Sunstone expands landholding near its large El Palmar gold-copper find in Ecuador Sunstone Metals Ltd announced that it has agreed to acquire the Verde Chico Project in northern Ecuador through a Staged Acquisition Agreement from the Verde Chico Group.
The Verde Chico project is situated immediately west of Sunstone Metals’ El Palmar gold-copper porphyry discovery and expands Sunstone’s landholding in this highly prospective northern Ecuadorian belt to 3,672 hectares, effectively quadrupling its position. Malcolm Norris, Sunstone’s Managing Director, described this acquisition as a significant opportunity to secure a substantial and promising tenure adjacent to the El Palmar discovery. He highlighted the area’s strong potential for both epithermal gold and porphyry gold-copper mineralization and confirmed plans to initiate a systematic exploration program, mirroring the successful approaches applied at the El Palmar and Bramaderos projects.
Historically, the Verde Chico project underwent exploration by the Rio Tinto group (then RTZ) from 1992 to 1995 and by Canadian junior Balaclava Mines in 1998, with no subsequent exploration conducted since that time. Early work identified a gold-in-soil anomaly extending over 1.1 kilometers, which remains open to the north and south. This anomaly includes multiple high-grade gold-bearing surface veins and broad zones of lower-grade gold mineralization intersected in drilling. Exploration activities comprised 12 trenches totaling 683 meters, which were sampled along mineralized structures, and 28 diamond drill holes amounting to 4,436 meters. Notably, only about 10% of the total concession area has been effectively explored.
The historical exploration program involved regional stream sediment and soil sampling, limited geophysical surveys using Controlled Source Audio-frequency Magnetotellurics (CSAMT), trench sampling, and diamond drilling. The soil sampling by Rio Tinto delineated the >1.1 km gold-in-soil anomaly, which coincides with a CSAMT resistivity anomaly. Drilling within this zone yielded significant gold intervals, including an intercept of 68.5 meters grading 1.05 g/t gold from surface in hole RVC-08, which contained a higher-grade section of 1 meter at 11.3 g/t gold from 40.5 meters depth.
Sunstone’s acquisition of Verde Chico is structured through a staged acquisition agreement, under which the company will ultimately obtain 100% ownership of the property. The company plans to commence exploration activities with initial follow-up work targeting the known high-grade gold mineralization. This will include permitting and community engagement prior to drilling, alongside geological mapping, geochemical sampling, and geophysical surveys to refine drill targets. The Verde Chico project’s location near the Toachi fault zone, a key structural feature controlling porphyry copper-gold-molybdenum mineralization in northern Ecuador, further enhances its prospectivity.
In summary, the Verde Chico project represents a strategically important addition to Sunstone’s portfolio, offering significant exploration upside for both epithermal and porphyry-style mineralization within a largely underexplored concession adjacent to an existing major discovery. The company’s planned systematic exploration program aims to unlock this potential, building on the promising historical results and regional geological setting.
Trenching delivered locally very high grades across and along multiple veins at surface including.
Perdida vein – 6.5m @ 25.11 g/t Au
Peligrosa vein – 24m @ 21.2 g/t Au, 19m @ 7.72 g/t Au, 25m @ 10.24 g/t Au
Gato vein – 39m @ 3.08 g/t Au
Pavas vein – 26.5 @ 2.28 g/t Au, 10m @ 11.72 g/t Au
Oso Hormiguero vein – 29m @ 8.26 g/t Au, 11m @ 9.08 g/t Au
Falla vein – 8m @ 7.28 g/t Au
During technical due diligence nothing has come to the attention of Sunstone that causes it to question the accuracy or reliability of the historical exploration results.
Sunstone will undertake a systematic exploration program commencing once the full Staged Acquisition.
(Source: Press Releases – www.sunstonemetals.com.au/site/PDF/d28da1d5-a12e-4c45-978f-e56e878781c6/SunstoneexpandslandpositionnearElPalmardiscovery)
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