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Resources Inc’s Peninsula gold property has
intersected further mineralisation within a shear zone
that was discovered during initial drilling.
In Montana, Tintina Resources Inc’s drilling at the
renamed Black Butte copper property (formerly
Sheep Creek) has tested the Strawberry East target.
Across the border in Mexico, Geologix Explorations
Inc has been busy at its Tepal gold-copper-silver
deposit in Michoacán. The company has confirmed a
high-grade zone which it expects to develop as a
starter pit.
Elsewhere in Mexico, Silvercrest Mines Inc has
received an independent resource estimate for the La
Joya silver property in Durango. Inferred resources
were estimated at 57.9Mt at an average grade of 28g/t
Ag, 0.18g/t Au and 0.21% Cu, using a cut-off grade of
15g/t silver-equivalent.
South American opportunities
In Argentina, Lumina Copper Corp has intersected
long intersections of copper-gold-molybdenum
mineralisation at its Taca Taca porphyry deposit.
The latest intersections included the longest interval
of mineralisation drilled at the project, totalling 813m
at an average 0.60% Cu equivalent, and were 300m
from previous drilling that defined the boundary of
the 2011 resource. Indicated resources were
estimated at 516Mt at an average grade of 0.58% Cu,
0.12g/t Au and 0.018% Mo, with inferred resources
estimated at 880Mt at 0.43% Cu, 0.08g/t Au and
0.015% Mo.
Also in Argentina, an independent feasibility study
for Minera IRL’s Don Nicolas gold-silver project in
Argentina’s Santa Cruz province has outlined reserves
containing about 200,000oz of gold and 400,000oz of
silver. The open-pit operation, designed by consultant
Wardrop, would feed a conventional crush, grind,
carbon-in-leaching treatment plant at a rate of
350,000t/y, for a mine life of 3.6 years initially.
In Brazil, Crusader Resources Ltd, infill drilling at
February 2012
Geologists at Atacama Pacific
Gold’s Cerro Maricunga site
its 2.3Moz Borborema gold deposit has intersected
con firmatory mineralisation in the Central and
Southern zones from surface to a vertical depth of
265m.
Overall resources at Horizonte Minerals plc’s
Araguaia lateritic nickel project in Brazil’s Pará state
have been revised to just over 100Mt, compared with
the previous 76.6Mt. The independent calculation also
defined indicated resources for the first time. The
latest estimate included indicated resources of 39.3Mt
at 1.39% Ni, plus 60.9Mt in the inferred category at a
grade of 1.22% Ni.
Also in Brazil’s Pará state, Sun Mining Corp said
its Volta Grande gold project contains more than
3.7Moz of gold, according to the latest independent
resource estimate. The company noted that the
calculation increased the amount of gold contained
within measured and indicated categories by 70%
compared with the previous resource in April last
year, to 2.2Moz.
In Chile, Atacama Pacific Gold Corp has confirmed
wide intervals of gold mineralisation at its Cerro
EXPLORATION SPECIAL
Maricunga project. The deposit was estimated last
year to contain 92.8Mt at 0.54g/t Au for 1.62Moz of
gold in indicated resources, at a 0.3 g/t Au cut-off,
with a further 116.7Mt at 0.52 g/t Au for 1.95Moz
inferred.
BHP Billiton has increased the resource estimate
for its Spence copper mine in northern Chile’s
Atacama desert by almost 700%, after declaring
2.35Gt of hypogene sulphide mineralisation.
According to the group, the chalcopyrite-rich material
represented an extension to the supergene
mineralisation (comprising chalcocite and copper
oxides) that is mined at the open-pit operation.
The first independent resource estimate for South
American Silver Corp’s Escalones polymetallic deposit
in Chile, compiled in accordance with Canada’s NI
43-101 guidelines, has delineated more than 1.7Mt of
copper within the inferred category. Inferred resources
were estimated at 420.6Mt at an average grade of
0.41% Cu, 61.4ppm Mo, 0.05g/t Au and 1.24g/t Ag.
Also in Chile, Herencia Resources plc has received
the final assay results from a drill programme
completed last year at the 70%-owned Paguanta
polymetallic property. The holes returned results
from the Patricia zone, and discovered a new vein at
the zone.
The latest independent resource estimate for
Seafield Resources Ltd’s Miraflores gold deposit in
Colombia’s Quinchia district has increased contained
gold within the measured and indicated categories by
57%. The estimate, by Scott E Wilson Consulting, was
based on data from 35 holes for more than 15,600m
and 236m of channel-sampling. Measured and
indicated resources contained more than 1.9Moz of
gold, using a 0.3g/t Au cut-off grade.
Also in Colombia, Batero Gold Corp has received
the final assays for drilling completed during 2011,
with the latest results coming from holes testing the
Dos Quebradas, El Centro and La Cumbre zones at
the Batero-Quinchia property.
Mining Journal special publication – PDAC
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