Turmalina Metals Hits Major Milestone: High-Grade Gold-Silver-Copper Drilling Results Spark TSX Venture Exchange Debut

The Numbers Speak for Themselves

Turmalina Metals Corp., a newly listed explorer focused on gold-copper mineralization in South America, kicked off its public trading journey on December 3rd, 2019 on the TSX Venture Exchange under ticker TBX. But what really caught investors’ attention wasn’t just the listing—it was the drilling data the company released.

The initial assay results from the San Francisco Project in Argentina’s San Juan Province are nothing short of impressive. The company completed 10 diamond drill holes targeting the San Francisco de Los Andes breccia pipe, and the intersections tell a compelling story:

The standout result came from hole SFDH-001: 36.95 meters grading 6.31 g/t gold, 122 g/t silver, and 0.88% copper (8.7 g/t gold-equivalent). That’s the kind of thickness and grade that catches the eye. But there’s more. Hole SFDH-002 delivered an even longer intersection at 85.30 meters averaging 4.43 g/t gold, 109 g/t silver, and 0.79% copper, with a higher-grade core of 22.70 meters @ 6.66 g/t Au mixed in.

These aren’t isolated pockets either. The third hole (SFDH-003) returned 50.75 meters @ 3.62 g/t gold plus 1.90% copper, and hole SFDH-005 stretched even longer at 85 meters of mineralization. For context, most explorers in this deposit style would consider 20-30 meter intersections a win—Turmalina is consistently drilling 40-plus meter zones.

Why This Matters: The Breccia Play

What makes these results stand out is the deposit style. Tourmaline breccias—a type of mineralized rock formation—have been historically underexplored by major mining companies. The San Francisco Project contains over 60 mapped breccia occurrences, yet only one (the one being drilled) has received serious modern testing. According to the company, these are among the highest gold grades ever recorded for this deposit type.

Even more interesting: the breccia pipe widens with depth, which is textbook positive geology. This suggests there’s more metal below the current drill holes. Plus, surface sampling from other breccias on the property has already returned 1-10 g/t gold readings, hinting at a pipeline of future drill targets.

The Team Behind It

Turmalina assembled an experienced roster to execute this strategy. CEO Rohan Wolfe previously managed exploration for Ivanhoe Mines. President Bryan Slusarchuk co-founded K92 Mining, a successful Peru-focused gold explorer. The board includes Francisco Azevedo (ex-Iamgold), Miguel Inchaustegui (former Vice-Minister of Mines for Peru), and Mark Eaton (ex-CIBC, current chairman of Belo Sun Mining).

This isn’t a startup crew—these are mining veterans who’ve built track records in South American exploration.

Well-Funded and Ready to Drill Again

At the time of listing, Turmalina had already raised CAD $7 million in a private placement at $0.50 per share, with 48.95 million common shares outstanding. The company stated it had no concurrent financing planned at listing, meaning it came to market with cash on hand and a clear drill program in mind.

The immediate plan? A second phase of drilling in early 2020 targeting both deeper sections of the San Francisco pipe and several new breccia prospects on the property. The company is also working to consolidate regional holdings—the San Francisco project sits within an 80 km mineralized belt, suggesting upside optionality.

The Broader Picture

Beyond San Francisco, Turmalina holds an agreement to explore the Turmalina Project in Peru, another tourmaline breccia cluster with historical copper-gold-molybdenum mining. As of the announcement, that project was in the permitting phase.

For investors tracking this stock, the narrative is straightforward: an underexplored deposit type, compelling initial drill results, an experienced team, and capital to execute the next phase. Whether these early results translate into a resource estimate and eventual mining decision will depend on the 2020 drilling program—but the foundation is solid.