Even with gold prices at a 20-year low,
A recent 40-hole program at the property has yielded bonanza-grade gold on the Coyote vein, boosting the target’s inferred resource to about 80,000 contained ounces within 5,850 tonnes averaging 13.6 grams gold and 9 oz. silver per tonne (based on internal calculations). The epithermal vein is open at depth, and drilling has indicated potential for other gold shoots in several widespread quartz vein swarms.
The news follows spectacular drill results from the company’s Bacon property, also in Santa Cruz province (T.N.M., May 31/99). After being described as “unprecedented in modern times,” the sizzling results from Bacon tripled the junior’s share price.
Yamana President Victor Bradley believes the combined value of the Bacon silver and Martinetas gold projects “exceeds” the company’s current market capitalization.
“We are now completely focused on generating cash from these two, nicely compact and very rich mineral deposits,” he says.
Adding to the potential at Martinetas is the possibility that ore from the Coyote shoot could be shipped directly to a smelter. Alternatively, a raw-gold concentrate could be produced on site. Preliminary metallurgical tests on drillcore has shown that 60% of the gold is recoverable by coarse grinding with gravity separation. More metallurgical work is under way.
Over the past four years, Yamana has drilled 192 holes (8,679 metres) at Martinetas. Initially viewed as a low-grade, bulk-tonnage target, the emphasis has since shifted to high-grade vein swarm targets, similar to those being mined at the nearby Cerro Vanguardia mine. (This mine recently began production and is expected to produce 300,000 oz. gold and 1.4 million oz. silver this year, at a total cash cost of US$120 per oz. gold.)
The spring program at Martinetas examined five targets in three areas. All 40 holes in the program hit gold mineralization.
Drilling in the Northern sector tested two targets: the Coyote vein swarm and the Cerro Oro vein swarm.
- The Coyote vein swarm has been traced for more than 170 metres of strike length. A recent hole, No. 73, hit 5 metres of 731.6 grams gold, including 0.8 metre of 1,594.55 grams gold and 1,780 grams silver. A previous hole hit 5 metres of 114.21 grams gold, including 2 metres of 276.1 grams gold, 30 metres from the surface. Five drill holes outside the gold shoot penetrated the Coyote vein and hit gold values, the best being 2 metres of 13.4 grams gold and 24.6 grams silver.
- The Cerro Oro vein swarm is 500 metres south of Coyote and measures at least 160 metres in strike length. The best result of the current campaign was 21.5 metres of 2.11 grams gold, including 2 metres of 11.46 grams.
One target was drilled in the Central sector. Hole 76 hit 16.5 metres of 1.98 grams gold.
Two targets were drilled in the South Sector: the T1 gold swarm and the R24 vein swarm. The best result on the former was hole 58, which hit 47 metres of 6.68 grams gold, including 3.05 metres of 89.53 grams gold and 98.9 grams silver. At the latter, gold intersections of 7-16 metres returned gold values averaging 1 gram.
In addition to Martinetas, Yamana has also made gold discoveries at the adjacent Microonda and Goleta properties, collectively known as Micmar. This region lies within the eastern part of the Santa Cruz mining district, where elevations are less than 200 metres above sea-level. A highway and gas pipeline cross the property.
Yamana’s land package covers a 12-km-wide volcanic complex (believed to be a collapsed caldera), where high-grade gold has been found in several separate areas around the margins of the complex. The mineralization was found in volcanic domes, breccias and crosscutting fissures and vein systems.
In addition to the three targets on Martinetas, the Molina prospect on the Goleta property is viewed as having the greatest potential for an important gold discovery. Recent shallow drilling encountered a shallow-dipping, tabular body of mineralization on the contact between volcanics and lake sediments that is still open downdip. The best hole drilled on this target hit 8 metres of 21 grams gold, including 2 metres of 57.56 grams gold.
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