Patriot Resources has stepped up activity at its Tassa silver-gold project in southern Peru, completing a maiden sampling campaign at the northern end of the tenure and immediately launching a larger exploration program to the south. The work is designed to extend the project’s mineralised corridor beyond its existing 31.4-million-ounce silver-equivalent inferred mineral resource.
The company has collected 38 surface samples from the Pachamayo target, which sits directly north of the current resource area. The samples have been dispatched to a lab in Peru for analysis, with results expected early in the fourth quarter this year.
Notably, mapping at Pachamayo has already revealed a 120 metre-long breccia zone with alteration that management believes represents the upper levels of a well-preserved epithermal silver-gold system. The theory is that the system is intact, which could mean the more concentrated, higher-grade mineralisation typical of these systems may lie untested and lurking at depth.
With the first batch of samples away, Patriot has now moved its exploration crew south to the recently staked Tassa 5 tenement to begin mapping and sampling what it calls the “Priority One” target zone.
The company's new program will test the southern extension of a 3.1-kilometre-long interpreted mineralised corridor, aiming to confirm and extend the silver and gold system beyond the boundaries of its current resource estimate.
The existing maiden inferred mineral resource at Tassa, announced in February, stands at 18.53 million tonnes grading 52.68 grams per tonne (g/t) silver equivalent for a hefty 31.4 million ounces of contained silver equivalent.
However, the real prize lies in a massive exploration target the company outlined in May. Patriot has its eye on an enormous potential footprint of between 422 and 359 million tonnes at a grade of 57 to 48g/t silver equivalent. If realised, this could represent a colossal 774 to 559 million ounces of silver equivalent.
However, the company is keen to emphasise the potential quantity and grade of the exploration target are conceptual in nature, and it is uncertain whether further exploration will result in an upgraded mineral resource estimate.
To spearhead the push, Patriot has hired Miguel Montalván Aráoz as its Peru-based exploration manager. Aráoz is a senior geological engineer with more than two decades of experience in Peru, leading exploration campaigns for epithermal, porphyry and other large-scale deposits.
Patriot Resources chief executive officer and managing director Dominic Duggan said: "It is great to have the team on the ground at Tassa under Miguel's leadership. Our first samples from northern Tassa area are at the lab, and the team has identified breccia textures with alteration interpreted as the upper expression of a preserved epithermal system – supporting our view that a parallel mineralised corridor continues north. With Tassa Community approval in hand, the team now moves south to Tassa 5."
The work at Tassa represents a sharp strategic refocus for Patriot. The company has pivoted from a diversified explorer with interests in Canadian lithium and Zambian copper to a pure-play Peruvian silver and gold explorer.
The project’s setting in a prolific mining district adds another layer of interest. Tassa sits adjacent to Buenaventura’s 2.4-million-ounce San Gabriel gold project, planting Patriot deep in elephant country.
With community agreements for both the northern and southern sections of the project now secured, Patriot says it has a clear pathway to drilling and has already lodged its drill permit application with Peru’s Ministry of Energy and Mines.
With its strategy sharpened, a resource in the bag, a monster exploration target in its sights and an experienced exploration manager leading the team on the ground, Patriot appears to be clearing the runway for the drill rods to start turning. Punters will now likely be watching closely for the first assay results from Pachamayo and any news on the approval of its maiden drill campaign.
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