series of shallow holes between 2002 and 2003
when the silver and gold spot prices were close to their record
lows. However, recent discoveries in the region - including
Tahoe Resources Inc.'s world class Escobal silver deposit - have
highlighted the potential of eastern Guatemala and therefore Radius has re-focused
its Central American exploration on the region.
Work resumed several months ago with a review of
the regional data base of stream sediment sampling and prospecting
that Radius has built over several years in Guatemala. This review has led to
several concession applications being presented to the ministry of
mines covering strong silver-lead-zinc anomalies. Radius is
waiting for the granting of these concessions to do follow-up
work.
Within the granted concession (HB property) work
has also lead to the discovery, or in some cases re-discovery, of
some very high-grade silver veins within the large HB epithermal
system. The silver results are focused on the Pyramid Hill
zone, a 3 kilometer long vein zone that has returned some
encouraging drill intercepts at shallow depths in previous
programs.
Alteration Studies
Radius recently submitted core from the previous
HB drilling for analysis by the Corescan 11 system in Australia. Corescan is an automated
hyper-spectral scanning system that applies the latest spectral
mapping and imaging technology to sub-millimeter scale alteration
and mineral mapping from drill core. The work identified that the
clay mineral Buddingtonite (a component of some advanced argillic
alteration systems) is present in the hydrothermal alteration
assemblage at Banderas along with
opaline silica. Studies of other major silver deposits, including
MAG Silver's Valdecanas vein in the Fresnillo mining district of Mexico, indicate that Buddingtonite occurs in
the alteration well above the Bonanza zone, perhaps as much as 300m
to 400m above. Drilling at Tahoe's Escobal discovery also hit
high silver grades between 200m to 400m below surface.
In summary, the existing geological evidence
suggests that Radius' drilling needs to test for Bonanza type
veining substantially deeper than previous drilling has tested at
Holly and Banderas. In the table
below, historic drill results, including the depths of the
intercepts from the previous drill campaigns, are listed:
Hole |
|
|
From |
|
|
|
To |
|
|
Interval |
|
|
Au g/t |
|
|
Ag g/t |
Banderas |
BDD-003 |
|
|
27.2 |
|
|
|
31.9 |
|
|
4.7 |
|
|
3.2 |
|
|
115 |
BDD-004 |
|
|
53.9 |
|
|
|
58.2 |
|
|
4.3 |
|
|
6.0 |
|
|
72 |
BDD-005 |
|
|
27.0 |
|
|
|
30.5 |
|
|
3.5 |
|
|
3.6 |
|
|
60 |
BDD-006 |
|
|
48.2 |
|
|
|
50.5 |
|
|
2.3 |
|
|
4.6 |
|
|
75.2 |
BDD-007 |
|
|
77.7 |
|
|
|
79.3 |
|
|
1.6 |
|
|
7.5 |
|
|
33 |
BDD-008 |
|
|
86.9 |
|
|
|
90.5 |
|
|
3.6 |
|
|
9.3 |
|
|
41 |
BDD-014 |
|
|
56.3 |
|
|
|
58.5 |
|
|
2.2 |
|
|
6.9 |
|
|
262 |
BDD-018 |
|
|
67.9 |
|
|
|
71.6 |
|
|
3.7 |
|
|
3.9 |
|
|
68 |
BDD-019 |
|
|
86.9 |
|
|
|
89.6 |
|
|
2.6 |
|
|
6.8 |
|
|
95 |
BDD-022 |
|
|
62.5 |
|
|
|
69.2 |
|
|
6.7 |
|
|
3.9 |
|
|
65 |
BRC-024 |
|
|
165.0 |
|
|
|
174.5 |
|
|
9.0 |
|
|
12.4 |
|
|
95 |
Holly |
HDD-1 |
|
|
34.8 |
|
|
|
49.0 |
|
|
14.2 |
|
|
4.1 |
|
|
150 |
HDD-5 |
|
|
19.1 |
|
|
|
29.7 |
|
|
10.6 |
|
|
8.0 |
|
|
263 |
HDD-7 |
|
|
19.1 |
|
|
|
22.7 |
|
|
3.6 |
|
|
22.0 |
|
|
697 |
Drilling will commence shortly, with the initial
holes focusing on extending the previous intercepts down dip and
along strike, as well as testing the high grade silver veins within
the Pyramid Hill vein zone. A minimum 10,000 meter drill
program is anticipated.
Qualified Person
David Cass,
Radius's Vice-President of Exploration, is a member of the
Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of
British Columbia, and is the
Company's Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument
43-101. Mr. Cass is responsible for the accuracy of the
technical information in this news release.
About Radius
Radius has been exploring for gold in
Latin America for nearly a decade,
and has assembled interests in a portfolio of promising gold
projects throughout the region, including carried stakes in two
small-scale developing gold projects in Guatemala and Nicaragua. Radius also has
two 100% owned exploration plays, the HB property in Guatemala and the Sixty Mile property in the
Yukon Territory.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD
"Simon Ridgway"
Simon Ridgway, President &
CEO
Investor relations: Ralph
Rushton/Erin Ostrom
Symbol: TSXV-RDU; OTCBB-RDUFF
Shares Issued: 73.5-million
Forward-Looking Statement
Some of the statements in this news release
contain forward-looking information that involves inherent risk and
uncertainty affecting the business of Radius Gold Inc. Actual
results may differ materially from those currently anticipated in
such statement.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor the
Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada accepts responsibility for the adequacy
or accuracy of this release.
SOURCE Radius Gold Inc.
Copyright . 18 PR Newswire