With six new cateos, Yamana Resources (YRI-T) has more than doubled its land position in the silver-rich western portion of the Santa Cruz project in southern Argentina.
After two successful rounds of shallow, hit-and-run drilling, the company is taking the opportunity to expand its property position around the Lejano prospect.
Yamana has lodged applications for six new cateos, the Argentine answer to mining claims, to the north of Lejano, expanding its total land package to 1,005 sq. km from 598 sq. km. The new cateos have been dubbed Huracan, Tornado, Monzon, Alisios, and Zonda.
The Santa Cruz project, which is centered on the Deseado massif, now comprises 21 properties covering 1,350 sq. km. The massif, situated in the Patagonia region of southern Argentina, is best known for hosting the Cerro Vanguardia deposit of South Africa’s Anglo American.
Other mining companies are scrambling for properties in the area: Minera Andes (MAI-A) has the El Pluma-Cerro Saavedra property to the northwest of Lejano; Australian firms M.I.M. Holdings and Newcrest Mining have a joint venture at Cerro Negro; Abacus Minerals (AMC-V) is exploring the Manchuria property; and Triton Mining (TTM-T) is looking for a joint-venture partner to carry its Manantial Espejo project through final feasibility.
Yamana has resumed its drilling at Lejano, anticipating 50 to 60 reverse-circulation holes for 2,500 metres. Work began at the higher elevations of the Broken Hill target in the northeast corner of the Lejano prospect.
Broken Hill is a rhyolitic plug, geochemically anomalous in silver, with a gossanous zone of oxidized massive sulphides at its base.
The company will move its drill rig southward through the East Ridge target to South Ridge, along a 4-km arcuate zone of structurally controlled mineralization. The South Ridge is where Yamana hit bonanza-grade silver-gold mineralization. Hole 11 hit 12 metres of 642 grams silver and 1.78 grams gold per tonne and 6.1% lead. Hole 8 hit 22 metres of 290 grams silver, 1 gram gold and 4.4% lead.
Yamana plans to complete the shallow drilling by the end of May and then target deeper mineralization with a core drill in preparation for a resource calculation. The company also plans a 2 phased geophysical program over the Lejano area using an advanced induced polarization-resistivity technique developed in Canada.
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