Cabral Gold (CBR) - Drilling Update and Resource Timing

Cabral Gold Inc. is a mineral exploration company focused on gold and copper. The company's key assets include the Cuiú Cuiú Project in Northern Brazil, the Tapajos Region, and the Bom Jardim project. The company was founded in 2014 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.

Matt Gordon caught up with Alan Carter, President, CEO, and Director, Cabral Gold. Dr. Carter is a Co-founder at Peregrine Metals Ltd. and Cuprum Resources Ltd. He currently serves as a Director and Chairman at both Fremont Gold Inc. and Altamira Gold Corp. His educational credentials include a B.Sc. degree in Geology from the University of Nottingham, U.K., and a Ph.D. degree in gold geochemistry and structural geology from the University of Southampton, U.K. He also co-founded Magellan Minerals Inc. which was acquired by Anfield Gold Corp. in 2016. Alan founded Cabral Gold in late 2016 and took the company public in November 2017. 

Company Overview

Cabral Gold is a publicly-traded company focused on advancing its flagship, district-scale Cuiú Cuiú Gold Project in Brazil. The company is looking to grow its existing resource through trenching, sampling and drilling. Magellan Brazil is the company’s subsidiary. It is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX-V: CBR), the OTC Markets (OTCQX: CBGZF), and the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (FRA: C3J). 

Cabral Gold is an advanced exploration project in Northern Brazil. The company has 2 gold deposits that currently total 1Moz. This resource was based on 29,000m drilling that was done in 2018. Since then, the company has drilled an additional 27,000m. It is planning to drill 25,000m in 2022. The company currently has 5 drill rigs deployed at the Cuiú Cuiú Project. 

The company has a district-scale play. It has 43 targets at various stages surrounding the 2 deposits from 2018. In the past 18 months, the company has made 5 new discoveries. These discoveries do not have a resource yet. 3 of the discoveries are oxide blankets, while the other 2 are hard-rock zones. Later this year, the company has plans for a resource update that will include the new discoveries.

Cabral Gold’s main focus is to define the high-grade zones within the 2 existing deposits and in the new discovery zones. During this process, the company found 3 oxide blankets in unconsolidated material, which is free digging at surface. Notably, some of these blankets are between 50m-60m thick. The mining and processing cost for the oxide material is expected to be extremely cheap. 

The MG Gold Deposit

Back in 2018, Cabral Gold knew about the existence of the MG Gold Deposit, a hard rock gold deposit. In recent times, the company has found that one of the oxide blankets sits on top of the deposit. The blanket material is present in mud, sand, and soil. In 2018, this material was assumed to be waste material. The company would need to strip off the upper material to access the underlying ore body. However, it was later found that the oxide material contains gold. 

Currently, the company is conducting metallurgical test work on the oxide material and is looking for ways to develop heap leach operation on the oxide blankets. Since there is no drilling and blasting required, processing the oxide material will be extremely cost-effective. The company does not need to crush and grind the material. It has plans to carry out heap leach column tests on the material to determine whether it can be heap leached or not. These tests are expected to conclude by May 2022. In the case of a heap leach operation, the material can be mined using shovels and can be trucked into a leach pad, where it will be agglomerated with cement and placed on a big leach pad. The capital cost of the operation would be a fraction of a conventional large open-pit hard rock operation that requires crushing and grinding. 

PDM Gold-in-oxide Blanket

The PDM area is located 5-6km northwest of the MG Deposit. This was the second oxide blanket found by the company. Previously, the company was unaware that the oxide blanket had an underlying deposit that consisted of hard rock in the granitic rocks. The company was suspicious of this zone because the gold in the oxide blanket had to be weathering from somewhere.  In December 2021, the company discovered the underlying zone. The hard rock granite beneath the blanket was drilled to present grades of 22.4m at 4.8g.t gold. Notably, this was 110m below the surface and the trenches on the surface averaged 15m at 4g/t gold. This led to the emergence of a very nice zone that is on-trend from the Central gold deposit. The zone is located 2.5km to the northwest. It features a very strong gold anomaly which is 5km in length. This anomaly encompasses the Central gold deposit and the new PDM area. The company has plans to conduct extensive drilling here to understand the extent of the trend. 

The Central Deposit 

The Cuiú Cuiú Project has a multi-million-ounce potential. It has a massive footprint. Notably, this was the largest area of placer workings during the Tapajos Gold Rush, the largest ever recorded gold rush in the history of the planet. The oxide material provides the company with an opportunity to demonstrate the project’s potential. Since the material is unconsolidated, the capital cost for mining and processing is a fraction of the cost when compared to a hard rock deposit. 

The underlying hard rock material also features a significant gold presence. In case the oxide material is heap leach compatible, the company would be able to enter production fairly quickly at significantly low capital and operating costs. The column heap leach tests are expected to conclude within the next 6-8 weeks. 

Company’s Landholdings

Cabral Gold’s project is quite different from G Mining’s landholdings. Both operations are located 25km away. Cabral Gold’s holdings are contiguous with G Mining. During the 1980s there was a lot of informal mining in the region. During this time, an estimated 200,000oz gold was produced from the streams at TZ. Meanwhile, the Cuiú Cuiú produced 2Moz of gold. In terms of the historic footprint, the gold mined during the gold rush was 10x higher at Cuiú Cuiú than at the TZ Project. 

Another major difference is that the Cuiú Cuiú Project is a district-scale play. Eldorado Mining owned the TZ project for 11 years and did not add a single ounce to the resource. The company got the project fully permitted and advanced it through a Feasibility Study. However, the best result was found outside of the TZ area which had grades of 20m at 1.73g gold. 

At the Cuiú Cuiú Project, one of the new discoveries is Pau da Merenda, which is located 2.5km away. Limited drilling has been conducted at Pau de Merenda and the Central zone. The company is looking to determine whether the Central deposit extends all the way up to Pau da Merenda. In that case, it will have the potential for a huge resource. 

The Machichi deposit features an additional high-prospect zone. At the Central Southeast area located 500m away, the company drilled 4-5 holes with grades of 27m at 6.9g/t gold. The J Cima target has also seen limited drilling with grades of 39m at 5g. Meanwhile, at Machichi, the company found 34m of 5.3g gold. It is important to note that all these drill results are outside of the current resource estimate. 

Additionally, the company has a whole collection of targets outside the 2 known deposits. These targets have had very good drill results so far, indicating a district-scale opportunity. The drilling indications from Pau de Merenda have demonstrated continuity in grade. The Machichi deposit has also shown grade continuity. The oxide blankets present on top of MG, Central, and Pau de Miranda deposits offer an exciting opportunity for the company. Unlike most gold deposits, these do not have oxide caps. As a result, the cost of mining and processing the oxide material present in unconsolidated material is very cheap and extremely profitable. 

If the ongoing column leach tests the positive, the company will follow up with a Scoping Study on the oxide material. This will help in the determination of the capital and operating costs. A further Scoping Study is planned in Q2 or Q3, which will be followed by project financing for the oxide material in Q4 2022. The oxide material could be extremely profitable and could provide significant cash flow for the company. This could enable the company to self-fund the exploration of the remainder of the district while leaving a lot of capital in the bank as well. 

Targets 2022 and Beyond

Cabral Gold’s first priority is to define high-grade zones of high-grade mineralization within the underlying hard rock deposits. The company has employed 3 diamond drill rigs for this purpose. The first rig is at the Central zone, defining a high-grade zone. The MG is more advanced as it has a high-grade zone in the middle of a low-grade ore body. The MG high-grade zone is 285m in strike length. It is an open-down pit that is open at both ends. The third drill rig is employed at the PDM deposit, at the new discovery underneath the oxide blanket. The fourth rig is an RC drill which is currently drilling off the Central oxide blanket. The fifth rig is a small reconnaissance diamond rig that was recently brought by the company. The fifth drill rig will be used to test some other regional targets where the company has high-grade boulders on the surface. The company is also planning to carry out additional testing within the district using the reconnaissance diamond rig.

To find out more, go to the Cabral Gold website