Decision made to accelerate operations.4 Feb 2021 19:19
Accelerating the drilling campaign
Given that stark visual indications seen in core have been deemed sufficiently positive for a decision to be taken to expand and accelerate the current drill campaign by mobilising a third rig to site, drilling efforts designed to move APTA forward as quickly as possible have been put in place irrespective of any continuing delays in receiving assay results from the laboratory. With a third rig having already been mobilised to site, management is presently considering extending its preliminary plan to drill 2400m, to something larger between 5000m and 10,000m to extend mineralisation at APTA and, ultimately, to provide foundation for a Compliant Resource Estimate. Subject to camp, local infrastructure and operating capacity being enlarged, there could be potential to accept and facilitate further rigs at short notice.
The challenge now faced by Orosur in terms of extended assay turnaround times, while highly inconvenient is not expected to significantly hinder the on-site campaign. ALS Global’s laboratories in Peru are presently suffering from COVID-19 related staff shortages, with normal practice of returning sample results within a fortnight or so, currently extending out to 5 or 6 weeks. And while the Pandemic is not considered rampant in Colombia by any means, management does recognise the need for all of its teams to remain close to camp in the coming weeks. Normally this would mean that any continuing drilling would effectively be being carried out ‘blind’, but Anzá has the distinct advantage that its main breccia zones are visually stark with intense silicification plus quite pervasive development of massive sulphides. This provides management with a high level of confidence of exactly where the zone is, meaning the 80 or so people presently supporting the on-site works are expected to be largely unaffected, as they continue a schedule of normal drilling/exploration over the coming six months or so. Investors might anticipate significant news flow from assay results, drilling etc. for the remainder of 2021.
From Turner Pope