Bear Creek eyes Estrella

Vancouver — Newly minted Bear Creek Mining (BCM-V) has launched a 1,000 metre drill program over the Estrella gold property in Peru. Over the past eight months, Bear Creek has completed geological mapping, rock chip sampling, and geophysics over the property. The work identified multiple styles of quartz veining, along with pervasive silicification, iron oxides and hydrothermal clay alteration over 1,200-by-400 metre area. Some 252 chip channel and rock chip samples collected from the zone yielded an average of 1.15 grams gold per tonne over 1 metre. The junior aims to punch 6 holes into the zone of altered Tertiary volcanics.

Lying northeast of the city of Huancavelica, the Estrella project is accessible by 75 kms of good unpaved road. Bear Creek can acquire the property by completing annual work commitments and making US$3 million in escalating cash payments over a 3-year period.

In April, Bear Creek raised US$6 million through its initial public offering. The junior was formed when a Vancouver-based capital pool company, Eveolution Ventures agreed to buy out the limited partnership of Peru Exploration Ventures and acquire all of the shares of Bear Creek Mining, a private company focused on mineral exploration in Peru.

Peru Exploration Ventures held a position in Bear Creek, which was formed two years ago by a group of noted explorationists, including: geologist David Lowell; Andrew Swarthout, formerly vice-president exploration for Southern Peru Copper; David Volkert, formerly chief geologist with Barrick in Peru; Gerald Van Voorhis, previously vice-president exploration for Asarco; and Kevin Morano, who capped a 20-year career as president of Asarco when it was bought out by Grupo Mexico in late 1999.

Eveolution Ventures picked up all the shares of Bear Creek and bought out the limited partnership for a total of 8.6 million shares at a deemed price of US50 per share. The junior currently has 10.6 million shares outstanding, or 27.1 million fully diluted.