Sunstone has intersected an extremely thick mineralised interval at the Limon target outside of the existing resource that could materially change its Bramaderos project in southern Ecuador.

Hole LMDD017, which was part of a broader program that intersected a well-mineralised gold-silver-base metal epithermal system from surface, returned a 176.7m intersection grading 1.1 grams per tonne (g/t) gold equivalent (0.97g/t gold and 10.1g/t silver) from a down-hole depth of just 6.8m.

This includes two higher-grade zones of 15m at 3.97g/t AuEq (3.91g/t gold and 7.69g/t silver) from 81.2m and 26m at 2.32g/t AuEq (2.02g/t gold and 36.2g/t silver).

Sunstone Metals (ASX:STM) notes that this new area remains open and will be further tested over the coming months.

It added that the drilling is also expected to increase both the tonnage and grade of its already substantial Exploration Target that currently sits between 255Mt and 360Mt grading 0.4g/t to 0.74g/t AuEq.

While no substitute for a JORC Resource estimate, the Exploration Target nonetheless provides a hint of just how much the company can add to the current resource of 156Mt grading 0.53g/t AuEq, or 2.7Moz AuEq contained metal, at the Brama-Alb deposit with more drilling and other exploration.

And this could be pretty substantial given that the Limon target area measures some 1.5km by 1km based on surface alteration and anomalous metal distribution.

“This is a phenomenal result which could have a substantial impact on the total resource, the overall grade and the upfront development options at Bramaderos,” managing director Malcolm Norris said.

“The widths of gold and silver from surface, the high grades and the visible gold already show that this is an exceptional mineralised system.

“The shallow and higher grades allow us to contemplate development options that may include higher grade starter pits.

“The result supports our view that Bramaderos has every potential to be a 10Moz district with multiple deposits within 4km of one another.”

Drill results and forward plans

Mineralisation in hole LMDD017 comprises epithermal gold-silver-base metal interval with visible gold associated with sphalerite (zinc sulphide).

The geometry, plus full lateral and vertical extent, of this epithermal system will be defined with follow-up drilling, which is expected to start in April.

Sunstone currently has one rig drilling hole LMDD020 at the Limon target. This hole was drilled through a shallow epithermal zone and is now drilling deeper targeting an underlying porphyry system.

Separately, drilling at the large T2 copper-gold porphyry target within the company’s El Palmar project in northern Ecuador, is progressing well.

The first hole, EPDD026, is currently drilling in altered rock with some mineralisation and veining above the target zone.

Additionally, the company notes that the visual copper content appears to be increasing.

It had previously intersected trace levels of mineralisation and encouraging alteration in the upper section.

 

 

 

This article was developed in collaboration with Sunstone Metals (ASX:STM), a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.

 

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.

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