All-North options southern project

Junior All-North Resources (VSE) can earn a 45% interest in El Oro, a gold property 100 km northwest of Mexico City.

An agreement in principle, reached with a Mexican mining company, calls for All-North to spend US$4.5 million on exploration over the next 36 months and produce a bankable feasibility study.

The 6,000-hectare property occupies two historic mining districts. Mining in the Tlalpujahua area, 4 km west of the El Oro district, began in the 1500s on a limited scale.

Interest in both camps was renewed by the discovery of cyanide extraction in the late 1800s. By the 1920s, El Oro ranked as one of the major gold camps in the world.

Roughly 6.5 million oz. gold and 76.7 million oz. silver were mined from veins in this district between 1896 and 1927. Miners concentrated on high-grade shoots within the veins (10-25% of the total volume of the vein), either leaving behind lower-grade material or using it as fill in the stopes. The mining district was dormant until late 1992, except for some intermittent production in the 1950s. Recent work was carried out by the current owner, Industrias Luismin, and Hillsborough Resources (TSE).

The companies identified a potential remaining reserve on the San Rafael vein at El Oro of about 14 million tonnes grading 3-4 grams gold and 40-60 grams silver per tonne.

After earning a 10% interest, Hillsborough decided not to participate in ongoing work on the project. All-North’s agreement with Luismin is still subject to a final release from Hillsborough, as well as regulatory and shareholder approval.

All-North is of the view that the property has potential because the considerable vein width is amenable to bulk underground mining methods. In addition to the known reserve on the San Rafael vein, the company believes there is excellent potential within the claim group to discover new reserves. All-North is also involved in another gold project in Mexico — the Golden Horseshoe property, situated in the historic mining region of Pinos, Zacatecas.