Tombstone active in Venezuela

Plans to acquire a copper-gold project in Honduras are not likely to cause Tombstone Exploration (TSE) to shift its focus away from Venezuela.

The Vancouver-based junior holds several properties in the South American country and Richard Clarke, president, is confident that investment sentiment towards Venezuela is on the verge of improving.

Tombstone’s involvement in the country dates back to early 1993, just before the speculative runup in share prices caused by Placer Dome’s Las Cristinas find. The junior now holds several properties, most of which are in the area known as El Dorado. It also has an option to acquire the Parapapoy property, 100 km east of El Dorado.

The Parapapoy was the first project in a joint-venture agreement between Tombstone and Echo Bay Mines (TSE). The major holds the right to participate in any new project in Venezuela in which Tombstone becomes involved, but it recently elected to pass on Parapapoy.

Clarke said the decision was made at the corporate level, against the recommendation of the major’s exploration group.

A first phase of geochemical and other surface work identified gold anomalies along the contact of a large, quartz-monzonite porphyry with the surrounding metavolcanics and diorite. Diamond drilling has been proposed, in order to test the targets.

One of Tombstone’s more interesting projects in El Dorado is the Belkis property, where two styles of mineralization have been identified. These include the Gloria gold-quartz vein and the Santa Innes polymetallic massive sulphide zone.

The company is considering processing the near-surface material from the Gloria vein at Monarch Resources’ nearby mill. The zone, which dips 45, appeared to thin at depth, but two subsequent holes, drilled further downdip, returned 46 grams gold per tonne over 1 metre and 34 grams over 0.8 metre. Drilling on the Santa Innes to the east returned a 5.6-metre intersection grading 0.5 gram gold and 6.1% zinc in one hole and 4.6 metres grading 0.34 gram gold and 4.1% zinc in another. Clarke admits the two intersections do not represent “ore-grade,” but adds that the structure is more than 2,000 metres long on surface and that follow-up work is obviously warranted. Tombstone has about $7.5 million in working capital and Clarke is working to attract a joint-venture partner to fund the next stage of work on the company’s Venezuelan properties.

The junior still has a joint venture with Canarc Resource (TSE) on the lower Caroni River in Venezuela. Tombstone, the operator, is in the process of modifying the two dredges to increase gold recovery, as well as collect any diamonds present. Clarke hopes to be producing about 5 kg of gold per month at the river-dredging operations by June.