Drilling Report

RNS Number : 1144E

Condor Resources PLC

28 May 2012

 

Condor Resources Plc 7th Floor 39 St. James's Street London SW1A 1JD Telephone [phone] Fax: [phone]

28^th May 2012

Condor Resources Plc

(''Condor'' or "the Company")

High Grade Drilling Results on Central Breccia, La India Project, Nicaragua

Condor (AIM:CNR), a gold exploration company focused on delineating a large commercial resource on its 100%-owned La India Project in Nicaragua, is pleased to announce the results of further trenching and three diamond core drillholes completed on the Central Breccia Prospect on the flagship La India Project. The trenching has identified multiple zones of high grade gold mineralisation at surface and assay results from three drillholes demonstrates that high grade gold mineralisation continues to depths of at least 100m below surface with a best drill intercept of 45.8m at 4.24g/t gold from 56.35m drill depth.

Highlights

·     Central Breccia surface area of 300m by 150m defined by 1,391m of trenching.

·     Best trench results 23m at 3.63g/t gold, 25m at 2.28g/t gold and 49m at 1.26g/t gold.

·     Three drill holes completed in 2012 each have excellent results: 8.8m (true width) at 6.70g/t, 24.9m (true width) at 1.28g/t and 29.4m (true width) at 4.24g/t.

·     Wide, near surface, high grade drill intercepts indicate open pit potential.

·     Central Breccia remains open to depth.

Mark Child Chairman and CEO commented:

"We are delighted with these drill results. The Central Breccia surface area of 300m by 150m has been defined by 1,391m trenching. The best trench results are 23m at 3.63g/t gold, 25m at 2.28g/t gold and 49m at 1.26g/t gold. The 3 diamond core drill holes completed this year at 50m drill spacing each produced excellent drill results of 8.8m (true width) at 6.7g/t, gold, 24.9m (true width) at 1.28g/t gold and 29.4m (true width) at 4.24g/t gold and indicate economic open pit potential given that the geographical middle of the Central Breccia is located on a small hill and the drill intercepts are near surface. See maps below. Condor is currently conducting a soil sampling programme on the Central Breccia area and plans a follow up drill campaign later this year to further understand the open pit potential".

Since Condor's last update on exploration on the Central Breccia (see RNS dated 10^th February 2012) the Company has completed approximately 1200m of additional trench sampling and completed three more diamond core drill holes for 546m of drilling. A total of 1392m of trenching and five drill holes for 866m have now been completed on the Central Breccia.

The trenches were excavated by a mechanical excavator on the flatter areas where the transported soil cover is thick and manually on the steeper slopes where the soil cover is thinner were designed to better define the shape and extent of high grade gold mineralization at the Central Breccia.

The trenching has broadly defined the extent of a hydrothermal breccia zone known as the Central Breccia extending over an area of at least 300m East-West by 150m North-South. The entire hydrothermal breccia is anomalous in gold. Within this broad anomalous envelope a number of zones of high grade gold mineralization are recognized with dimensions of up to 25m wide and 70m to 150m long: at least three distinct high-grade zones are recognized in trenching. The orientation of the high-grade zones is irregular although an East-West structural influence, consistent with regional structural and vein trends, is recognized. The High grade gold mineralization has been delineated over a 120m East-West by 70m North-South area. The best trench intercepts to date include:

·     23m at 3.63g/t gold in trench LITR044,

·     25m at 2.28g/t gold in trench LITR012, and

·     49m at 1.26g/t gold including 9.5m at 3.74g/t in trench LITR026.

The second phase of drilling has been considerably more successful than the initial two exploratory drill holes completed at the end of 2011 and reported in an announcement made on the 10^th February this year. The initial two drill holes returned intercepts of 102.11m at 0.31g/t gold including 0.72m at 5.22g/t gold and 7.62m at 0.95g/t gold open to depth in drill hole LIDC091 and 130.1m at 0.12g/t gold in drill hole LIDC096. In contrast, all three of the recent drill holes intersected wide zones of high grade gold mineralization proving depth continuity to the surface mineralization over a minimum of 90m strike length. The drilling confirms the surface observation of multiple zones or shoots. Drill hole LIDC097 returned a drill intercept of 13.7m (8.8m true width) at 6.70g/t gold on a vertical to steeply dipping structure on the southern side of the Central Breccia. Drill holes LIDC099 and LIDC101 tested the northern side of the Central Breccia, were located 50m apart and also intercepted an East-West striking structure interpreted as near vertical to steeply dipping to the south. LIDC099 drill intercept was 38.7m (24.9m true width) at 1.28g/t gold from 46.68m drill depth and LIDC101 drill intercept was 45.8m (29.8m true width) at 4.24g/t gold from 56.35m drill depth. The dip of the mineralized structures intercepted by the drilling cannot be confidently determined based on the current trench and drill data. The current indications are that the high grade zones are vertical to steeply dipping to the south. Further drilling is required to establish the true dip. In Table 1 the true width has been calculated assuming a vertical dip. These true width calculations will be revised when further drilling has been completed.

 

Table 1. Significant drill intercepts

Zone	Drillhole ID	From	To	Drill Width (m)	True Width (m)	Au (g/t)	Ag (g/t)	Comment
Central	LIDC097	46.3	60.0	13.70	8.8	6.70	4.9	Assuming vertical to 65°
Breccia (Sth)	including	50.50	58.50	8.00	5.1	11.07	7.2	Mineralised structure
Central	LIDC099	46.68	85.38	38.70	24.9	1.28	2.19	Assuming vertical
Breccia (Nth)	including	57.78	59.20	1.42	0.9	7.34	4.82	Mineralised structure
	including	67.68	69.08	1.40	0.9	4.16	4.91
Central	LIDC101	4.6	5.4	0.80	0.5	0.84	1.47	Assuming vertical
Breccia (Nth)		15.3	18.3	3.00	1.9	0.68	0.70	Mineralised structure
		29	30.5	1.50	1.0	1.25	1.60	Assuming vertical to 65°
		37.85	39.7	1.85	1.2	1.06	1.12	Mineralised structure
		56.35	102.15	45.80	29.4	4.24	3.48
		117.4	120.45	3.05	2.0	1.27	1.79

True width is an interpretation based on the current interpretation of the veins and may be revised in the future.

The Central Breccia is located in the structural centre of La India gold mining District within an east-west to northwest-southeast orientated graben-like axis, a likely location of the heat source and "feeder zone" for the gold bearing fluids that transported and deposited the gold. The hydrothermal breccia is hosted by andesitic rocks with crustiform and vuggy quartz-calcite veining forming the matrix throughout the hydrothermal breccia, in both the high and low-grade zones. The high grade gold mineralized zones are characterized by intense argillic alteration and pyrite mineralization and in drillholes LIDC099 and LIDC101 a series of narrow, 10-20cm thick banded quartz-calcite veins also appear to be associated with the high grade gold mineralisation.

The Central Breccia, which was discovered by Condor's geological team in 2011, is the first example of wide zones of high grade gold mineralization hosted by a hydrothermal breccia system in the La India District. It is unlikely that the Central Breccia is a unique hydrothermal system and the wide distribution of epithermal vein-hosted gold mineralization over an area of more than 100km² in La India Mining District suggests that there was abundant movement of gold bearing fluids in the geological past and that there are more gold mineralized hydrothermal breccia systems to be discovered.

Figure 1. Location of the Central Breccia within the La India Project area.

PDF link given at end of announcement.

Figure 2. Trenching and drilling plan of the Central Breccia.

PDF link given at end of announcement.

Note: intercept width in metres at gold grade in g/t (i.e. 23m @ 3.63)

Competent Person's Declaration

The information in this announcement that relates to Exploration Results and database is based on information compiled by and reviewed by Dr Luc English, the Country Exploration Manager, who is a Chartered Geologist and Fellow of the Geological Society of London, and a geologist with sixteen years of experience in the exploration and definition of precious and base metal Mineral Resources. Luc English is a full-time employee of Condor Resources plc and has sufficient experience which is relevant to the style of mineralization and type of deposit under consideration, and to the type of activity which he is undertaking to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the June 2009 Edition of the AIM Note for Mining and Oil & Gas Companies. Luc English consents to the inclusion in the announcement of the matters based on their information in the form and context in which it appears and confirms that this information is accurate and not false or misleading.

Click on, or paste the following link into your web browser, to view the associated PDF document.

http://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/1144E_1-2012-5-25.pdf 

 - Ends -

For further information please visit www.condorresourcesplc.com or contact:

Condor Resources plc	Mark Child, Executive Chairman and CEO [phone]	Luc English, Country Manager Nicaragua & El Salvador [phone]
Beaumont Cornish Limited Ocean Equities Limited	Roland Cornish. James Biddle [phone] Will Slack [phone]
Farm Street Media	Simon Robinson [phone]

About Condor Resources Plc:

Condor Resources plc is an AIM listed exploration company focused on developing gold and silver resource projects in Central America.  The Company was admitted to AIM on 31^st May 2006 with the stated strategy to prove up JORC Resources in Nicaragua and El Salvador.  Condor has six 100% owned concessions in La India Mining District ("La India Project"); three 100% owned concessions in three other project areas and 20% in the Cerro Quiroz concession in Nicaragua.  In El Salvador, Condor has 90% ownership of four licences in two project areas.

Condor's concession holdings in Nicaragua currently contain an attributable JORC compliant resource base of 1,707,000 ounces of gold equivalent at 5.5 g/t in Nicaragua and an attributable 1,004,000 oz gold equivalent at 2.6g/t JORC compliant resource base in El Salvador. The Resource calculations are compiled by independent geologists SRK Consulting (UK) Limited for Nicaragua, and Ravensgate and Geosure for El Salvador.

Disclaimer

Neither the contents of the Company's website nor the contents of any website accessible from hyperlinks on the Company's website (or any other website) is incorporated into, or forms part of, this announcement.

Technical Glossary

Assay	The laboratory test conducted to determine the proportion of a mineral within a rock or other material. Usually reported as parts per million which is equivalent to grams of the mineral (i.e. gold) per tonne of rock
Breccia	A rock made up of angular rock fragments cemented together by a finer grained matrix
Diamond core drilling	A drilling method in which penetration is achieved through abrasive cutting by rotation of a diamond encrusted drill bit. This drilling method enables collection of tubes of intact rock (core) and when successful gives the best possible quality samples for description, sampling and analysis of an ore body or mineralised structure.
Down-dip	Further down towards the deepest parts of an ore body or zone of mineralisation
Graben	A geological structure formed as a response to extensional forces in the Earth's crust whereby a series of faults develop which converge at depth along an axis perpendicular to the direction of extension. The wedge shaped rock masses between the faults at the centre of the axis sink to fill the space caused by the 'pulling-apart' of the crust.
Grade	The proportion of a mineral within a rock or other material. For gold mineralisation this is usually reported as grams of gold per tonne of rock (g/t)
g/t	grams per tonne
Pyrite	A rock mineral composed of the elements iron and sulphur.
Hydrothermal	Hot water circulation often caused by heating of groundwater by near surface magmas and often occurring in association with volcanic activity. Hydrothermal waters can contain significant concentrations of dissolved minerals.
Calcite	A common rock mineral composed of the elements calcium, carbon and oxygen.
Quartz	A common rock mineral composed of the elements silicon and oxygen.
Matrix (of breccia)	The cement that fills the space between broken fragments of rock which together forms a rock type known as a breccia.
Intercept	Refers to a sample or sequence of samples taken across the entire width or an ore body or mineralized zone. The intercept is described by the entire thickness and the average grade of mineralisation
JORC	Australian Joint Ore Reserves Committee, common reference to the Australasian Code for reporting of identified mineral resources and ore reserves
Mt	Million tonnes
oz	Troy ounce
Quartz breccia	Broken fragments of rock cemented together by a network of quartz rock. The quartz is deposited from saturated geothermal liquids filling the space between the rock fragments.
Quartz veins	Deposit of quartz rock that develop in fractures and fissures in the surrounding rock. They are deposited by saturated geothermal liquids rising to the surface through the cracks in the rock and then cooling, taking on the shape of the cracks that they fill.
Strike length	The longest horizontal dimension of an ore body or zone of mineralisation
Trench	The excavation of a horizontally elongate pit (trench), typically up to 2m deep and up to 1.5m wide in order to access fresh or weathered bedrock and take channel samples across a mineralised structure. The trench is normally orientated such that samples taken along the wall are perpendicular to the mineralised structure in order to establish the width and grade of the structure.

 

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