During the summer of 2017, the Company completed a total of 3,088 meters (10,130.8 feet) of diamond drilling in 24 “NQ” drill holes on the Calida Gold property.
Location of the drill holes is shown in Figure below in plan view
A section through the Main vein section shows the relationship between the previous historical drilling and the 2017 drill holes and mineralized intercepts.
List of Collars
Selected visual mineralized drill intercepts are cut in secure facility and half the core sent for analysis and the remaining half retained. Following cutting, the samples were delivered directly by Calida personnel to ALS Chemex located in Elko, Nevada, a fully accredited analytical laboratory. They were first analyzed for 47 elements using a four (4) acid digestion with analysis by Inductively Coupled Argon Plasma Optical Mass Spectrometer (ICP-MS). In addition, duplicates, blanks, and standards were analyzed to ensure analytical accuracy and reproducibility. All rejects are being kept for further analysis and for use in metallurgical testing.
Results
As a result of the Company’s assay detailed verification program, it was discovered that there was high variability between individual assays, especially for silver. Also, several assays indicated no precious metals present within the sample where samples were within 20 feet of previous historical samples containing precious metals. As a result of these discrepancies, upon completion of the drill program and the receipt of all assays, including checks and duplicates, the Company submitted seven core samples for microscopic analysis to Vancouver Petrographics Ltd of Langley, BC. The results of the analysis indicate two major points:
Reports
The Company has determined that the assay variation was due to a “nugget effect” created by the irregular distribution of the precious metal grains in the samples, such that taking a standard 50-gm assay split from 8 to 15 kg samples was not representative of the precious metal (Au and Ag) contained in the sample. Also, it should be noted that the results revealed that this is a fine-grained effect, and therefore standard techniques, such as metallic assays, are not applicable.
Having established the presence of precious metals in the samples, the Company then submitted an entire sample from one of the better intersections to Process Mineralogical Consulting Ltd. of Maple Ridge, BC for detailed metallurgical analysis. The results from this sample indicated the presence of twelve (12) fine grains of native gold, ten (10) grains of Electrum, a naturally occurring alloy of gold and silver, with trace amounts of copper and other metals, (average 75.4% gold, 24.6% silver, ranging from 61 to 93% gold) and four (4) grains of native silver. The observed gold grain size was below eight (8) microns, with the majority reporting to the minus 38-micron fraction. Twelve (12) % of the copper grade reported as sulphide. These results confirm the presence of precious metals within the system. The report is provided below.
The head grade of the sample from the study was 1.2 gms Ag and 60 ppb Au, which is higher than the assay grade for the sample of 0.37 g/tonne silver and 3 ppb gold.
The following table lists the grades of the intersections of the mineralized zones within the 2017 drill program:
List of Significant Intersections for the Calida Gold Drill Program
