Solaris Resources (TSX:SLS) (OTCQB:SLSSF) has announced a new porphyry discovery at the Warintza porphyry cluster called Patrimonio. The company made the discovery during ongoing field work, immediately southwest of the Warintza Central deposit in southeastern Ecuador. 

Mr. Jorge Fierro, Vice President, Exploration, commented in a press release: “As drilling continues to expand the MRE, we have conducted a program of reconnaissance mapping and sampling that extends into previously inaccessible areas. The discoveries made to date within the Warintza cluster were based largely on sampling work that dates back more than 20 years. The aim of this ongoing effort is to identify targets for high value growth, such as at Patrimonio, where we’ve discovered a sizeable porphyry target with potential for high grades close to surface in close proximity to our growing MRE.”

Highlights from the results are as follows:

• Patrimonio was discovered via reconnaissance mapping and sampling in an area that had not previously been accessed southwest of Warintza Central, with the northern extent of the target found just outside the Mineral Resource Estimate (“MRE”)¹ shell (refer to Figure 1)
• Patrimonio is defined by highly anomalous sampling over a 1.5km long x 0.6km wide area where outcropping porphyritic diorite displays intense, pervasive biotite alteration and stockwork veining on the western side of a major north-south fault adjacent to Warintza Central
• Rock chip samples from weathered outcrop at Patrimonio returned values of up to 1.6% copper (“Cu”) (averaging 0.18% Cu), 630 parts per million (“ppm”) molybdenum (“Mo”) (averaging 104 ppm Mo) and 0.16 grams per tonne (“g/t”) gold (“Au”) (averaging 0.1 g/t Au)
• Soil samples at Patrimonio average 764 ppm Cu and 89 ppm Mo, comparable in copper values to Warintza East (887 ppm Cu, 87 ppm Mo) and Warintza Central (816 ppm Cu, 288 ppm Mo), with lower molybdenum values than Central
• Together with high-level alteration assemblages observed in outcrop, this metal zonation implies Patrimonio is better preserved/less eroded than Central on the opposite side of the fault, but with similar stockwork veining suggesting the porphyry may be well mineralized
• Field crews have established locations for the construction of an initial four drilling platforms in the northern half of Patrimonio, with the first drill hole at the northernmost platform expected to commence later this month
• MRE drilling program continues: the 2022 MRE is based on drilling to the end of 2021, with ongoing drilling aimed at expanding the ‘Indicative Starter Pit’² and overall mineral resources

Patrimonio

Field crews have discovered conspicuous copper and molybdenum in outcrop (refer to Figures 2-5) where the mineralized rock is a porphyritic diorite that displays intense, pervasive biotite alteration and stockwork veining. This compares to Warintza Central where the host rock is a quartz monzodiorite stock, and Warintza East, where most of the mineralization is in a volcano-sedimentary sequence around a porphyry stock, with a second stock recently located to the south. At Warintza West, mineralization is hosted by dacite porphyry that intrudes diorite and granodiorite.

Quartz-molybdenum or “B-veins” that typically occupy the core of porphyries at Warintza, were encountered at surface at Patrimonio. The highest part of the Patrimonio target, exposed on a hilltop, contains galena and sphalerite in a relatively low-temperate alteration mineral assemblage that is typically located above and lateral to porphyries. The presence of these minerals implies that the porphyry has been minimally eroded and is well-preserved.