Barrick Gold Advances Drilling at Pueblo Grande Project in Dominican Republic
Barrick Gold (NYSE: GOLD) (TSX: ABX) has launched the next phase of drilling at the Pueblo Grande project, located adjacent to its Pueblo Viejo gold mine in the Dominican Republic. This drilling is part of an earn-in agreement with Precipitate Gold (TSXV: PRG), the project’s owner.
The Phase 3 drilling program will target high-priority areas within the Pueblo Grande Norte and Pueblo Grande Sur zones. So far, Barrick has identified two early-stage targets at Pueblo Grande Norte, along with several gold-in-soil anomalies across portions of the Pueblo Grande Sur zone.
These two zones lie to the west and southeast of the Pueblo Viejo mine, which is located about 100 kilometers northwest of the capital, Santo Domingo, and is one of Latin America’s largest gold producers.
Previous drilling at Pueblo Grande Norte revealed that three of the four holes completed by Barrick intersected permeable volcanic lithologies exhibiting high-sulphidation alteration, similar to those found at the Pueblo Viejo mine several kilometers away. The Phase 3 drilling aims to follow up on these promising results.
At Pueblo Grande Sur, Barrick has deployed a drill rig to test a blind target linked to chargeability anomalies beneath a limestone and sedimentary rock sequence.
Precipitate Gold CEO Jeffrey Wilson noted in a news release that the drill program aims to explore high-sulphidation epithermal-style gold mineralization concealed at relatively shallow depths, up to 250 meters, associated with northeast-trending structures.
In late 2024, Barrick announced plans to more than double its investment in the 71-square-kilometer property. Under the revised agreement, Barrick can earn a 70% stake in Pueblo Grande by committing $22 million to exploration and delivering a pre-feasibility study by April 14, 2030.
