MINING IN MEXICO — Randstrom evaluates package of precious

By acquiring a private Mexican company this year, Randstrom Manufacturing (VSE) is able to select properties from a database of precious metals properties in northwest Mexico.

The data were acquired during four years by the principals of the Mexican company — two British-Canadian geologists with international experience, especially in Mexico.

Randstrom now has exposure to properties which cover a range of deposit types, including epithermal gold and silver, porphyry gold and copper, skarn and stockwork, and intrusive vein and disseminated gold similar to that found in the Carlin Trend of Nevada. The Mexican company holds the right and/or conditional option to acquire these properties.

Randstrom intends to research and evaluate the Mexican projects on an ongoing basis. This review has already led to an agreement to acquire El Sultan, a gold project in Zacatecas state.

To earn its interest, Randstrom will assume property payments totaling US$200,000 over 18 months, plus annual royalty payments of US$50,000, or a 2.5% net smelter royalty, whichever is greater.

El Sultan was previously mined, with about 100,000 tons having been shipped to a nearby smelter. The reported mining cutoff was 60 grams gold per tonne. Randstrom said recent sampling has yielded assays in the 20-gram-per-tonne range.

The junior also noted that the style and metal associations of the gold mineralization “is strikingly similar to Carlin-type gold deposits.” Other similarities include carbonate host rocks, a close spatial and genetic relationship with folding and high-angle, pre-mineralization normal faults, intensive brecciation and quartz sanding.

The company estimates that El Sultan contains 450,000 oz. gold, with potential for a deposit in the range of 1.5-2 million oz.

The deposit as outlined is oxidized to a minimum depth of 400 metres, with about one-third extractable by open-pit methods. Preliminary metallurgical work suggests the oxidized deposit would be amenable to heap-leach cyanidation.

Randstrom’s work programs include detailed mapping and sampling concentrated around the old mine site; this work will be followed by diamond and reverse circulation drilling.

Regional exploration is being undertaken to locate and evaluate similar targets along the 8.5-km-long belt that hosts El Sultan. Randstrom has assembled a land position covering most of this area.