Drilling spurs interest in Valerie

One drill hole from the Mamatla property, 200 km southwest of Mexico City, has returned encouraging results for Valerie Gold Resources (VLG-V).

Valerie holds title to the property through an 85%-owned Mexican subsidiary. (Frank Lang, president of Valerie, holds the remaining 15% of that company.)

Hole C-96-2 intersected 28.7 metres grading 2.08% zinc, 0.85% lead and 0.2% copper, as well as 0.81 gram gold and 494 grams silver per tonne, from 10.3 to 39 metres.

The intersection contained a higher-grade, 6-metre interval (from 33 to 39 metres) grading 5.67% zinc, 2.38% lead and 0.66% copper, as well as 3.65 grams gold and 2,218 grams silver.

The hole is one of five drilled on the Capire prospect, where previous work by the Mexican government outlined 5.2 million tonnes grading 17.3% zinc and 5.9% lead, plus 445 grams silver and 0.4 gram gold.

Assay results from the other Capire holes are pending.

Darryl Drummond, a consulting geologist working for Valerie, says the Mamatla appears to be a bedded vocanogenic massive sulphide deposit. In addition, the zone seems to be sufficiently close to surface to be minable by open-pit methods.

Since the current drilling got under way, Valerie’s share price has almost tripled, to $29.

Prior to releasing results from the first hole, Valerie negotiated a brokered private placement with a group of investors for 1.5 million units at $14 each.

TVX Gold (TVX-T) is subscribing for 750,000 units and will help manage exploration of Mamatla. Each unit includes one share and half a warrant; each full warrant is exercisable for an additional share at $20 for 18 months.

The private placement brings Valerie’s fully diluted capital to 12.7 million common shares, for a market capitalization in excess of $350 million.