Drill site at the Holly Project, southeast Guatemala
Guatemala · Resource-stage

Holly Project, Guatemala

High-grade gold–silver at La Peña. Inferred 1.32 Mt @ 6.46 g/t Au and 256 g/t Ag.

Southeast Guatemala Radius 40% / Volcanic 60% Social licence

Location

The Holly project in eastern Guatemala is a high-grade, low-sulphidation epithermal gold-silver system on the regional Jocotán Fault, held 60% by Volcanic Gold Mines and 40% by Radius Gold. Discovered by Radius in 2002 and drilled again in 2021–22, it hosts multiple quartz veins cutting a mineralized fault zone; the first target, the La Peña vein, has a June 2022 maiden inferred resource of 1.32 million tonnes at 6.46 g/t gold and 256 g/t silver (about 272,000 oz gold and 10.9 million oz silver, or 406,000 oz gold-equivalent). The vein remains open along strike and at depth, with historic and recent intercepts including 4.58 m of 79.84 g/t gold and 5,053 g/t silver, and several other veins on the property are still untested.

Holly location map, Guatemala Holly property map, southeast Guatemala

Resource

Table 1: Holly, Peña Vein Resource Estimate (effective date 7 June 2022).

Category Tonnes (Mt) Gold (g/t) Silver (g/t) AuEq (oz)
Inferred 1.32 6.46 256 406,316
Holly vein section with selected drill collars and intercepts
Resource notes
  1. Resources estimated using a 3.0 g/t Gold equivalent cut-off grade and a top cap grade of 100 g/t Gold and 2,000 g/t Silver and presented on a 100%-basis.
  2. Gold Equivalent Au(eq) values based on Au US$1800 and Ag US$22 using formula (Au g/t + (Ag g/t × 0.01222)).
  3. Mineral Resources which are not Mineral Reserves have not demonstrated economic viability. The estimate of Mineral Resources may be materially affected by environmental, permitting, legal, marketing, or other relevant issues. The mineral resources in this report were estimated using the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum standards on mineral resources and reserves, definitions, and guidelines prepared by the CIM standing committee on reserve definitions and adopted by the CIM council. Notwithstanding, to meet the requirement that the reported Mineral Resources show “reasonable prospects for eventual economic extraction”.
  4. The quantity and grade of reported Inferred Resources in this estimation are uncertain in nature and there has been insufficient exploration to define these Inferred Resources as an Indicated or Measured Mineral Resource. It is uncertain if further exploration will result in upgrading them to an Indicated or Measured Mineral Resource category.
  5. Contained metal and tonnes figures in totals may differ due to rounding.
  6. The effective date of the Mineral Resource Estimate is June 7, 2022 and a Technical Report on the Holly property is filed on the Company’s website and SEDAR+.

The Mineral Resource Estimate is underpinned by data from 21 diamond drillholes totaling 3,707 m of drilling. Drill spacing ranges between 20 and 100 m. All sample data was composited to a 2D dataset (linear grade and true thickness values) prior to analysis and estimation. The sample database and the topographic survey were reviewed and validated by Bruce Smith, Ludving Monroy and Shawn Rastad prior to being supplied to John Arthur, an independent UK based Resource Consultant. Such review and validation help to support the reliability of the estimate. Geological domain modelling was completed by Bruce Smith and Dr John Arthur. Mineral Resource domain modelling, grade interpolation, Mineral Resource classification and reporting of the Mineral Resource statement, was performed by Dr John Arthur. Dr Arthur, Mr. Smith, Mr. Monroy and Mr. Rastad are “qualified persons” within the meaning of National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (“NI 43-101”). Block modelling was carried out using cell dimensions of 32 mE by 32 mN by 8 mRL and was coded to reflect the surface topography and mineralized zones. Density values were globally assigned into two zones, an upper zone between 50 to 100 m from surface had an average density of 2.33 t/m³ and below this an average density of 2.52 t/m³ was applied. The Mineral Resource Estimate has been classified based on data density, data quality, confidence in the geological interpretation and confidence in the robustness of the grade interpolation. The effective date of the Mineral Resource Estimate is June 7, 2022 and a Technical Report on the Holly property is filed on the Company’s website and SEDAR+.

Status

Social licence is the constraint. The project is fully permitted for drilling and has landowner agreements, but work has been on hold since mid-2022 after community demonstrations cost the companies their social licence. Volcanic completed its earn-in in August 2024. A planned 2025 drill restart to expand and upgrade the resource was postponed because of remaining local opposition. The partners continue to engage communities and have advanced studies toward an exploitation licence; nearby construction at Aura Minerals’ Era Dorada project is a potential catalyst for broader acceptance, but no new drilling or resource update has been announced.

Table and notes are taken from the current Holly project page on radiusgold.com. See Investors → Qualified Person and Forward-Looking Statements.