Cascabel Exploration Update
OTTAWA, Ontario, Aug. 31, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Cornerstone Capital Resources Inc. (“Cornerstone” or “the Company”) (CGP.V) (GWN.F) (GWN.F) (CTNXF) is pleased to provide an update on the drilling progress of current holes 23R-D1R, 24-D1R, 26, and 27 for the Cascabel copper-gold porphyry joint venture exploration project in northern Ecuador.
Figures referred to in this news release can be seen in PDF format by accessing the version of this release on the Company’s website (www.cornerstoneresources.com) or by clicking on the link below:
http://www.cornerstoneresources.com/i/pdf/NR17-32Figures.pdf.
HIGHLIGHTS:
- Hole 26 assay results return open ended 810m1(from 1066m depth) grading 0.72 % copper equivalent (CuEq)2.
- Hole 26 extends Alpala mineralization 300m to the northwest of Hole 15R2 (which returned 830m1(from 890m depth) grading 0.93% CuEq).
- Hole 27 assay results extend Alpala mineralization 100m southeast of Hole 21, and 250m southeast of Hole 16.
- Alpala Southeast growing. Hole 24-D1R (Rig 3) extends Alpala Southeast mineralization beneath Hole 24. Assay Results pending.
- Alpala Central growing. Hole 23R-D1 (Rig 1) extends Alpala deep mineralization east of Hole 23R-D1. Assay Results pending.
- Man-portable drill rigs 6 and 7 mobilizing to site from Cuenca, Southern Ecuador.
- Drilling program expanding to 10 drill rigs by January 2018. Second drilling contract signed.
- Large track mounted Sandvik drill rigs 8 and 9 mobilizing to site via sea freight.
- Geophysical 3DIP survey in progress – 70% Spartan portion completed.
- Aguinaga target scheduled for drill testing on completion of drill data collection for the Alpala maiden inferred resource estimate expected by end of 2017, and on completion of Spartan Orion IP Survey and new magnetic modelling.
- SolGold planning to complete a pre-feasibility study by end of 2018.
FURTHER INFORMATION:
Drilling Results – Continued Growth at Alpala
The Alpala deposit continues to grow with each new drill hole as drilling focusses on high grade porphyry centres at Alpala Northwest, Alpala Central and Alpala Southeast. Over 44,500m of drilling has been completed to date along the greater Alpala trend (Figure 1). The use of the Devico drilling technique for deviated path holes from existing parents holes is delivering savings of up to three weeks and approximately $500,000 per drill hole test of the deposit.
From the drilling results at the growing Alpala Porphyry Copper Gold Deposit, the data gathered has provided the basis for the estimation of an exploration target over the area drilled to date. SolGold, the project operator, is directing drilling capability and operations currently to the collection of drill data to be used in the completion of a maiden inferred resource calculation on this target.
Hole 26 (Rig 4 Alpala Northwest), was completed on July 30 at a depth of 1875.9m. Assay results returned an open ended 809.95m31 grading 0.72% copper equivalent. Hole 26 extends the Alpala mineralization 300m to the northwest of Hole 15R2 (which returned 830m1 grading 0.93% copper equivalent (from 890m depth). A strongly mineralized diorite intrusion encountered in the lower portion of Hole 26 confirms the Alpala Northwest deposit at depth, some 400m below the intersection achieved in Hole 13 of 190m1 @ 0.82 % copper equivalent (0.63 % Cu, 0.31 g/t Au).
Hole 27 (Rig 2 Hematite Hill), was completed on July 14 at a depth of 1614.3m. Hole 27 extends Alpala mineralization 100m southeast of Hole 21, and 250m southeast of Hole 16, which returned 894m1 @ 1.41 % copper equivalent (0.78 % Cu, 0.99 g/t Au).
Summary intersections from Holes 26 and 27 are shown in Table 1.
| Hole ID | DepthFrom | DepthTo | Intervel (m) | Cu_% | Au_g/t | Cu.Eq_% | Cut | Comments |
| CSD-16-026 | 956 | 1875.95 | 919.95 | 0.48 | 0.31 | 0.68 | 0.30 | bulk halo, open ended |
| 1066 | 1875.95 | 809.95 | 0.50 | 0.34 | 0.72 | 0.40 | open ended | |
| 1084 | 1440 | 356 | 0.53 | 0.36 | 0.75 | 0.50 | ||
| 1492 | 1606 | 114 | 0.46 | 0.27 | 0.63 | 0.50 | ||
| 1672 | 1875.95 | 203.95 | 0.63 | 0.47 | 0.92 | 0.50 | open ended | |
| CSD-17-027 | 718 | 1520 | 802 | 0.32 | 0.14 | 0.41 | 0.10 | bulk halo |
| 806 | 1178 | 372 | 0.39 | 0.19 | 0.52 | 0.30 | ||
| 906 | 1118 | 212 | 0.52 | 0.24 | 0.67 | 0.50 | ||
| Data Aggregation Method: Intercepts reported using copper equivalent cutoff grades with up to 10m internal dilution, excluding bridging to a single sample. Minimum intersection length 50m. Gold Conversion Factor of 0.63 calculated from a copper price of US$3.00/lb and a gold price US$1300/oz. True widths of downhole interval lengths are estimated to be approximately 25% to 50%. | ||||||||
Table 1: Summary of selected intersections from Hole 26 at Alpala Northwest, and from Hole 27 at Hematite Hill. * NOTE: All reported drill core intervals from the Cascabel Property are core lengths, unless otherwise indicated. At present the true thicknesses of all the holes has not been calculated by SolGold. True width of down hole intersections are variable, estimated by SolGold to be approximately 25-60% of the core length in general and to be up to 80% in some holes in the central part of the Alpala deposit.
Hole 23R-D1 (Rig 1 Alpala Central) was completed on August 10 at a depth of 1626.6m. Hole 23R-D1 assay results remain pending. Hole 23R-D1 (Rig 1 Alpala Central) was a “daughter” hole using Devico testing for the eastern extensions to the high-grade intrusions intersected in Hole 23R, which recently returned 770m1 @ 1.44 % copper equivalent (0.71 % Cu, 1.16 g/t Au).
Hole 24-D1R (Rig 3 Alpala Southeast) was completed on August 17 at a depth of 1268.15m. Hole 24-D1R assay results remain pending. Hole 24-D1R was a “daughter” hole leaving the “parent” (Hole 24) at 735.0m depth testing for depth extensions to the mineralization discovered in Hole 24 which recently returned 586.0m1 @ 0.43 % copper equivalent (0.27 % Cu, 0.25 g/t Au) from 636m, including 160m1 @ 1.04 % copper equivalent (0.63 % Cu, 0.65 g/t Au).
Selected examples of mineralization being encountered in recent drill holes are shown in Figures 2, 3, 4, and 5.
The Cascabel drilling program is expanding to 10 drill rigs by January 2018 as a second drilling contractor mobilizes large track mounted drill rigs via sea freight. A further two man-portable drill rigs (rigs 6 and 7) are currently mobilizing to site from Cuenca, Southern Ecuador.
Current Drill Holes at Alpala – Further Expanding Resource Potential
Hole 30 (Rig 1 Alpala Central) commenced drilling on August 18th, and is at a current depth of 315.0m. Hole 30 is infilling between Holes 22 and 27 focusing on confirming resource potential at Alpala Central.
Hole 28 (Rig 2 Hematite Hill) commenced drilling on July 15th, and is at a current depth of 1267.36m. Hole 28 is infilling between Holes 19, 16, 21 and 27 focusing on confirming resource potential at Alpala Central.
Hole 31 (Rig 3 Alpala Southeast) commenced drilling on August 27th, from a drill site approximately 100m north of the Hole 24 and 24-D1R drill site. Hole 31 is at a current depth of 21.0m, drilling the first of a series of infill holes between Alpala Southwest and Hematite Hill, ahead of resource estimation in December.
Hole 26-D1 (Rig 4 Alpala Northwest) commenced drilling August 2nd and is at a current depth of 1426.7m. Hole 26-D1 is a “daughter” hole breaking away from the Hole 26 parent hole at 790m depth. Hole 26-D1 is testing for the eastern extensions to the high-grade intrusions intersected in Hole 15R2, which returned 830m1 @ 0.93 % copper equivalent (0.63 % Cu, 0.46 g/t Au).
Hole 29 (Rig 5 Alpala East) commenced drilling on August 9th, and is at a current depth of 478.53m, testing high grade extensions along Alpala Central deposit eastern flank.
Geophysics and Geochemistry – Refining Drill Targeting
Recently completed constrained 3D MVI magnetic models have revealed a northwest trending line of significant magnetic bodies at Moran, Trivinio, Alpala Northwest, and Alpala Central (Figure 2). These bodies are thought to replicate subsurface mineralized envelopes, such as that confirmed by drilling at Alpala Central (Figures 6 and 7).
Specialised 3D geochemical modelling of porphyry geochemical signatures in soil and auger data by Fathom Geophysics has produced a number of targets that have confirmed the major porphyry centres at Alpala Central, Aguinaga and Tandayama-America, as well as highlighting a deep target extending immediately north of the existing Alpala West porphyry centre, to approximately 1000m west of the Moran target. (Figure 8). These targets are determined from computer algorithm analysis of the zoning of copper, molybdenum, bismuth, tellurium, selenium, arsenic, antimony and thallium in soil and auger samples, as compared to the distribution of similar elements in global porphyry copper deposits (e.g., Yerington, Nevada – USA).
The Geophysical 3DIP survey across the Cascabel concession is progressing well, having completed over 70% of the Spartan portion of the Spartan-Orion hybrid 3DIP survey.
About Cascabel:
Exploraciones Novomining S.A. (“ENSA”), an Ecuadorean company owned by SolGold Plc and Cornerstone, holds 100% of the Cascabel concession. Subject to the satisfaction of certain conditions, including SolGold’s fully funding the project through to feasibility, SolGold Plc will own 85% of the equity of ENSA and Cornerstone will own the remaining 15% of ENSA. SolGold Plc is funding 100% of the exploration at Cascabel and is the operator of the project.
Cascabel is in northwestern Ecuador in an under-explored northern section of the Andean Copper Belt, 60 km northeast of the undeveloped inferred resource of 982 million tons at 0.89% Cu Llurimaga (formerly Junin) copper project (0.4% Cu cut-off grade; Micon International Co. Ltd. Technical Report for Ascendant Exploration SA, August 20, 2004, pages 28 & 29). Mineralization identified at the Llurimaga copper project is not necessarily indicative of the mineralization on the Cascabel Property.
Qualified Person:
Yvan Crepeau, MBA, P.Geo., Cornerstone’s Vice President, Exploration and a qualified person in accordance with National Instrument 43-101, is responsible for supervising the exploration program at the Cascabel project for Cornerstone and has reviewed and approved the information contained in this news release.
Logging, sampling, assaying and reporting
Holes referred to in this release were or are being drilled using HTW, NTW, NQ and BQ core sizes (respectively 7.1, 5.6, 4.8 and 3.7 cm diameter). Geotechnical measurements such as core recovery, fracturing, rock quality designations (RQD’s), specific density and photographic logging are performed systematically prior to assaying. The core is logged, magnetic susceptibility measured and key alteration minerals identified using an on-site portable spectrometer. Core is then sawed in half at the ENSA core logging facility, and half of the core is delivered by ENSA employees for preparation at ALS Minerals Laboratories (ALS) sample preparation facility in Quito. Core samples are prepared crushing to 70% passing 2 mm (10 mesh), splitting 250 g and pulverizing to 85% passing 75 microns (200 mesh) (ALS code CRU-31, SPL21 and PUL-32). Prepared samples are then shipped to ALS in Lima, Peru where samples are assayed for a multi-element suite (ALS code ME-MSP61, 1g split, 4-acid digestion, ICP-MS finish). Over limit results for Ag (> 100 g/t) and Cu, (> 1%) are systematically re-assayed (ALS code Ag-AA62, 4-acid digestion, AAS finish). Gold is assayed using a 30 g split, Fire Assay (FA) and AA finish (ALS code Au-AA23).
Drill hole intercepts are calculated using a data aggregation method, defined by copper equivalent cut-off grades and reported with up to 10m internal dilution, excluding bridging to a single sample. Copper equivalent grades are calculated using a gold conversion factor of 0.63, determined using an updated copper price of USD3.00/pound and an updated gold price of USD1300/ounce. Copper equivalent calculation assumes 100% recoveries of copper and gold.
Quality assurance / Quality control (QA/QC)
The ALS Laboratory is a qualified assayer that performs and makes available internal assaying controls. Duplicates, certified blanks and standards are systematically used (1 control sample every 15-20 samples). Rejects, a 100 g pulp for each core sample and the remaining half-core are stored for future use and controls.
About Cornerstone:
Cornerstone Capital Resources Inc. is a well-funded mineral exploration company with a diversified portfolio of projects in Ecuador and Chile, and a proven ability to identify, acquire and advance properties of merit.
Further information is available on Cornerstone’s website: www.cornerstoneresources.com and on Twitter. For investor, corporate or media inquiries, please contact:
Investor Relations:
Mario Drolet; Email: Mario@mi3.ca; Tel. (514) 904-1333
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Cautionary Notice:
This news release may contain ‘Forward-Looking Statements’ that involve risks and uncertainties, such as statements of Cornerstone’s plans, objectives, strategies, intentions and expectations. The words “potential,” “anticipate,” “forecast,” “believe,” “estimate,” “expect,” “may,” “project,” “plan,” and similar expressions are intended to be among the statements that identify ‘Forward-Looking Statements.’ Although Cornerstone believes that its expectations reflected in these ‘Forward-Looking Statements’ are reasonable, such statements may involve unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors disclosed in our regulatory filings, viewed on the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com. For us, uncertainties arise from the behaviour of financial and metals markets, predicting natural geological phenomena and from numerous other matters of national, regional, and global scale, including those of an environmental, climatic, natural, political, economic, business, competitive, or regulatory nature. These uncertainties may cause our actual future results to be materially different than those expressed in our Forward-Looking Statements. Although Cornerstone believes the facts and information contained in this news release to be as correct and current as possible, Cornerstone does not warrant or make any representation as to the accuracy, validity or completeness of any facts or information contained herein and these statements should not be relied upon as representing its views after the date of this news release. While Cornerstone anticipates that subsequent events may cause its views to change, it expressly disclaims any obligation to update the Forward-Looking Statements contained herein except where outcomes have varied materially from the original statements.
On Behalf of the Board,
Brooke Macdonald
President and CEO
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Note 1 Not true width – true widths are estimated at 25% to 50% of the drill hole intersection.
Note 2 Copper equivalent (CuEq) is calculated using a gold conversion factor of 0.63 calculated from a copper price of $3.00/lb and a gold price US$1300/oz