EXPLORATION 1998 — Ecstall exploring Mexican properties

The property hosting the dormant Amaltea silver-lead-zinc mine is one of a dozen Mexican properties currently being evaluated by Ecstall Mining (EAM-V).

The junior optioned the land package from a subsidiary of Cominco (CLT-T) earlier this year, and is now carrying out a preliminary evaluation of each of the properties.

Ecstall is particularly interested in the Amaltea mine property, situated in the Cuale mining district of Jalisco state. Between 1967 and 1973, the mine produced 266,500 tons grading 13.6% zinc, 2.5% lead,

154 grams silver and 1 gram gold per tonne.

Amaltea is situated near a smelter, and numerous other mines and deposits also occur in the district, notes Ecstall President Chris Graf. He describes Amaltea and the other deposits of the area as volcanogenic massive sulphide deposits associated with early Cretaceous-age rhyolite domes, porphyries, tuffs and black shales.

A second property of interest is the Santa Lucia bulk-tonnage, epithermal silver-gold prospect in the southwestern part of Sonora state. A fault-related mineralized zone has been traced along a 4-km belt. The belt is cut by quartz adularia stockworks in five areas, one of which was tested by drilling. It returned 5 metres of 112 grams silver and 1.15 grams gold, 10 metres of 130 grams silver and 0.65 gram gold and 19.4 metres of 27.9 grams silver and 0.39 gram gold. These intercepts were found within a lower-grade mineralized interval more than 30 metres thick. Ecstall believes all five of these areas are potential open-pit gold-silver deposits.

A third project of interest is the San Fernando porphyry copper prospect, situated in Sonora state, just south of Arizona’s copper-producing district.

Ten copper-mineralized breccia zones have been identified on this land package. Ecstall notes that the mineralization, alteration, geochemistry and rock assemblages “indicate characteristics of a peripheral zone around a major porphyry copper system that may underlie the property.”