NEITA
| Location: | 22,616 hectares in northwest Dominican Republic |
| Topography: | Rugged terrain with slopes and valleys, tropical jungle, and rural pasture lands |
| Access: | Network of highways and developed connecting roads |
| Geology: | Volcanism and intrusion of granitic rocks of Tireo Formation developed during the Upper Cretaceous age of 65 to 98 million years ago |
| Mineralization: | Epithermal gold with varying degrees of sulphidation over the 190 km strike length of the Tireo Formation and high sulphidation gold mineralization at the Los Candelones gold deposit |
| Deposit Types: | Gold associated with vein type sulphides found in quartz, porphyry copper mineralization and high sulphidation epithermal settings |
| Targets: | Los Candelones, MGN, Corozo and Noisy |
Unigold's Neita property covers 22,616 ha and is host to the Los Candelones deposit. The great number of gold and copper-gold showings and the variety of mineralization types on the Neita property highlight its exceptional exploration potential. Mineralization ranges from copper-gold porphyry systems such as Corozo to high-sulphidation epithermal gold at Los Candelones. Furthermore, the property contains several large areas of high temperature clay alteration with coincident soil anomalies and impressive gold showings of up to 197.5 g/t Au.
Since acquiring the Neita property, Unigold has built an extensive and detailed geological database with information gathered from more than 5,400 grab samples, 18,000m of trenching, 13,000 soil samples, hundreds of line kilometres of airborne and ground geophysics, extensive stream sediment sampling and more than 24,000m of drilling on the Los Candelones deposit. This extensive geological information is an invaluable exploration tool for Unigold and we keep adding to it every day.
Our four main targets on the Neita property are Los Candelones, MGN, Corozo and Noisy.
LOS CANDELONES TARGET
Summary
Los Candelones is the most advanced project on the Neita property. Unigold has more than 140 drill holes on the gold deposit and has followed mineralization over a strike length of more than 900m and a vertical depth of 250m. Exploration upside remains excellent. Not only is the Los Candelones deposit open at depth and along strike, but exploration efforts have uncovered several mineralized zones along strike.
Geology & Mineralization
The Candelones gold deposit occurs within the same Cretaceous volcanic belt as the 23.7 million ounce Pueblo Viejo deposit and has similar structure and mineralization. Gold is hosted by an altered, silicified and brecciated dacitic rock and occurs within a high sulphidation epithermal vein system surrounded by a large clay alteration envelope.
A stockwork zone containing pyrite, chalcopyrite and sphalerite is characterized by wide sections of low grade disseminated mineralization crosscut by high-grade gold-chalcopyrite-enargite veins. The 20-30m stockwork zone grades 1.0-4.4 g/t Au and is enclosed by pyroclastic rocks up to 100m thick and grading 0.3-0.5 g/t Au. Most of the gold mineralization is associated with illite-quartz alteration but certain high-grade sections occur with higher temperature alterations containing alunite and/or nacrite-dickite.
Exploration
The Los Candelones gold mineralization occurs within a 1,200m by 600m gold-in-soil anomaly and coincident IP chargeability high. Drilling highlights include:
- 2.1 g/t Au over 61m (including 6.9 g/t over 10m) in hole SC29
- 1.1 g/t Au over 82m in hole SC40
- 1.8 g/t Au over 63m in hole DC46
- 0.8 g/t Au over 103m in hole DC98.
Similar gold zones occur along strike of Los Candelones. Trenching has uncovered zones of up to 45 g/t Au over 11m and 1 g/t Au over 36m within the Candelones zone.
MGN (MONTAZO-GUANO-NARANJO) TARGET
Summary
MGN is located 8 km northeast of Los Candelones. It is the largest epithermal alteration zone on the Neita property. MGN trends east-west and covers an area of more than 16 square kilometres with a higher grade gold zone occurring in the oxide layer at surface.
Geology & Mineralization
The MGN zone occurs at the intersection of two separate northwest trending regional structures. Gold mineralization is widespread and enveloped by strong argillic alteration within a 150m thick hydrothermal breccia horizon. The mineralization is associated with a rhyolite dome and occurs in lenses and veins of dense silica-barite rock that replaces the host volcanic pyroclastic rock. The highest grades (> 5 g/t) occur at the base of the breccia horizon and in the underlying, highly argillic andesite.
Barite-manganese jasperoids are locally well developed. They are distinctly anomalous in arsenic, copper and antimony suggesting an epithermal system similar to the one responsible for gold mineralization at the nearby Los Candelones deposit.
Exploration
Most of Unigold's 2009 gold discoveries are attributable to the MGN zone. Trenching over of an area of 600m long by 200m wide yielded 2.68 g/t Au over 35m, including 4 g/t Au over 23m and 2 g/t Au over 42m, including 10.3 g/t over 7m.
Grab samples taken south of the MGN zone returned values of up to 21.90 g/t Au and extended the known gold mineralization another 1.7 km to the south. Follow-up trenching to crosscut the barite-manganese jasperoids associated with gold mineralization on this new discovery intersected long high-grade intersections (up to 4.2 g/t Au over 10m). Drilling is exploring the potential for a gold-rich root zone underneath the epithermal silica cap.
NOISY TARGET
Summary
The Noisy gold zone is associated with a large gold in-soil anomaly located 6 km north of Los Candelones. It remains open laterally and at depth.
Geology & Mineralization
The 1,600m by 300m gold in-soil anomaly is open to the northwest and displays the same epithermal signature (As, Sb, Ba, Pb and Zn) and magnetic depletion characteristics as Los Candelones. Mineralization occurs in argillic hydrothermal breccias hosted by andesite and contains a higher grade core.
Exploration
Soil sampling was followed up by 3,000m of trenching in 22 trenches and a 620m drill program consisting of five holes. The best trench intercept was 127m grading at 0.30 g/t Au. The best drill intercepts were 38m grading 1 g/t Au, including 10m at 2 g/t gold and, 130m further east, 0.5 g/t Au over 45m including 1.04 g/t Au over 7m. The results confirm the continuity of the gold zone laterally and at depth.
COROZO TARGET
Summary
Corozo is located 10 km northwest of Los Candelones along the same geological contact. Drilling has revealed elevated copper values associated with gold mineralization in volcanics and surrounding sediments, indicating a large hydrothermal system and potential proximity to a porphyry system.
Geology & Mineralization
The target area contains a north-south trending topographic ridge (Corozo Hill) characterized by silicified and brecciated mafic volcanic rocks. The host structure is a splay off a nearby regional north-west trending fault. The associated volcanics are highly altered and possess both copper and gold in-soil anomalies.
Exploration
Geochemical results from the 1.5 km by 2 km alteration zone on Corozo are encouraging. Stream sediment samples returned values up to 1.1 g/t gold and soil samples returned up to 500 ppb gold 1,000 ppm copper and associated zinc within a large anomaly. Limited trenching returned values up to 1.6 g/t gold in highly silicified volcanics.
Four east-west lines of IP geophysics, 400m apart and totaling 6 line km, have been completed and show two excellent northwest-southeast trending anomalies with higher amplitude than that found over the Los Candelones mineralization. The 1.5 km long anomaly just east of Corozo Hill may represent the fault contact between tonalite and felsic volcanic rocks. The second anomaly trends about 500m to the west of Corozo and is coincident with gold and copper in-soil anomalies and a gold in-stream sediment anomaly.
Five drill holes totaling 541m have been completed on Corozo. The first four holes targeted the hydrothermally altered, silicified and brecciated volcanics and sediments of Corozo Hill and intersected narrow zones of low grade gold mineralization and elevated copper mineralization throughout. The copper values indicate a large hydrothermal system and might suggest proximity to a porphyry system.
Highlights include:
- three 1m intervals grading 0.7, 0.4 and 0.8 g/t Au (hole SCO-04)
- a 120m interval grading 0.1% Cu, including 27m of 0.2% Cu (hole SCO-01)
The final hole, SCO-05, targeted a gold in-soil anomaly associated with a north-south trending structure located about 1 km south of Corozo Hill and encountered saprolite and weathered and oxidized intrusives with low gold and copper values.
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