Cervantes Releases Impressive Surface Geochemical Sampling Results; Plans To Raise Additional Capital

Emerging gold explorer, Cervantes Corporation Limited (ASX: CVS) has created a portfolio of gold properties in formerly producing and popular gold districts with a strategy to implement novel development and exploration thinking. The company has also detected opportunities in those gold districts which were neglected by earlier explorers. Cervantes is committed to maximising shareholder returns via the development of those identified opportunities. The company has three significant projects including the Primrose Project, the Albury Heath Gold Project and the Abbots Project.

The company has released an update on its Primrose Project through the ASX announcement. The Primrose Project covers more than 8 kilometres of the highly mineralised (gold) Primrose Shear in the Western Australia’s Murchison District of the Eastern Goldfields. The update mentioned that the soil survey conducted at the Primrose project has identified gold and copper targets.

Results of Surface Geochemical Sampling

The company undertook surface geochemical sampling in five areas of the project to receive profiles across an interpreted southern felsic intrusion and test the inadequately explored western Paynes Find Intrusive. The sampling was conducted by HGS contractors with the help of their QA/QC protocols and standard sampling procedures, and the samples were firstly submitted to Intertek’s laboratory in Perth for assay.

The soil sampling was wholly located within Prospecting Licences P59/1941, P59/2159 to P59/2160. Cervantes provided positive exploration results for gold as well as essential elements of battery industry including Lanthanum, Cobalt, Copper and Nickel over the entire permits. Let us take a look at the results for each one of these elements:

Gold

Gold was found to be extremely anomalous around the western contact of the mafic schist, particularly at the northern end of the airstrip on P59/2160, and further north on P59/2159. Both these zones have not been drilled previously. It was found that gold increases towards both the eastern and western contact of the mafic unit to the south on P59/1941, with the eastern contact being connected with the Primrose Shear.

The mobile ion soil geochemistry survey has also demonstrated that the western contact of the mafic unit connected with the Paynes Find Gold Field might have the gold mineralisation potential.

Copper

Copper followed the similar pattern of gold; however, it was more active in the Paynes Find Intrusive (for instance in western edge of P59/2161).

Nickel

Nickel seemed to be more extensively anomalous, probably reflecting the scavenging characteristic of laterites generated over the area. Even so, anomalous zones on the southern two lines sampled on P59/2159 echo RAB and AC drilling results to the immediate east, upgrading this area as a drilling target.

Lanthanum

Lanthanum appeared to be particularly anomalous on the northern two areas sampled on P59/2159. Pegmatites were already known in these permits while the previous explorer, Paynes Find Gold restrained follow-up work on them. The secondary targets for lanthanum and copper (and associated REE) will be worked up with subsequent field mapping.

Recently, the company had also identified three high priority gold targets from a soil survey undertaken at Albury Heath Gold Project on specific target areas - P51/2937 and P51/2997 – 3001.

Details of Surface Geochemical Sampling

All the areas on which soil sampling was carried out were sampled along two, 200 metres spaced lines except for one where samples were collected along three lines. The samples were taken at 50 metres of intervals. The collected samples were delivered for examination using Intertek’s Terraleach process, a partial leach technique that aims to assay for mobile ions (MI) which are just softly attached to the surfaces of soil particles and have migrated to the surface.

The company informed that the resulting assays might change by adjusting leach times and are not an absolute assay as they are based on a partial leach method. 90^th percentile was used in the survey as the background limit for Lanthanum and 75th percentile was chosen for gold, copper, and nickel in the Primrose area. The percentiles chosen were very high and thus reflected the ubiquitous mineralisation.

Previous Assay Results from Primrose Project

Last year, Cervantes completed regional air core sampling campaign on the Primrose Project and received remarkable assay results. The results highlighted identification of new gold and nickel drilling targets and showed an elevated gold background. Five areas were sampled for the air core sampling programme - Blue Bell, Princess Mary, Goodingnow, Pansy South, and the Daffodil Shear. These areas were identified and highlighted from the aeromagnetic interpretation of the area.

The following intercepts were obtained from the air core sampling campaign:

• 1m at 1.285g/t gold from 1m in hole PS21
• 1m at 1.052g/t gold from 10m in hole BB11
• 4m at 0.527g/t gold from 5m in hole BB17
• 1m at 0.18% nickel from 2m in hole PM1
• 1m at 0.16% copper from 1m in hole PS21

Post the completion of the air core sampling campaign, a field inspection was conducted by two Directors of Cervantes at the Primrose Project whose structural observations supported the company’s model for a large tonnage gold target.

Cervantes’ Proposed Capital Raising Activity

Cervantes is actively pursuing capital investment by interested parties to expedite and expand the exploration of its new and existing projects. The company raised $150,000 during the June 2019 quarter and is holding further discussions with other parties to raise additional capital. During the quarter, the company issued 37,500,000 shares (issue price of $0.004 per share) and 18,750,000 Options (at an exercise price of $0.01 per Option) for raising a capital of $150,000. The funds raised from this issue were used for continued assessment and exploration of resources projects and working capital.

Subject to shareholder approval, the company is planning to raise additional capital through:

• Issue of up to 75,000,000 Shares at an issue price of at least 80 per cent of the VWAP for the shares calculated over the previous 5 days on which sales in the shares are logged before the day on which the issue is made.
• Issue of up to 46,763,123 Options for nil cash consideration to subscribers for shares issued and service providers to the company. The Options will have an expiry date of 30 June 2020 and exercise price of $0.015 per Option.

Cervantes intends to use the funds raised from the proceeds for work on the Company’s current permits, continued exploration and assessment of resources projects, acquisition of assets if required, payments to providers of services to the company and general working capital requirements.

CVS last traded at A$0.004 on 7 May 2019.