Comet Resources has been given the green light to begin drilling at its high-grade Santa Teresa gold project in northern Mexico. The local government’s Environmental Impact and Risk assessment department in Baja California has now completed its evaluation of the company’s planned drilling program, clearing the way for diamond drilling to commence in the weeks ahead.
The company is planning to plough in more than 2,000 metres of diamond drilling across the high-grade historical mine area at Santa Teresa, as it looks to better define the recognised gold lodes at depth. Drilling will also test a range of new near-surface targets in the mine environs which have been identified by the company’s expert geological consultants, Minera Cascabel.
Comet Resources Managing Director, Matthew O’Kane said: “We have been preparing for the receipt of this permit, having plans for the drill program near ready, and also having conducted the process of selecting the drilling contractor. This should allow us to move ahead quickly now to engage the contractors and commence the drilling program.”
The company’s high-grade Santa Teresa gold project is located in the El Alamo district of Baja California in Mexico. The project is situated just to the south of the US-Mexico border and approximately 250 kilometres southeast of San Diego in California. Santa Teresa takes in two granted mineral claims which cover over 200 hectares and overlie the high-grade Santa Teresa gold deposit and its environs.
Interestingly, gold production in the EL Alamo district dates back to the late 19th century, with the region estimated to have produced between 100,000 and 200,000 ounces of gold from a network of alluvial workings and the artisanal underground mine at Santa Teresa.
Modern exploration across the Santa Teresa deposit continues to offer up a wealth of high-grade gold with recent drill intercepts including 2m at 32.4 grams per tonne gold from 19m, 3.9m at 39.0 g/t gold from 121m and 1m at an incredible 958.4 g/t gold from 239m down-hole.
Comet’s recent work over the deposit has resulted in the estimation of a JORC resource that weighs in at 369,000 tonnes grading a very respectable 7.47 g/t gold. The resource is based on the results from 32 diamond drill holes emplaced by Canada’s Premier Gold Mines, which held the prospect in the late 2000s.
The company is now revisiting the historical exploration over the mine area, with an evaluation of the remnant drill core at Santa Teresa delivering outstanding results. Preliminary metallurgical test work on the Santa Teresa mineralisation indicates that a simple gravity circuit recovers up to 77 per cent of the contained gold, with company saying cyanide leach test work will likely deliver total recoveries of gold approaching an astonishing 100 per cent of the precious metal.
Comet also said that whilst the Santa Teresa deposit currently boasts a relatively modest resource, the quartz-stockwork hosting the gold mineralisation has only been drilled down to 300m below surface. The company’s expectation is that the rich gold system will continue at depth, with the upcoming drill program is designed in part to test this theory.
Comet’s ongoing geological evaluation of Santa Teresa shows the deposit remains unconstrained by drilling and remains open along strike, hinting at the untested potential of the gold-bearing system.
With Comet now fully permitted and poised to engage a drilling contractor, Comet followers shouldn’t have to tread water for too long before seeing some diamond drill core emerging from the company’s high-grade gold project in northern Mexico.
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