NGEx hits 208g gold at Lunahuasi project in Argentina

NGEx Minerals (TSX: NGEX; US-OTC: NGXXF) reported ultra-high-grade gold assays from its Lunahuasi copper-gold-silver project in Argentina as the explorer continues to define one of the richest emerging systems in the Vicuña district. The stock rose.

Highlight hole DPDH070 cut 17.3 metres grading 207.79 grams gold per tonne, 2.02% copper and 16.2 grams silver from about 335 metres depth, NGEx said Wednesday in a statement. This included 8.3 metres grading 10.81 grams gold, 1.8% copper and 10.3 grams silver from about 344 metres depth.

Another standout hole, DPDH063, cut about 40 metres grading 3.41 grams gold, 2.88% copper and 23.9 grams silver from 810 metres depth.

The intercepts “reinforce the bonanza-grade gold quartz vein potential across the deposit and beyond the named zones,” Desjardins Capital Markets mining analyst Bryce Adams said Wednesday in a note.

NGEx shares jumped 6.1% to $30.08 in Toronto trading Wednesday morning, valuing the company at about $6.5 billion (US$4.7 billion). The stock has traded between $11.66 and $32.41 in the past year.

Open to expansion

Other notable results include hole DPDH062, which intersected about 19 metres of 4.47 grams gold, 5.28% copper and 274.1 grams silver from about 647 metres and remains open at depth. Hole DPDH068, meanwhile, cut 8.6 metres grading 8.14 grams gold, 1.13% copper and 33.4 grams silver from 492 metres downhole.

Lunahuasi “is still in an expansive discovery phase of exploration,” said National Bank Financial mining analyst Rabi Nizami. “The ultra-high-grade quartz veins are widespread across the deposit and still being expanded, with today’s highlight intercepts being 660 metres apart and sitting at the edges of the drilling pattern, indicating further discoveries remain open to expansion in all directions.”

The assays form part of Vancouver-based NGEx’s recently completed Phase 4 drill campaign, which covered 27,318 metres across 32 holes. Results from the final 12 holes will be released once assays have been received, analyzed and confirmed by the company.

Earlier results from the campaign included broad, high-grade copper-gold intercepts from the project’s Mars and Saturn zones.

“Today’s news release highlights the high-grade gold component of this remarkable deposit, with two new intersections showing grades comparable to some of the best gold-only deposits worldwide,” CEO Wojtek Wodzicki said in the statement. “It is becoming clear that these high-grade gold quartz veins occur throughout the deposit.”

New discovery

Located inside the Vicuña district along the Chile-Argentina border, Lunahuasi is a relatively new discovery, having been first identified in 2023. The project has quickly gained attention for delivering some of the highest copper and gold grades encountered in the district, which hosts major deposits such as Josemaria and Filo del Sol held in the Lundin Mining (TSX: LUN) and BHP (LSE, NYSE, ASX: BHP) joint venture, and NGEx’s Los Helados.

Drilling so far has outlined multiple mineralization styles, including high-sulphidation epithermal systems, porphyry copper-gold mineralization and high-grade gold veins.

Lunahuasi remains at an early stage, with NGEx yet to publish a maiden resource estimate. While no formal capital cost estimate has yet been published, comparable large-scale Andean copper developments in the Vicuña district typically require multi-billion-dollar investments and multi-year construction timelines.