About Vardenis Project
“Mendia Resources” LLC was founded in 2020. The permission ԵՀԹ29/370 for Vardenis polymetallic project belongs to Mendia Resources LLC. The permission surface covers 9399 ha.
Vardenis Copper-Polymetallic project is located in Vayots Dzor region of the RA, 160 kilometers and 3 hours’ drive southeast from the capital Yerevan.
The geological research of the region has already started in the second half of the 19th century. In the past years, exploration works were also carried out by “GeoMining” LLC, the main shareholder of which is the Canadian company Dundee Precious Metals inc. which is the most accessible data available. Dundee’s work involved diamond drilling in seven holes, totaling 1,246 meters, and collecting over 6,000 geochemical samples (soils, rocks, and streams). They also conducted alteration mapping and trenching.The project is the largest altered zone in the RA.
The Dundee exploration defined a ring-shaped anomaly, approximately seven kilometers in circumference, mainly based gold-in-soil anomalies with various combinations of anomalous multiple elements (The Artsiv, Hasbi, Archuk, Razmik and Soviet prospects). Additionally, a separate copper anomaly measuring 3.6 x 2.0 kilometers was discovered located at Razmik and stretching 1.4 kilometers south of this prospect. Dundee drill tested only one of the gold prospects, Artsiv, and four of the seven drill holes encountered gold mineralization with a hint of copper mineralization.
Hasbi Prospect
The Hasbi Prospect is represented by a coincident Gold – Arsenic – Antimony soil anomaly extending over 2,000m by 500m. A brecciated vein with high sulphide (pyrite-sphalerite- tennantite-tetrahedrite) is located at relatively low elevation near the river. This vein strikes 335° dipping 70° NE and is traced through outcrops and is up to 110m length. Pinch and swell structures are observed from 50 to 20 cm width with at least 4 other parallel veins of 10 to 20 cm width.
These collectively form a vein zone of about 30m width. Narrow silica-sericite-pyrite selvages are observed in the wall rock, becoming argillic clay-sericite-pyrite alteration outward. It is possible that the vein continues under the river, now covered by alluvial material.
A silicified vein breccia zone of 20 to 50 cm width traceable up to 80m has been observed about 70m to the southwest of the main vein, also striking NNW. This zone exhibits replacement textures, pyrite- marcasite with a 20cm chalcedonic core. Small chalcedonic veinlets up to 10cm width with sub horizontal dip have been observed at higher elevation in the west of the prospect. The host of the veins is a Crystal lithic tuff, ignimbrite.
There were 202 rock samples collected (156 outcrop, 27 subcrop, 19 float) from the Hasbi zone, 58 samples returned >0.25 ppm Au, including 20 from 1.04 to 7.54 ppm Au 30 samples returned >10 ppm Ag, 8 samples returned 80 to 740 ppm Ag. Illustrated in figure 43 are the rock sample locations from the Hasbi area, colour coded by the value of the gold assays. The higher-grade cluster is from the area of the veins described above.
There are other under investigated gold being rocks within the prospect. The veining at Hasbi constitutes an obvious trenching or drill target.
Archuk Prospect
The Archuk prospect is located in the southeast of the Vardenis license, 800m east of Hasbi. The prospect was categorized as an Epithermal gold system with quartz vein zone infill texture, by Dundee. They also describe narrow silica-sericite-pyrite selvages in the wall rock and clay-sericite alteration further out. The veins are subvertical, striking NS for 850m, and consists of a main vein up to 80 cm in width, within a 5m wide vein swarm. The veining is hosted within an ignimbrite lapilli tuff of rhyolitic composition.
The veins were sampled by trenching and channel samples. In general the channel samples were sampled perpendicular to the vein swarm strike, each sample was 1m in length or less. Each trench was given a name ACCH001 to ACCH0036. The trenching was done in four groups. Group 1, trenches 1-8, cover a combined distance of 95m along the vein swarm strike. Trench 1 is long and parallel to the vein; the other trenches are perpendicular. Only sub <1g/t gold was reported in this group of trenches. Group 2, trenches 9-18 cover 17m of strike and are on average 3m apart. These all contained >1g/t gold results. Group 3 of trenches cover 70m of vein swarm strike, trenches 19-26. They are approximately 10m apart, and have numerous >1g/t gold results and finally Group 4, trenches 27-36, also contains zones >1g/t Gold. A summary of the >1g/t Au results for this trenching are reported in table 6, and illustrated in figure 41.
Petrology reports that the veins are associated with manganese and adularia, and usually have moss and banded chalcedonic-silica-microcrystalline quartz textures. The highest- grade rock samples from the 40-80 cm Archuk ‘Main Vein’ returned 20.14g/t gold and 55.8g/t silver (in rock chip). Quartz veinlets of 5-10cm with bladed texture are observed in the eastern creek in the southern part of the main vein zone and grade up to 29.19g/t gold and 216g/t silver (in rock chips). It was observed that gold grade gradually decreases with higher elevation. The gold grade at 2625m elevation returned a maximum 29.19g/t while at 2775m elevation the maximum Au was up to 0.51g/t. In the trenching and channel sampling the highest grade was 13.01g/t Au and 128g/t Ag from trench 15 in group 2.
The higher-grade trench results constitute an excellent drill ready target for vein/structurally control epithermal gold.
Razmik Prospect
A porphyry mineralisation style was noted at this prospect by Dundee, with the identification of chalcopyrite replacing feldspar in a chlorite-magnetite diorite porphyry outcrop. Quartz– Limonite stockwork were identified in a 250m by 50m area from Soviet era trenching and extensions along the ridge line in outcrop and sub crop. Stockwork were hosted in finely crystalline diorite porphyry with quartz sericite alteration, and B and D veinlets dominated the stockwork with a density of 10% of the rock. Outcrops with chlorite – epidote alteration, irregular chalcopyrite veinlets and malachite at fractures were identified approximately 400m west of the stockwork zone. A coarsely crystalline diorite outcrop with chlorite-sericite-clay-magnetite mineralisation considered to be structurally controlled. Silica Ledges were also found in the system and are considered telescoped into the porphyry. These ledges, typically quartz-dickite, were found as strong limonite crackle monomict breccia associated with alunite-dickite and were present within phyllic and propylitic alteration of the porphyry.
A follow-up program took 225 samples in this area, with 12 samples from phyillic alteration zone returning elevated gold values at 0.1 – 0.24 ppm. The highest grade sample, collected from an overprinting late-stage quartz vein, graded 1.84ppm; 29 samples graded over 20ppm Mo, with the majority coming from the phyllic zone, and some from the SCC, propylitic and advanced argillic zone. 6 samples retuned 110 to 327 ppm Mo from the phyllic zone within the quartz stockwork. The highest copper grades are 0.49% Cu and 0.20% Cu relate to the coarse pyrite – chalcopyrite diorite. One sample grading 0.14% Cu relates to a sample with malachite around a fracture within the propylitic chlorite – epidote alteration. The phyllic zone here is strongly oxidised, with reddish brown limonite considered to correspond to decreasing Cu, but with Mo and Au preserved. Sulphide copper can be removed from the oxide zone above the water table, as per a leach cap zone.Element zonation the soils and the stockwork veining suggest this area might be the roof of a porphyry. An IP/resistivity survey is recommended in this area covering at least the size of the copper in soil anomaly. If this survey generates a chargeability anomaly this would constitute a prime porphyry copper drill target. Figure 42 zooms into the rock samples location taken in the Razmik Area and colour coded for gold content.
