Explorator keen to drill alongside small Chilean gold mines

Explorator Resources (EXO-V) is about to begin exploration on the newly acquired Venus block of its 11-sq. km El Espino-Venus project in Chile, where nine small copper-gold mines are in operation.

Together, the mines produce at a rate of 3,000 tonnes of ore per month and are operated under lease agreements with the previous owners. The operating agreements will expire within two years.

The Venus portion of the project, which was acquired last May, lies to the north of the El Espino. Venus is along strike of the Main copper zone on El Espino, where 25,000 metres of drilling have been done (including drilling by Teck-Cominco (TCK.B-T, TCK-N) in the past).

Explorator has begun a detailed mapping and sampling program and a detailed ground magnetic survey on the Venus to better define targets before it starts a drill program. The company already has six drill rigs on the property, which Explorator president and CEO, David OConnor, said means there will be no delays once its time to start drilling.

We will be able to deploy the rigs to Venus immediately, OConnor said in a statement. We are keen to begin drilling as there as been no modern exploration in the area despite it being well-known for its rich copper-gold mines.

A National Instrument 43-101 report on the acquisition of the Venus properties found that the copper grade of the mine dumps sampled ranges from 1.63% copper to 29.11% copper. The report said these numbers reflect the relative grade of the veins and possibly the degree of high-grading practiced by local miners.

Gold samples graded up to 41.3 grams gold per tonne, with 25% of samples having gold values greater than 1 gram gold per tonne.

The company reported that the possibility of further copper-gold mineralization in shallowly-dipping mantos on Venus, as found on the El Espino block, must be considered speculative, while the steeply-dipping mineralized structures outcropping at Venus are up to tens of metres wide and hundreds of meters long and may represent additional mineralizing feeder zones to those found at El Espino.

Explorator shares were down 8 in Toronto today to 85 on a trading volume of 32,000 shares.