Pacific Rim now has more to explore in southern Mexico

By acquiring two new concessions, Miranda Industries (MAD-V) has tripled to 300 ha its land position in the Leticia area of Mexico’s Guerrero state.

The Josse and Josse II concessions will become part of the joint-ventured Leticia project, in which Pacific Rim Mining (PFG-V) can earn a 51% interest by delivering a positive feasibility study. To do so, that company must spend at least $1.3 million over two years and pay US$1.2 million over two and a half years.

The original Leticia concession covers 100 ha. Gold has been produced from small, high-grade pockets within skarns along the contact of a limestone unit and a granodiorite intrusive.

A gold soil anomaly of 50 parts per billion (PPB) coincides with the contact along the entire length of the property and exceeds 200 ppb over half of the 1,200-metre strike length. A road cut across the contact averaged 4.32 grams gold per tonne over 43 metres, including a 26-metre interval averaging 6.48 grams.

Sampling in an underground adit, 100 metres from the road cut, yielded 30.5 metres of 1.5 grams, including 8.5 metres of 2.7 grams.

Leticia’s geology is described as similar to that which hosts the Nukay and Mezcala projects, 10 and 2 km, respectively, to the northwest. Teck (TEK-T) holds a 70% interest in Nukay, whereas 44% of Mezcala is held by Newmont Gold (NGC-N). The latter project was last estimated to contain 49.5 million tonnes of mineralized material grading 0.93 gram.

A 3,000-metre program of reverse-circulation drilling is planned for Leticia.

Pacific Rim has 16.8 million shares outstanding, or 24.3 million fully diluted. Cash on hand is estimated at $11 million; working capital at $24 million.