2023 and 2024 were busy years for Tocvan Ventures (TOC.C) as the company added considerably to its already sizeable land package by extending the land holdings to the north of the Main Zone. The Pilar project was renamed ‘Gran Pilar’, and now the Main Zone (a one square kilometer area in a 51/49 joint venture with Colibri Resources) and the Expansion Area (a 22 square kilometer area 100% controlled by Tocvan) are the main areas of interest. The company recently released the assay results from the first four holes drilled in the Expansion Area, while an additional ten holes were completed in the Main Zone (with assays pending).
A new discovery at the 100% owned expansion zone
In an update release last week the Company announced the first results from the drill program on the expansion area, 100% owned by Tocvan.
The company completed four holes for a total of 776 meters in the area immediately north of the known mineralized trends. This was the first program on the expansion area and two of the holes were testing the northwest trending mineralization while two other scout holes were completed close to the main zone. As you can see in the table below, holes 99 and 100 (the exploration holes) yielded some anomalous values but the more important intervals were encountered in holes 101 and 102 (the scout holes).
As you can see on the map below, those two holes were drilled immediately north of the main zone and could and should be seen as a continuation of the mineralisation from the main zone towards the north. While hole 102 Included a higher grade zone of 3.1 meters at 1.96g/t gold, the broader interval of 16.8 meters at 0.43 g/t gold is still worthwhile as well considering this interval starts at a depth of just 13.7 meters down hole. The upper 13.7 meters of that hole are less exciting with a residual value of less than 0.10 g/t gold.
But it goes without saying the essay results from hole 101 are absolutely excellent. Encountering almost 107 meters carrying 0.61 g/t gold starting at surface is simply excellent. Within this broader interval there is a distinct higher grade zone which carried almost 20 g/t gold and almost 4 g/t silver over a 3.1 meter interval. It goes without saying that the grade of 0.6 g/t gold handsomely meets the cut off grade for similar oxide gold deposits in Sonora.
The image below also shows how the new hole is directly related and correlated to the known mineralisation at the Main Zone. It will be interesting to see if the company can close the gap by doing some additional drilling in between both areas and perhaps encounter more of the higher grade mineralisation. But it already is clear the oxide-hosted gold mineralisation is pretty consistent over what appears to be a 6-800 meter strike length.
Tocvan plans to continue its RC drill program throughout this year, as shown in the first map image above there are several sizable areas with surface samples elevated in gold and silver further to the north and east of the Main Zone. We are looking forward to seeing the company’s exploration plans for this year. We are still expecting this to culminate in a maiden resource estimate at Gran Pilar by the end of this year.
The ongoing drill program at the Main Zone will hopefully expand the mineralized area
Tocvan also released an update on the Main Zone of its Gran Pilar gold-silver project in Mexico’s Sonora state. The company has now already completed ten holes for a total of just over 1,100 meters of drilling at the Main Zone .The company had initially budgeted for nine holes but a couple holes were shortened to focus on their target horizons, this allowed the company to drill one additional hole. The Main Zone is the area where it has a joint venture agreement with Colibri Resource Corp. (CBI.V). All ten holes consisted of core drilling of which three have already been sent to the lab as per the most recent Main Zone Update.
The core drill program was designed to complete infill drilling as well as stepping out along the known mineralized corridors. According the to the Tocvan management team, a visual inspection of the core confirmed the key lithologies and structures that host and control gold in the Pilar area. As most previous drilling was RC drilling, the data gathered from the core drill program will provide additional insights on the structure of the mineralization and this will help the company’s technical team to finetune future exploration programs.
The RC holes at the Expansion Area were completed before the holiday break in December, and the core drill program at the Main Zone only started in January. That being said, we should start to see the assay results from the Main Zone holes being published in the next few weeks.
Conclusion
While the focus is now on getting all assay results out, let’s not forget the company aims to kick off a test mine scenario in the third quarter of this year. While Tocvan still is in the planning stages, the company aims to mine and process approximately 50,000 tonnes of material, which will provide the technical team with more data points on metallurgy and actual head grade. This H2 2025 test mine scenario follows up on the 2023 bulk sample work which yielded excellent head grade (1.9 g/t Au) and good leach recovery (62%).
With a current cash position of C$700,000 and the monthly incoming payments from Sorbie-Bornholm Tocvan is well funded to advance Gran Pilar this year. We are looking forward to seeing the Main Zone assay results which will allow the company to connect more dots ahead of a maiden resource calculation.
Disclosure: The author has a long position in Tocvan Ventures. Tocvan Ventures is a sponsor of the website. Please read our full disclosure.
