Hannan Metals Ltd. [HAN-TSXV; HANNF-OTC] provided an update on its exploration and social programs at the 100%-owned San Martin copper-silver project in Peru. San Martin is a newly discovered, basin-scale high-grade copper-silver project that extends for 120 kilometres along the foreland region of the eastern Andes Mountains in north-central Peru.
Peru remains on a state of emergency until the end of June to contain the COVID-19 outbreak. From December 2019 through to mid-March 2020, Hannan completed an active field work program at its San Martin Project. Numerous new copper and silver discoveries were made over a 20-km trend within the 60-km long Sacanche claim area. The first set of assays from some of these areas are reported below.
Highlights:
A new 2-km-long zone of high-grade copper-silver mineralization has been defined by mapping at the Nueva Esperanza prospect within the Sacanche claim:
• Mineralization was located within three E-W creeks during follow up of previously reported outcrop and boulder samples that assayed 0.6 metres at 8.7% copper (Cu) and 59 g/t silver (Ag) and 30% Cu and 595 g/t Ag respectively.
Best new results from boulders in adjacent creeks include 10.0% Cu and 70 g/t Ag and 1.5% Cu and 31 g/t Ag. A total of 25 boulders have been sampled at Nueva Esperanza, which average 1.9% Cu and 31 g/t Ag, and range from 0.0% Cu to 30.1% Cu and 0.04 g/t Ag to 595 g/t Ag. A total of 19 outcrop samples have been taken at Nueva Esperanza, which average 0.54% Cu and 4 g/t Ag, and range from 0.0% Cu to 8.7% Cu and 0.04 g/t Ag to 59 g/t Ag.
The Nueva Esperanza Zone remains open to the north, south and down dip and regional results suggest an inferred strike of the mineralized position is greater than 10 km.
Nueva Esperanza lies within a regional trend of previously reported outcrop samples from the Sacanche claim. Outcrop sampling 5 km north of Nueva Esperanza returned high-grade results including 2 metres at 5.9% Cu and 66 g/t Ag and sampling 16 km south of Nueva Esperanza returned 3 metres at 2.5% Cu and 22 g/t Ag.
Michael Hudson, Hannan’s CEO, stated: “While our exploration program delivers excellent discovery successes with copper and silver mineralization at all scales, the critical path for Hannan at San Martin has always been social permitting. We have a quarter of a century of operating experience in Peru, our directors have deep in-country experience, and we appreciate the great diversity of topography, climate, social groups and operating requirements across the country.
“Through professional and respectful social programs, the company has gained field access during our first full exploration season at San Martin, and we are thankful for the support and working relationships that we have developed with all stakeholders. We look forward to releasing further results from this year’s field programs and having our field teams return to the project area when it is safe and permitted to do so.”
Dr. Quinton Hennigh, an internationally-renowned economic geologist, with over 25 years of exploration experience and expertise with major gold mining companies, is a geological adviser to Hannan and visited the project in late February 2020.
Dr. Hennigh stated: “In late February prior to COVID-19 travel restrictions, I visited Hannan’s San Martin Project. At the time, exploration crews were pushing their way into new areas where, day after day, they would return back from the field with new samples from new outcrops and boulders collected from along the prospective trend along which the redox boundary within the Sarayaquillo Formation outcrops.
“Assays from these samples demonstrate compelling evidence Hannan is likely dealing with a stratigraphically-controlled high-grade Cu-Ag system that is quite extensive. Combining this evidence with that from other explorers in this region who are seeing similar style mineralization extending northward across the border into Ecuador, it is starting to appear as though we are dealing with a basin wide mineralizing event.”
Channel samples are considered representative of the in-situ mineralization samples and sample widths quoted approximate the true width of mineralization, while grab (boulder) samples are selective by nature and are unlikely to represent average grades on the property.
The San Martin Project is an early stage exploration project. Previous mineral exploration in the area is limited.
The project consists of a total of 87 mining concessions (mineros petitorios), 40 concessions which have been granted.