Angkor Resources Corp. has announced in Cambodia, assays from its newest copper/gold license in western Cambodia, confirming a copper gold porphyry system on the Thmei North prospect with similar results on Thmei South prospect. The license is due west of Ratanakiri province and straddles two provinces, Oddar Meanchey and Banteay Meanchey.
A geological team including VP Exploration, Dennis Ouellette, reviewed, logged, and assayed selected core from the license area drilled in 2016 by the previous license holders. The core was originally quarter sampled which allowed the team to select the remaining quarter core for laboratory analysis.
Comparing the lithology and mineralization from the 2016 drill program, Ouellette commented, “There is no doubt we have a robust copper/gold porphyry system on the license. Copper mineralization is within veins, stockworks, and disseminations in intrusive ‘crowded porphyry’ rock as well as the mudstone wall rock. Our ultimate goal is to determine the size and grade of those systems with follow-up exploration”.
As the location of the license extends to the western portion of Cambodia seen in map above, Ouellette commented further, “Andong Bor significantly expands our footprint across the country.”
Core samples from two holes drilled in 2016 were selected at various intervals for due diligence purposes. Core from two other holes drilled in the area were also examined.
ABDDH16-005, a vertical hole drilled to a depth of 543 meters, is almost all potassic altered tuff and mudstone units. The feldspar porphyritic granodiorite intervals in the core contain clasts of the mineralized mudstone and are in fault contact with the mudstone suggesting that they are post mineralization.
They exhibit much lower copper grades and mineralization is expressed as some chalcopyrite on dry fractures and not as primary mineralization within quartz veins as is exhibited with the dense (in places) vein and stockwork mineralization within the tuff and mudstone. A 108-metre interval from 282 to 390 metres consists of predominantly well mineralized potassic altered mudstone with a 21-metre interval of ‘crowded porphyry’ diorite. The 108-metre interval has a copper equivalent grade of 0.53%*.
ABDDH16-008 was drilled at 170 degrees or 10 degrees east of south at a dip of -50 degrees to a depth of 250 metres. This direction is the predominant mineralizing trend in Cambodia which sits between 150 to 170 degrees.
As to be expected, porphyry style quartz veins trend almost straight down the core axis. The hole intersects potassic altered diorite hosting porphyry copper style mineralization near surface and continues outward (and to depth) into less mineralized (pyrite rich chalcopyrite poor) rock. A 46-metre interval from 5 to 51 metres consists of sheeted porphyritic diorite dykes intruding mudstone both of which are potassic altered and well mineralized with vein and stockwork chalcopyrite, bornite and covellite. This interval includes 4.5 metres of supergene enrichment. The 46-metre interval has a copper equivalent grade of 0.51%*.
* Copper equivalent was calculated using the formula CuEq= Cu% + (Au g/t x .68) with Cu at $8340/tonne and Au at $57/ gram. The extractability of the gold is not considered.
These two holes were drilled at Thmei North are 300 metres apart within a copper-in-soil anomaly of about one square kilometer (>300ppm to 2100 ppm) indicating that the copper gold porphyry system has the potential to be large. The copper/gold porphyry occurrence sits within the same volcanic arc as the Phu Kham copper/gold porphyry deposit to the north in Laos.
Themi South, located 1.5 kilometers south of Thmei North, had one hole drilled in 2016 (ABDDH16-06). The hole cored weak potassic alteration of porphyritic diorite and mudstone. The copper-in-soil anomaly is almost as robust as that displayed at Thmei North. The Newswire
This article was first published in Khmer Times. All contents and images are copyright to their respective owners and sources.
