VANCOUVER, British Columbia, June 23, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Ero Copper Corp. (the “Company”) (TSX: ERO) is pleased to provide a quarterly update on the ongoing exploration drill programs on its 99.6% owned Vale do Curaçá Property located in Bahia State, Brazil and its 97.6% owned NX Gold Mine located in Mato Grosso State, Brazil. This update encompasses drill results received from March 2020 through early June 2020. Drilling during the period continued to focus on priority target areas within the Pilar and Vermelhos Mines, the broader Curaçá Valley, as well as extensions of the Santo Antonio Vein at the NX Gold Mine, all according to the drill program for the second quarter of 2020, which continues to progress according to budget despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Continued success in demonstrating high-grade continuity and wide-open potential at depth within the Company’s ‘Superpod’ discovery below the known extent of the Pilar Mine, part of the “Deepening Extension” zone. Results are highlighted by:
– FC5625: 96.4 meters grading 3.97% copper including 60.6 meters grading 5.61% copper, the highest grade-meter intercept drilled by the Company at the Vale do Curaçá Property to date;
– FC5367: 29.9 meters grading 5.90% copper, the deepest intercept drilled by the Company in the Pilar mine to-date, approximately 100 meters below the Company’s previously announced deepest intercept;
– FC47165: 19.6 meters grading 3.61% copper including 10.0 meters grading 5.09% copper, drilled approximately 265 meters and 400 meters south of hole FC5367 and FC5625, respectively; and,
– mineralized intercepts within the Deepening Extension continue to demonstrate continuity over approximately 800 meters in strike length and to depth over 500 meters below the current level of the primary ramp. The zone remains open to the north and to depth. - New drilling, based on ongoing data compilation work, has demonstrated an extended zone of thicker mineralization in an area previously modeled as discontinuous lenses within the northern known extent of the Pilar Mine. Mineralization in this area, known as “West Limb North”, runs parallel and in close proximity to the mineralized lenses comprising the East Limb and the planned mining stopes of P1P2W. The zone is located approximately 350 meters below surface and approximately 150 to 200 meters from the closest access point on level +205 of the Pilar Mine. To date, the known extent of mineralization in this area has been extended by over 40 meters in strike length, over a vertical extent of approximately 140 meters and over an average thickness of approximately 20 to 30 meters with local thicknesses up to 60 meters. The zone remains open to the north. Results are highlighted by:
– FC48136: 113.4 meters grading 1.41% copper, including 67.2 meters grading 1.77% copper, drilled obliquely to the dominant orientation of mineralization in this area, demonstrating vertical continuity and localized thickening of mineralization within the zone;
– FC5080: 24.8 meters grading 2.66% copper including 6.0 meters grading 5.47% copper;
– FC49169: 26.2 meters grading 2.40% copper including 5.0 meters grading 3.59% copper;
– FC47159: 37.7 meter grading 1.76% copper including 12.4 meters grading 2.78% copper; and,
– FC47158: 26.2 meters grading 1.93% copper. - At the NX Gold Mine, drill results continue to demonstrate down-plunge extensions of the high-grade mineralization of the Santo Antonio Vein. Results are highlighted by:
– SA77: 5.9 meters grading 5.09 grams per tonne, confirming a thicker core of mineralization near previously announced holes SA73 and SA70 (4.9 meters grading 10.21 grams per tonne gold and 4.9 meters grading 9.53 grams per tonne gold, respectively), drilled approximately 30 to 50 meters down-plunge from the limits of the current mineral resource; and,
– SA81: 2.8 meters grading 11.29 grams per tonne gold, located approximately 210 meters down-plunge of the limit of the current inferred mineral resource. This is the deepest intercept drilled in the Santo Antonio Vein to date and is located an additional 140 meters down-plunge from hole SA77. - Regional work in the Curaçá Valley comprised of both exploration drilling and ground-based geophysical work continues to remain focused on four newly interpreted mineral systems within the portfolio of targets defined by the Company’s comprehensive targeting work. Each of the new systems has an average strike length of 5 kilometers and contains multiple priority drill targets. While preliminary results are encouraging, additional detail on these ongoing exploration programs continues to be expected during the second half of the year.
Commenting on the results, David Strang, President & CEO, stated, “The exploration results highlighted in our second quarter update continue to build upon the success of several critical exploration objectives we set out for the Company during the first half of 2020. These objectives were centered upon continued demonstration of high-grade mineralization within the Deepening Extension Zone of the Pilar Mine, extensions of mineralization at Vermelhos and Siriema and extending the known limits of mineralization at the NX Gold Mine.
We continue to be extremely pleased with the results of drilling from the Deepening Extension Project which now includes the best hole on a grade-meter basis we have drilled as a Company in the Curaçá Valley, as well as new records for the deepest drill results at the Pilar Mine. Our progress at Siriema remains encouraging as we continue to follow the mineralized conduit to depth and to the north, and we are pleasantly surprised by the new drilling within the West Limb North Zone, which appears to be outlining potential for a new, higher-grade zone of near surface mineralization. In addition, the drilling on the Santo Antonio Vein at our NX Gold Mine continues to expand the known extent of mineralization well outside of the current mineral resource.
The Curaçá Valley and the NX Gold Mine continue to deliver spectacular results and demonstrate that many of our near-mine targets remain wide-open. The breadth of organic growth opportunities available to the Company give us confidence that our near-mine programs will continue to deliver on our core objectives as we progress to more regional drilling during the second half of the year. We continue to see the emergence of four key regional mineralized systems on which we are focusing our regional exploration efforts in the near to medium-term.
As a testament to the quality of our operating and exploration teams in Brazil, the COVID-19 pandemic continues to have minimal impact on our planned exploration programs to date. Additionally, in early June we began to see progress and the initial, yet incomplete, results for our pending cobalt, gold and PGM assays at Siriema previously delayed due to global third-party laboratory closures. We expect that we will obtain many of these delayed sample batches in the coming months, provided these laboratories continue to remain open while we build this capability in house for the future.”
Twenty-seven drill rigs are currently operating in the Curaçá Valley, including twelve within the Pilar District, eleven in the Vermelhos District, and there are currently six drill rigs (including two within the Vermelhos District) operating on regional exploration targets in the Curaçá Valley. Five additional drill rigs are currently operating at the NX Gold Mine.
Expansions and extensions, as referenced herein, reflect mineralization not captured in the Company’s mineral resource and mineral reserve models used in the current (2019) mineral resource and reserve estimate. There has been insufficient work and analysis surrounding new discoveries, as referenced herein, to define a mineral resource and it is uncertain if further exploration and analysis will result in such targets being delineated as a mineral resource.
The drill holes outlined in this press release within the Vermelhos and Pilar Districts will be made available on the Company’s Curaçá Valley site tour and interactive three-dimensional models for the Pilar Mine and the Vermelhos System, which can be accessed via the Company’s website (www.erocopper.com) or via VRIFY Technology Inc. (“VRIFY”) (www.vrify.com).
PILAR DISTRICT
The Pilar District encompasses the area surrounding the Pilar underground mine, Caraíba Mill complex and the past producing Pilar open pit and R22 Mines. Twelve drill rigs are currently focused on resource upgrade and exploration programs within the Pilar Mine.
During the period, the Company has continued to prioritize drilling of the Deepening Extension where the Company continues to confirm thick and high-grade mineralization of a recently identified mineralized chamber, or “Superpod”, within the Deepening Extension zone.
The Deepening Extension
Deepening Extension drilling is currently targeting mineralization on the East Limb of the Pilar Mine between level -725 and level -1400 approximately 1,200 meters to 2,000 meters below surface and approximately 100 meters laterally from the current level of the primary ramp (completed to level -940). Drilling in the Deepening Extension zone continues to extend the known limits of high-grade copper mineralization of the mine and has continued to intercept some of the most significant holes on a grade-meter basis drilled in the Pilar Mine since acquisition of the Vale do Curaçá Property in 2016, including the highest intercept on a grade-meter basis drilled in the Curaçá Valley to date, confirming continuity within a high-grade, mineralized chamber, or “Superpod”.
The Company has now identified a mineralized area within the Deepening Extension zone that extends over approximately 800 meters in strike length, over a total depth of approximately 500 meters and over an average thickness of approximately 15 to 20 meters with localized thicknesses in excess of 50 meters. Within the total strike length, a higher-grade continuous zone with a strike-length of approximately 400 to 500 meters is emerging in the central and northern segments of the target area. The zone remains open to the north and to depth. There are currently six underground exploration drill rigs systematically drilling the defined exploration target area within the Deepening Extension zone.
New results during the period are highlighted by notable confirmatory and extensional drilling within the high-grade target area. In the northern section of the target area, new results are highlighted by hole FC5625 that intersected 96.4 meters grading 3.97% copper including 60.6 meters grading 5.61% copper, which is the highest grade-meter intercept drilled by the Company to date. This results is complemented by previously released intercepts, also on section 56, of hole FC5623 that intersected 21.8 meters grading 2.27% copper including 2.8 meters grading 7.76% copper, hole FC5616 that intersected 51.8 meters grading 3.49% copper including 33.4 meters grading 4.96% copper and hole FC5615 that intersected 62.5 meters grading 1.65% copper including 26.1 meters grading 2.37% copper.
Approximately 135 meters south of section 56, on section 53 in the center of the higher-grade continuous zone, new drilling sought to test the known limits of the Deepening Extension zone to depth. The results are highlighted by hole FC5367 that intercepted 29.9 meters grading 5.90% copper including 6.0 meters grading 7.04% copper, which is the deepest intercept drilled by the Company in the Pilar mine to-date and is located approximately 540 meters below the current level of the primary ramp, and approximately 100 meters below the Company’s previously announced deepest intercept in hole FC47144.
In the central portion of the Deepening Extension, located approximately 400 meters south of the intercepts noted previously on section 56, new results are highlighted by hole FC47165 that intersected 19.6 meters grading 3.61% copper including 10.0 meters grading 5.09% copper and hole FC47169 that intersected 10.0 meters grading 6.27% copper including 5.0 meters grading 7.82% copper. Drill results in the central portion of the Deepening Extension are complemented by previously announced intercepts, also on section 47, in hole FC47163 that intersected 22.8 meters grading 3.18% copper including 10.6 meters grading 5.29% copper, hole FC47143 that intersected 37.0 meters grading 1.49% copper including 5.0 meters grading 2.92% copper, hole FC47142 that intersected 34.7 meters grading 2.29% copper including 18.6 meters grading 3.15% copper, and hole FC47139 that intersected 7.1 meters grading 6.50% copper including 4.1 meters grading 9.01% copper (please refer to the Company’s press releases dated September 12, 2019, December 3, 2019 and April 22, 2020 for previously announced Deepening Extension results).
Exploration results from the Deepening Extension during the period continue to provide evidence that the Pilar Mine remains open to depth, where high-grade mineralization continues to be encountered, including the deepest intercept drilled in the Pilar Mine to date in hole FC5367. Due to the limits of underground infrastructure to the north, the Company has commenced a surface drill program utilizing directional drilling technology to evaluate the mineralized potential of the Deepening Project north of section 57, the most northern extent of known mineralization to date.