The Toronto-headquartered company said it would, together with joint venture partner EHR Resources, start immediately on a 4,000m drilling programme to further test the Rufina and San Markito targets.

Recent drilling has returned a number of "encouraging" gold intersections, Eloro reported, with highlights being 3.46 grams per tonne gold over 7.4m, which included 7.31gpt over 3.4m and 2.73gpt over 1.5m in Hole ERU-02, and 2.1gpt over 4.5m, including 4.31gpt over 1.6m and 2.73gpt over 1.5m in Hole ERU-04.

Significantly, Eloro has intersected a new core silicified zone at the end of deep hole ERU-06, which tested the potential depth extent of the Rufina veins system. It was the follow-up geological surface mapping and sampling to the north-east of Rufina that had identified the major new gold zone, Rufina Eastern, which is potentially the core of the epithermal gold system at Rufina, the explorer believes.

Eloro has so far taken 117 channel samples over the mineralised quartz veins in a target area of 250m-by-150m, of which nearly three-quarters of the samples have returned significant gold values over widths ranging from 0.05m to 1.6m. Highlights included 10 samples with higher than 10gpt over widths of 0.05m to 0.8m, including 27.24gpt over 0.8m, 29.02gpt over 0.25m and 38.55gpt over 0.15m.

Results also showed 27 samples with grades between 3gpt to 10gpt over widths of 0.1m to 0.6m, as well as 47 samples grading 1gpt to 3gpt over widths of 0.1m to 1.6m.

Eloro will undertake an initial five-hole diamond drill programme totalling 2,000m within this new zone at Rufina.

The final drill permit for Rufina was issued on June 6, and a drill contract has been awarded to service provider Energold Drilling Peru. A drill is currently on the move to site and the access roads and drill platform construction have been completed. 

Further, the San Markito target, 2.7km north of Rufina, was previously mapped and sampled by Eloro in 2016 and will see six drill holes totalling 2,000m. Permitting for San Markito is in progress. 

The drilling will target the extensive gold-silver mineralisation within intrusive diorite and Chimu Formation sandstones. Eloro described mineralisation in the area to be "very extensive", occurring over a width of more than 500m and a strike length of at least 2.5km. It also plans to undertake more geological mapping and sampling over the entire target zone within the next few months.