Chase drilling T’Boli prospect

A first phase of drilling is under way at the T’Boli gold prospect on the Philippine island of Mindanao.

Chase Resource (TSE) has a 40% interest in the company that owns the project, and holds an option to acquire a further 35%.

The junior has identified a series of en echelon structures which host epithermal quartz veins within broad alteration zones. Six holes will be drilled, for a total of 2,000 metres, in an effort to test two primary targets.

The first hole is testing the Lam Asam prospect, below a trench which returned 2.5 grams gold per tonne over 48 metres. Drillers will also test the South Lode target, 400 metres to the south.

The property hosts widespread, small-scale, high-grade gold mining operations. No drilling has ever been performed on the property. Meanwhile, drilling has resumed at the Taysan copper project in the Philippine province of Batangas. Chase can acquire a 70% interest in the Philippine company which owns the project.

Previous work at Taysan outlined a resource measuring 600 million tonnes grading 0.31% copper and 0.3 grams gold. Chase has been working to outline a higher-grade reserve within the larger resource, reporting grades of up to 0.9% copper and 0.9 grams gold. A tonnage estimate for the higher-grade core has not been completed.

Initial work will test the Antipolo gold mine northwest of the main Taysan resource. A limited amount of historical data suggests the average grade of the mine was in the order of 20 grams before it was shut down in the 1950s. Drilling will target mineralization at depth and along strike. Drilling is also planned for the Taysan West anomaly and to test the northerly extension of the higher-grade portion of the main Taysan deposit. Chase is well funded with about $6.5 million in working capital and 11.3 million shares outstanding.