- Challenger Exploration (CEL) releases a maiden mineral resource estimate (MRE) of 2.1 million ounces for its flagship Hualilan gold project in San Juan, Argentina
- The MRE comprises two mineralisation styles: higher-grade limestone skarn mineralisation and lower-grade intrusive and sediment-hosted mineralisation
- The skarn component comprises 6.3 million tonnes at 5.6 g/t gold equivalent, while the sediment-hosted component comprises 41.4 million tonnes at 0.8 g/t gold equivalent
- The MRE was based on 125,700 metres of Challenger’s 204,000-metre drilling program and has been regarded as an interim resource to be updated when drilling wraps up
- Challenger is down 1.92 per cent on the market with shares trading at 26 cents at 1:42 pm AEST
Challenger Exploration (CEL) has released a maiden 2.1-million-ounce mineral resource estimate (MRE) for its flagship Hualilan gold project in San Juan, Argentina.
The MRE comprises two mineralisation styles: higher-grade limestone skarn mineralisation and lower-grade intrusive and sediment-hosted mineralisation.
The skarn component comprises 6.3 million tonnes at 5.6 grams of gold per tonne (g/t gold) equivalent for 1.1 million ounces of gold equivalent, while the sediment-hosted component comprises 41.4 million tonnes at 0.8 g/t gold equivalent for one million ounces of gold equivalent.
The MRE was based on 125,700 metres of Challenger’s planned 204,000-metre drilling program and, as such, has been regarded as an interim resource estimate to be updated when drilling wraps up.
The company said mineralisation remained open in all directions and there was a strong potential for the MRE to significantly grow with extension and infill drilling.
“As much as I am delighted by this maiden resource, it is an interim resource estimate. It includes only 126,000 metres of our 204,000-metre drill program, covering 2.2 of the 3.5 kilometres of strike, over which the high-grade mineralisation has been intersected,” Managing Director Kris Knauer said.
“With mineralisation open in all directions, this interim resource estimate provides a window to the substantial potential at Hualilan.
“Importantly, we have found significantly more high-grade skarn mineralisation than expected, with it comprising more than half of this interim MRE.”
Once the remainder of the 204,000-metre drilling program has been completed, Challenger will begin a scoping study for the project.
Challenger was down 1.92 per cent on the market with shares trading at 26 cents at 1:42 pm AEST.