According to the miner, drill rig arrived at Cerro Quiroz, as crews prepare to recommence drilling at the project, located approximately 8km northeast of SolGold’s flagship Alpala deposit.

BDH-20-003, the third hole at Blanca will test the central portion of the Cerro Quiroz dome target, characterised by an extensively silicified topographic dome containing quartz vein and quartz-stockwork veining that returned rock assay results of up to 6.8g/t Au, SolGold said in a press release.

Previous drill holes 1 and 2 at the Cielito target encountered thin intersections of gold bearing quartz veins. Drilling was put on hold and the hiatus continued throughout the duration of covid-19 restrictions.

The company plans to re-drill this target in the future, however drilling activities will focus on the Cerro Quiroz target for time being.

The Blanca project lies on the prolific Andean Copper belt which is renowned as the production base for nearly half of the world’s copper.

The miner also released on Monday an update on the Porvenir project in Southern Ecuador, some 100 km north of the Peruvian border.

According to Solgold, drilling commenced at the Cacharposa target on 15th September as part of a planned 8,000m initial drilling program. The initial drilling program is part of a larger 16 month 50,000m planned drilling program at Porvenir, up to December 2021.

PDH-20-001 has so far intersected over 644m of visual copper sulphide mineralisation, hosted by potassium-rich intrusions. Visible copper sulphide mineralisation has been observed from 15.9m to the current depth of 660.3m.

“These targets are covered by granted tenure, throughout the 700km length of three parallel and under-explored metallogenic copper-gold belts in the Ecuadorean sector of the prolific Andean Copper Belt. Ecuador could grow to become a major player in global copper and gold markets, and SolGold will be at the core of that objective.” said Solgold CEO Nick Mather.

The company has a C$1.3 billion market capitalization.