TORONTO, May 05, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — A recently completed regional exploration program at Amarillo Gold Corporation’s (Amarillo or the Company) (TSXV: AGC, OTCQB: AGCBF) Mara Rosa Property shows potential to find near-surface gold deposits along its Posse North Gold Trend in Goiás State, Brazil.
“Discovering mineralization up to four kilometres northeast of the Posse Gold Deposit is very encouraging,” said Mike Mutchler, Amarillo’s Chief Executive Officer. “Posse remains open at depth to the southwest, and these mineralized targets to the northeast give us additional opportunities to expand the resources at Mara Rosa.”Sixteen holes totalling 3,021 metres were drilled between November 2019 and February 2020, testing three priority targets along a 4.5-kilometre portion of the Posse North Trend: Araras, Speti 24, and Pastinho. Here are the key findings.All three exploration targets intersected elevated gold values in multiple intervals, implying that the gold system that hosts the Posse Gold Deposit is regional in scope. Highlights include:Araras — near-surface mineralization over widths like 7 metres grading 1.22 g/t gold in hole 19P097Speti 24 — encouraging intercepts like 2.5 metres grading 1.20 g/t gold in hole 20P103 and 7.5 metres grading 0.77 g/t gold in hole 20P101Pastinho — 1 metre grading 10 g/t in hole 20P108 and 8.0 metres grading 0.83 g/t gold (including 4.0 metres grading 1.15 g/t gold) in hole 90P109.
Drilling at the Pastinho target has potentially extended the strike extent of the known gold mineralization six-fold, even as the target remains open along strike and ripe for future exploration. Pastinho is located on 6,000 hectares of new exploration tenements that Amarillo gained access to in December 2019. A previous operator defined a near-surface zone of gold mineralization of approximately 150 metres, while the results of the recent drilling are interpreted to have possibly increased the strike extent to 900 metres. Previous drill results included intercepts of 9.0 metres grading 0.79 g/t gold in hole LMR006A and 18.7 metres grading 0.87 g/t gold in hole LMR007A.
 Exploration potential on the Posse North Trend is prospective. The style and nature of its gold mineralization is extensive and similar in style to the gold mineralization found at the Posse Gold Deposit. The gold deposits at Araras, Speti 24, and Pastinho are structurally controlled and typically associated with biotite, sericite, carbonate, and quartz flooding usually with 1-2% disseminated pyrite, further suggesting a similar style and origin of mineralization to the Posse Gold Deposit.The exploration program in detailPurpose of program
The purpose of the program was to demonstrate that substantial exploration potential exists for finding near-surface gold deposits along the main Posse North Gold Trend and to drill-test three priority exploration targets.Background and previous work
A previous radiometric survey has defined a strong regional-scale 10-kilometre long potassium anomaly that overlies the main northeast trending Posse structural corridor (see Figure 1). The potassium anomaly suggests underlying host rocks are hydrothermally altered, which is consistent with observations found at the Posse Gold Deposit. Posse has 1.1 million ounces of proven and probable gold reserves (see About Amarillo section on page 13 for details) and occurs in the southwest portion of the anomaly.To view Figure 1: Location of Araras, Speti 24, and Pastinho drill targets relative to the Posse Gold Mining Project and to potassium radiometric and surface soil anomalies, please visit the following link:
https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/1320c571-8d95-4b60-b438-2d5959d8208eGold mineralization at Posse is typically associated with potassium-bearing alteration minerals including biotite and sericite combined with carbonate and quartz/silica flooding and 1-2% disseminated pyrite.The regional exploration potential of the Posse North Gold Trend is demonstrated by drill holes completed by a previous operator at the Pastinho target that defined a near-surface zone of gold mineralization over a strike length of approximately 150 metres.Historical drilling included:Hole LMR006A intersected 9.0 metres grading 0.79 g/t gold (including 5.0 metres grading 1.06 g/t gold). It was oriented with an azimuth of 106.9 degrees and dip of -50 degrees.Hole LMR007 intersected 18.7 metres grading 0.87 g/t gold (including 4.9 metres grading 2.05 g/t gold). It was oriented with an azimuth of 109.1 degrees and a dip of -50 degrees.Note: historical results have not been independently verified by Amarillo, though the drill core has been inspected visually, and the previous operator’s drill logs have been reviewed. True widths are interpreted to be the same as mineralized intersections as the holes were drilled perpendicular to the dip of rock units.How the targets were identified
The priority exploration targets were Araras, Speti 24, and Pastinho. They were identified by integrating surface geological mapping with the results from:historical exploration drillingsoil geochemical anomalies greater than 100 ppb goldsurface channel and rock sampling with grades higher than 0.5 ppm goldresults from an aerial-drone magnetic survey that defined favourable structural settings.Coincident soil geochemistry and geophysical anomalies guided the selection of favourable exploration targets for drilling.
Araras
The Araras target is defined by a 500-metre-long northeast trending soil anomaly located slightly east of the main Posse Gold Deposit within the footwall amphibolite rocks.
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