07:29 AM EDT, 09/05/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Collective Mining ( CNL ) on Thursday announced assay results for four holes drilled at the Trap Target, which is situated near the flagship Apollo system within the company's Guayabales Project in Caldas, Colombia.

A statement noted the company has five diamond drill rigs in operation as part of its fully funded 40,000 metre drill program for 2024, with two rigs drilling at Trap, two drilling at the Apollo system and one drilling at the Plutus Target.

Executive Chairman Ari Sussman said: "Since the initial Trap discovery was announced in January of this year, the footprint of the system has expanded at a very rapid rate and the positive surprises continue unabated. The discovery today of Blackjack, which is a near surface high-grade bulk zone of mineralization east of the Trap Main Zone, is exciting and opens the possibility for the Company to find new parallel zones of mineralization. Secondly, the strike of the Trap Main Zone has doubled and now extends for 700 metres and remains completely open in all directions for expansion. We will continue being aggressive with step-out drilling from two newly constructed pads located along the southeast strike of the system. We are hoping to cut the Blackjack and Trap Main Zones from these new drill pads as we test an additional 700 metres of strike potential. If successful from the southeastern most pad (TPad6), we will once again double the strike length at Trap to 1,400 metres."

Thursday's statement noted drilling at the Trap Target has outlined two northwest-to-southeast trending parallel broad mineralized zones named the Trap Main Zone and the Blackjack Zone, respectively. It noted both zones host continuous mineralization consisting of two overprinting sets of sheeted carbonate and quartz base metal veins striking in northwest and intersecting other vein sets with east-west directions. So far, it said, the TMZ has been loosely drill tested along 700 metres of strike, is between 30 metres to 150 metres thick and has been intercepted up to 915 metres below surface. It added the newly discovered Blackjack Zone has been intercepted in two drill holes located approximately 400 metres apart and along strike.

Both zones remain open for expansion along strike with geological mapping of limited exposures having outlined more than 1,400 metres of strike potential.