en.Wedoany.com Reported - Canadian mining company Orestone Mining is advancing exploration activities at its Francisca gold-silver project in Salta Province, Argentina, focusing on the Tom East and Kelly zones to expand the mineralized footprint and identify new targets for the next drilling phase.
The Francisca project covers 23 square kilometers and is located approximately 80 kilometers northwest of the city of Salta, accessible via well-established roads connected to National Route 51. Current work is concentrated on the Tom East and Kelly zones, which lie along the newly identified extension of the Francisca mineralized trend. This mineralized system trends northwest-southeast, extends approximately 1.5 kilometers, and includes a corridor 500 to 1,000 meters wide, featuring outcropping veins, veinlet zones, and breccias associated with an epithermal system.
In the Tom East zone, the company has initiated a detailed soil sampling program on a 200-meter by 200-meter grid. Sampling will be conducted in shallow pits at a depth of 0.5 meters, distributed on a 20-meter by 20-meter grid, to obtain geological information and define drilling targets. This zone is located approximately 120 meters northeast of the South Gold Zone and is interpreted as an epithermal vein system potentially related to the Francisca porphyry.
In the Kelly zone, Orestone continues geological mapping and sampling. This zone is located approximately 250 meters along strike from the South Gold Zone, with the aim of assessing whether it represents an extension of the mineralized system. Preliminary reconnaissance identified a limonite-bearing quartz veinlet zone trending east-west, approximately 50 meters wide, with average grades of 0.37 g/t gold and 2.15 g/t silver. Mineralization remains open to the north, south, and west, indicating potential for continuity. The company reports that the veinlet zone in the Kelly area is associated with altered and silicified porphyry dikes mapped over approximately 500 meters and coincides with an induced polarization (IP) geophysical anomaly approximately 600 meters wide.
David Hottman, Chairman and CEO of Orestone Mining, stated that exploration at the Francisca project continues to demonstrate the scale and growth potential of the mineralized system. He noted that the discovery at Tom East, including a 21-meter-thick mineralized interval grading 4.45 g/t gold from trench results, reinforces the company's confidence that Francisca hosts a gold system extending along a 1.5-kilometer mineralized trend. The company is integrating modern geological mapping, geochemistry, and geophysics to efficiently identify high-quality drilling targets while maintaining a disciplined, low-cost exploration strategy.
In June of this year, Orestone's exploration program confirmed the continuity of the mineralized system and identified the Tom East and Kelly zones as new exploration targets. At Tom East, a hand-dug trench recorded a 21-meter-long mineralized interval grading 4.45 g/t gold; at the Kelly zone, the company identified mineralized zones with gold grades ranging from 0.24 to 0.41 g/t, open in three directions, prompting follow-up work.
