Verena dusts off Bonfim (December 16, 2003)

With $1.8 million in hand from a recent private placement, Verena Minerals (VML-V) has begun preparation for dewatering and refurbishment of underground workings at the Bonfim gold-tungsten-bismuth project, 120 km west of Natal, Brazil.

The work is in anticipation of an underground sampling campaign slated for January. Verena also plans to drill both the Bonfim North deposit and Bonfim mine early in the new year. The drilling is aimed at confirming Bonfim’s historical resources, which currently do not conform to the standards of National Instrument 43-101.

Pending positive results an updated resource estimate is expected during the second quarter of 2004.

Earlier this year, Roscoe Postle Associates recommended a program of mapping, underground sampling, and sampling of some 56,000 tonnes contained on old leach pads at the project. The consultants also suggested 4,500 metres worth of diamond drilling on 25-metre centres at the former mine site. Another 1,000 metres of drilling in ten holes was recommended for Bonfim North, about 1 km to the north.

Rio Tinto dropped the project in early 2000 after a first pass of exploration drilling failed to extend high-grade mineralization on the first and third levels to the lower levels of the mine. Under a 1999 deal, the major had an option to earn a 60% interest in the property by spending US$2 million over three years. Verena originally acquired the property in early 1998 for US$36,000 plus a 1.5% net smelter return royalty.

Bonfim operated as an underground schelite mine from 1969 until it closed amid depressed prices in 1981.