Royal Road Minerals Ltd. [RYR-TSXV] announced initial interim drilling results from its diamond drilling campaign at its Luna Roja gold project in northeastern Nicaragua.
The Luna Roja Project forms a part of the company’s strategic-alliance agreement with Hemco Mineros Nicaragua (Hemco, a subsidiary of Colombia’s Grupo Mineros S.A.) and is located in the prospective golden triangle of northeastern Nicaragua, a region that has produced some 8 million ounces of gold since the early 1900s.
Hemco owns and operates the Bonanza gold mine 26 km northwest of Luna Roja. Royal Road Minerals is operator of the alliance.
In 2019, Royal Road and Hemco completed an initial 17-hole (2,472 metres), scout drilling program at Luna Roja. This was the first drilling program on the project. Promising results included LR-DDH-3 with 49 metres at 2.8 g/t gold (including 22m at 5.3 g/t gold); LR-DDH-12, 49 metres at 2.4 g/t gold, (including 18m at 5.4 g/t gold) and LR-DDH-016, 69 metres at 1.5 g/t gold (including 15m at 2.5 g/t gold).
A follow-up drilling program began May 2 and comprises some 3,000 metres of diamond drilling aimed at extending known gold mineralization and exploring newly identified and deeper microgravity targets. Results are for the first nine drill-holes (true widths unknown).
Significant intersections include: LR-DDH-19 with 30 metres at 1.2 g/t gold and 22 metres at 1.1 g/t gold; LR-DDH-22 with 65 metres at 6.9 g/t gold (including 41 metres at 10.0 g/t gold); LR-DDH-23 with 12 metres at 2.7 g/t gold; LR-DDH-24 with 13 metres at 1.2 g/t gold
Drill hole LR-DDH-22 was drilled to test the down-dip extension of LR-DDH-3 and passed through a hanging-wall of low-grade skarn mineralization before intersecting a higher grade breccia body at depth. The breccia body effectively extends breccia-controlled gold mineralization from exposure at surface and over a vertical distance of at least 120 metres.
An east-northeast trending fault is interpreted to down-throw the gold-skarn system to the south and defines a “deeper domain” where skarn mineralization may be concealed at depth below outcropping marlstone.
Microgravity data collected from this deeper domain identified a curved gravity high feature which may be indicative of higher grade gold-skarn mineralization at depth. Drill holes LR-DDH-20 and 21 were both terminated above this gravity high anomaly and failed to reach objective. Further deeper drilling is planned to test the gravity high anomaly.
“These drill results answer key questions in respect of grade distribution and depth-potential at Luna Roja,” said Dr. Tim Coughlin, Royal Road’s President and CEO. “It appears that the gold-skarn system is characterized by steeper-dipping, higher-grade, breccia bodies, surrounded by lower-grade gold mineralization which is oriented broadly parallel to bedding. Both styles of mineralization show promise in respect of extending gold mineralization at depth, which will be an important parameter in terms of quantifying plus million ounce potential at Luna Roja.”