A new road cut at the Escalones property, 100 km southeast of Santiago, Chile, has returned high-grade copper-gold mineralization for partners
The road crosses the core area of the property. An 81-metre channel sample returned 1.54% copper plus 0.74 gram gold and 9 grams silver per tonne, including 25 metres of 2% copper, 2 grams gold and 17 grams silver.
The copper-gold-magnetite skarn mineralization in the core area measures 100 by 150 metres and is surrounded by strongly mineralized garnet skarn with a drill-indicated lateral extent of 250 by 250 metres. The mineralization is bounded by five holes and a north-south-running fault in the east but remains open to the north, south and west. It has a true thickness of up to 300 metres and dips to the east at 60. Previous drilling indicated downdip depth of up to 514 metres below the surface.
Further drilling will target the updip portion of the zone, above the present drill intersections, towards the west. Exploration for extension of the zone east of the north-south fault has so far proved unsuccessful.
In a 600-by-1,200-metre area in the same package of rocks, copper mineralization has been identified over narrower widths. The latest holes, numbers 12 to 15, cut narrow, low-grade mineralization. Results were:
– hole 12, which returned 78 metres grading 0.28% copper, starting at a depth of 299 metres;
– hole 13, which cut 57 metres of 0.43% copper, starting at 210 metres;
– hole 14, which intersected 53 metres of 0.42% copper, starting at 383 metres; and
– hole 15, which returned no significant values.
Previously, hole 11 cut 5 metres of 4.13% copper with 0.49 gram gold and 15 grams silver.
Grupo Mexico inherited its stake in Escalones in late 1999, as a result of its US$2-billion takeover of New York-based Asarco. To earn 60% of the property, the Mexican miner must fund exploration through to the feasibility stage and pay $5 million after the study is completed.
Meanwhile, in Bolivia, General Minerals will soon begin processing silver ores from the Atocha mine. By January, the company had stockpiled 277 tonnes of ore averaging 2,200 grams silver per tonne.
The company has a short-term smelter contract in La Paz for the concentrates and is evaluating longer-term contracts.
Be the first to comment on "General Minerals encouraged by road cut"