Tempus Resources is up 24% intraday on no apparent news as the company prepares to commence a significant drilling program at its Rio Zarza Project in Ecuador that’s set to kick off in March.
The Rio Zarza Project is one of two projects, along with Valle del Tigre, that make up the Zamora Gold Projects in Ecuador. But this is just one of the $10 million company’s projects, along with its newly acquired 100% interest in the Blackdome-Elizabeth and Mineral Creek Gold Projects located in the Tier-1 jurisdiction of British Columbia, Canada.
But with drilling set to commence next month, the Rio Zarza Project is the current focus.
All that’s required now, prior to drilling, is a water permit which is expected to be approved in coming weeks.
The Rio Zarza Project comprises two concessions covering approximately 1,000ha, directly adjacent to C$2.6 billion Lundin Gold’s (TSE:LUG) Fruta del Norte tenements — the most valuable greenfields gold discovery of the last 15 years.
Fruta del Norte was first discovered in 2006, by the previously Toronto-listed, Aurelian Resources. The discovery and its estimated 13.7Moz of contained gold and 22.4Moz of contained silver saw Aurelian’s share price lift from circa C$0.30 to over C$40 per share.
Rio Zarza’s eastern boundary is just 850m west of the Fruta del Norte deposit and shows similar geology and alteration. Fruta del Norte hosts strikingly similar geochemistry, alteration and geological features to the Tempus’ Ecuadorian project.
Limited exploration was undertaken at Rio Zarza between 2008 and 2012, including surface magnetics, IP, gravity surveying, soil/stream sampling, mapping and limited diamond drilling.
This exploration did delineate a number of targets, the majority of which were situated in the eastern part of the property. However, this was done without modern equipment leading to a lack of geological understanding, suggesting that further exploration could prove fruitful.
Tempus Resources’ second asset, the Blackdome-Elizabeth and Mineral Creek Gold deposits in Canada, is a significantly de-risked project with a history of past production. The project has demonstrated excellent metallurgical recoveries and key approvals and permits are in place.
Furthermore, with solid infrastructure, this project provides Tempus with a pathway for a low cost, fast-track re-start.
Like Rio Zarza, the Blackdome and Elizabeth projects are in close proximity to producing mines. Blackdome-Elizabeth lie just 35 kilometres northeast of past producing Bralorne Gold Mine and the Mesothermal type vein system is analogous with Bralorne, which was mined to ~2,000 metres.
Bralorne, which was recently acquired by Tallisker Resources, has a long production history, having produced 4.2 million ounces of gold at a grade of 17.7 g/t largely between 1928 and 1971.
Today’s ~25% rise in TMR shares could be attributed to a comprehensive article on the company from the Next Mining Boom, that highlighted the impressive nearology of the company’s assets, or it could just be that the market is looking ahead to the upcoming drilling program at its Rio Zarza Project in March.
