It intersected 85.8m at 0.39g/t gold and 1.44% from 39.6m; however two other holes did not intersect significant values.

It said the average of the first-mentioned drill hole was calculated after cutting two very high copper values, of 36% and 7%, to the value of the third highest of 3.4%.

The company recently received a permit to drill in the Sombrero area to the north of Caballito, which president and CEO Marc Prefontaine said allowed Orla to test targets to the north-west, and "demonstrates government support as we move the Cerro Quema project forward".

A 2014 prefeasibility study envisaged two openpits and a 10,000 tonne per day heap leach facility to produce 488,000 ounces of gold over 5.3 years.

Orla is working to update its resource and complete an updated PFS in the first quarter of 2019.

The company also has the Camino Rojo gold-silver project in Mexico, 50km from the Peñasquito mine, that it acquired from Goldcorp last year.

Orla had C$4.8 million (US$3.7 million) in working capital at the end of December and has since raised $30.7 million (US$23.9 million) in a non-brokered private placement.

Its shares have ranged between $1.04-$1.85 over the past year and closed 3c lower yesterday to $1.26, capitalising it at $225.4 million.