Torq Drills 557 Metres of 0.38 g/t Gold, 0.23% Copper and 56 ppm Molybdenum, Substantially Increasing the Grade at Santa Cecilia
TSX.V: TORQ | OTCQX: TRBMF 1630 – 1177 West Hastings Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6E 2K3
Torq Drills 557 Metres of 0.38 g/t Gold, 0.23% Copper and 56 ppm Molybdenum,
Substantially Increasing the Grade at Santa Cecilia
Vancouver, Canada – August 2, 2023 – Torq Resources Inc. (TSX-V: TORQ, OTCQX: TRBMF) (“Torq” or
the “Company”) is pleased to announce drill results from the first two drill holes at the Cerro del Medio
target in the Company’s inaugural drill program at the Santa Cecilia gold – copper porphyry project
located in the Maricunga belt in northern Chile. The project is located approximately 100 kilometres (km)
east of the city of Copiapo and is immediately adjacent to the Norte Abierto project held by Newmont
and Barrick , which is comprised of the Caspiche and Cerro Casale gold – copper porphyry deposits
(Figure 1).
Highlights:
• Drill hole 23SC-DDH-002 intersected 557 metres (m) of 0.38 g/t gold (Au), 0.23% copper (Cu) and
56 ppm molybdenum (Mo) at a depth of 442 m – 999 m within wall rock, consisting of tuffaceous
units and andesites as well as isolated dioritic and dacitic porphyry dykes toward the bottom of
the intercept. The drill hole bottomed in mineralization (999 m deep) (Figures 2 – 4).
• The gold grades encountered in drill hole 23SC -DDH-002 represent an 81% increase from the
previously reported historical intercept (CDM-12-003) of 925.7 m of 0.21 g/t Au, 0.27% Cu, and 82
ppm Mo at the Cerro del Medio target that was drilled in 2012 by a previous operator . The
increased grade demonstrates a clear vector to the south and the east toward a potentially higher-
grade causative intrusion.
• The mineralized intercept encountered in 23SC -DDH-002 is located 500 m vertically above the
historical intercept in CDM-12-003 and is open vertically, both upward and downward, as well as
laterally (Figure 3). The Company plans to drill vertically, above its reported intercept, to establish
the depth that the higher-grade porphyry mineralization begins.
• Strong sericite/chlorite alteration is spatially associated with the higher -grade mineralization
encountered in drill hole 23SC -DDH-002 and is more much pervasive than observed in the two
historical drill holes from 2012. The Company interprets this as another positive vector to move
toward a potentially higher-grade potassic core and causative intrusion.
• Drill hole 23SC-DDH-001 is located 700 m northeast of drill hole 23SC -DDH-002 and intersected
476.3 m of 0.23 g/t Au, 0.22% Cu and 93 ppm Mo at a depth of 584 m – 1,060.3 m. Mineralization
is hosted within tuffaceous and andesitic wall rock with isolated porphyry dykes, and the drill hole
bottomed in mineralization (1,060.3 m deep) (Figure 2, 3, & 5). Drill hole 23SC-DDH-001 included
a higher-grade internal interval of 172 m of 0.3 g/t Au, 0.26% Cu and 100 ppm Mo at a depth of
766 m – 938 m.
• The drill results from Torq’s inaugural program at Santa Cecilia represent a major expansion of
TSX.V: TORQ | OTCQX: TRBMF 1630 – 1177 West Hastings Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6E 2K3 600 – 1199 West Hastings Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6E 3T5
the porphyry mineralization to the east and southeast from historical intercepts that outlined a
960 m by 860 m envelope of porphyry mineralization within wall rock. The system remains open
with the apparent causative intrusion remaining undrilled at this early stage of exploration at the
Cerro del Medio target.
• Highlights from Torq’s first two drill holes at Santa Cecilia are presented in Table 1 below.
A Message from Shawn Wallace, CEO and Chair:
“We are extremely pleased with the results from our first two drill holes at Santa Cecilia , which not only
intersected mineralization, but higher-grade mineralization than what was drilled historically. We’ve had
high expectations for this project since first seeking to acquire it, and now, in our inaugural drill program,
it is already proving its potential to become a world-class gold-copper asset.
“We look forward to resuming drilling at the project following Chile’s winter season, when we will seek to
continue to expand the discovery of mineralization at the Cerro del Medio target as well as drill test our
high potential copper porphyry targets on the eastern side of the project, nearest to Newmont and
Barrick’s Caspiche deposit.”
A Message from Michael Henrichsen, Chief Geological Officer:
“Santa Cecilia is a rare project that continues to improve technically as our exploration work advances .
To have significantly improve d the grade in the first two drill holes demonstrates that we have clear
vectors moving us toward our objective of finding the higher-grade causative intrusion at Cerro del Medio.
In addition, the delineation of porphyry mineralization at surface at the Pircas Norte and Gemelos Norte
targets, within 1.5 km of the Caspiche deposit, provides the Company with excellent undrilled exploration
opportunities, which we plan to start testing in Q4.”
Table 1: Highlights of Torq’s drill results from its first two drill holes at the Santa Cecilia gold-copper
project, targeting porphyry mineralization:
Hole ID From (m) To (m) Length (m) Au (g/t) Cu (%) Mo (ppm)
23SC-DDH-001 584 1,060.3 476.3 0.23 0.22 93
23SC-DDH-002 442 999 557 0.38 0.23 56
Intervals are selected using AuEQ grade*thickness no less than 1.0 g/t*m with average interval grade no less than 0.2 g/t, maximum
consecutive dilution 4m; Metal price used for Eq calculations: Au $1,800/oz, Cu $3.5/oz, Mo $18/oz. Metallurgical recoveries have not
been considered as grade is reported as in-situ with no downward adjustment made based on metallurgical test work.
Table 2: Highlights of historical drill results from 2012 by a previous operator, targeting porphyry
mineralization:
Hole ID From (m) To (m) Length (m) Au (g/t) Cu (%) Mo (ppm)
CDM-12-002 870 1,738.8 868.8 0.09 0.20 156
CDM-12-003 672 1,597.7 925.7 0.21 0.27 82
Intervals are selected using AuEQ grade*thickness no less than 1.0 g/t*m with average interval grade no less than 0.2 g/t, maximum
consecutive dilution 4m; Metal price used for Eq calculations: Au $1,800/oz, Cu $3.5/oz, Mo $18/oz. Metallurgical recoveries have not
been considered as grade is reported as in-situ with no downward adjustment made based on metallurgical test work.
TSX.V: TORQ | OTCQX: TRBMF 1630 – 1177 West Hastings Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6E 2K3 600 – 1199 West Hastings Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6E 3T5
Detailed Discussion:
The Santa Cecilia project hosts a 10 square kilometre hydrothermal alteration system that extends
across the property boundary to host Norte Abierto’s Caspiche deposit , which is held in a 50/50 joint
venture by Newmont and Barrick. Santa Cecilia is host to a cluster of porphyry targets that are
mineralized either on surface or at shallow depths across approximately 4 km of length with very limited
or no drill testing , providing the Company the opportunity to find one or more large -scale porphyry
deposits at or near surface.
At the Cerro del Medio target area, Torq drilled two holes approximately 700 m apart for a total of 2,059
m. Both drill holes were targeting a north – northeast trending structural corridor with the objective of
intersecting the high-grade causative intrusion(s) responsible for the observed wall rock mineralization
from the 2012 drill holes , CDM-12-003 and CDM-12-002. Torq’s drill holes were targeting porphyry
mineralization underlying areas of stockwork veining, brecciation and outcropping diorite porphyries
along with conductive and magnetic anomalies.
Drill Hole 23SC-DDH-002:
Drill Hole 23SC-DDH-002 was drilled to cross a prominent northeast trending structural corridor, zones
of local stockwork veining and an associated gold-in-soils geochemical anomaly. It intercepted 557 m of
0.38 g/t Au, 0.23% Cu and 56 ppm Mo, bottoming in mineralization and successfully extending the
porphyry-style mineralization in wall rock by 170 m southeast and 500 m vertically, upward from the 2012
historical intercept, CDM-12-003. The intercept accomplished two goals for the Company; a significant
increase in grade and confirmation of porphyry style mineralization at higher elevations that remain open
upward, downward and laterally. Importantly , the increased grade observed within wall rock
mineralization provides a clear vector toward the south and east and suggests the existence of a
potentially higher-grade causative intrusion that has not yet been found.
The upper part of the drill hole , from surface to 520 m, is characterized by dacitic volcanic tuffs and
phreatomagmatic breccia bodies with strong argillic and sericite alteration. The entire interval averages
0.1 g/t Au; however, from 460 m – 520 m there is a 60 m interval averaging 0.47 g/t Au and 0.11% Cu in
an intensely clay and silica altered pumice tuff characterized by disseminated pyrite, fine quartz veining
and trace hypogene chalcocite and covellite.
The lower part of the drill hole , from 520 m – 999 m is characterized by multiphase dioritic to dacitic
porphyry dykes intruding into primarily andesitic wall rock. Th is section of the drill hole is characterized
by porphyry-style stock work veining and associated gold – copper mineralization. The porphyry dykes
intersected to -date represent an increase in volume from historical drilling and at this stage, are
interpreted to be pre-mineral or intra-mineral in nature.
Drill Hole 23SC-DDH-001:
Drill Hole 23SC-DDH-001 was drilled to cross a prominent northeast trending structural corridor, zones
of local stockwork veining and an associated gold-in-soils geochemical anomaly. It intercepted 476.3 m
of 0.23 g/t Au, 0.22% Cu and 93 ppm Mo, bottoming in mineralization and successfully extending the
porphyry-style mineralization in wall rock by 300 me east from the 2012 historical intercept, CDM-12-003.
The porphyry mineralization is primarily hosted in potassically altered andesitic and sandstone basement
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units. No causative intrusion was encountered in this drill hole, although three phases of porphyry dykes
were intercepted, demonstrating a multi-phase porphyry system.
The upper part of the drill hole , from surface to 430 m, is characterized by late dioritic porphyry dykes
and a large polymictic phreatomagmatic breccia that contains mineralized clasts of dacitic and diorit ic
porphyries. The average gold grade within this breccia body is approximately 0.1 g/t Au, but where
mineralized clasts are abundant , gold grades increase with values of up to 0.5 g/t Au. The presence of
the mineralized porphyritic clasts suggest that higher grade mineralization may be present to the east
and at depth. From 430 m – 490 m, hypogene covellite and chalcocite are observed staining pyrite veins
and fractures, indicating the transition from epithermal to porphyry environments.
The lower part of the drill hole, from 490 m – 1,060.3 m, is characterized by porphyry-style mineralization.
The gold – copper mineralization is hosted in pre -mineral to intra-mineral porphyry dykes and andesitic
wall rock that is characterized by well -developed stockwork veining. Alteration in the lower part of the
drill hole is characteriz ed as potassic with abundant biotite that is weakly to moderately overprinted by
sericite-chlorite alteration. The characteristics of the stockwork veining in the wall rock that forms the
bulk of the intercept is similar in nature to that observed in the 2012 historical drill hole, CDM-12-003.
Next Steps:
With Torq’s first two drill holes completed at Santa Cecilia having demonstrated higher grades within the
system, the Company’s technical team is completing detailed geological logging and modeling of the
porphyry system to refine additional drill targets at Cerro del Medio with the objective of intersecting the
higher-grade causative intrusion. The Company plans to resume its phase 1 drill program in Q4 of this
year, with an additional 10,000 m – 12,000 m of drilling that would focus on the Cerro del Medio target
while also testing its Pircas Norte and Gemelos Norte porphyry targets further to the east, where there is
outcropping porphyry mineralization adjacent to the Caspiche deposit.
TSX.V: TORQ | OTCQX: TRBMF 1630 – 1177 West Hastings Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6E 2K3 600 – 1199 West Hastings Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6E 3T5
Figure 1: Illustrates the location of the Santa Cecilia project in the Maricunga belt and in relation to the Norte Abierto joint venture, held by
Newmont and Barrick, which consists of the Caspiche and Cerro Casale deposits.
TSX.V: TORQ | OTCQX: TRBMF 1630 – 1177 West Hastings Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6E 2K3 600 – 1199 West Hastings Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6E 3T5
Figure 2: Illustrates a plan view and the gold and copper distribution within Torq’s first two drill holes at the Santa Cecilia project, which were
located within the Cerro del Medio target area. Importantly, drill hole 23SC-DDH-002 intersected higher grades than the historical drilling at a
shallower depth.
TSX.V: TORQ | OTCQX: TRBMF 1630 – 1177 West Hastings Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6E 2K3 600 – 1199 West Hastings Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6E 3T5
Figure 3: Illustrates a cross-section view of Torq’s first two drill holes at the Cerro del Medio target area at the Santa Cecilia project. Importantly,
the higher-grade mineralization intersected in drill hole 23-SC-DDH-002 provides strong vectors both to the south and to the east as the Company
targets a potentially higher-grade causative intrusion.
TSX.V: TORQ | OTCQX: TRBMF 1630 – 1177 West Hastings Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6E 2K3 600 – 1199 West Hastings Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6E 3T5
Figure 4: Illustrates a simplified cross-section of the geology and mineralization hosted in drill hole 23-SC-DDH-002. Photos of the
mineralization demonstrate typical textures found within the mineralized intercept.