Market liked UC's drill results, but it likes DIB too. The interesections were huge. I am guessing going forward large lower grade deposits are going to be the place to be as metals prices ratchet upwards and conventional deposits are exhausted.
Approximately a gram of gold and 2 oz of silver over 51 meters?
UC Resources Ltd (C-UC) - News Release
UC Resources continues phase 2 drilling at Copalquin
2006-06-08 15:09 ET - News Release
Shares issued 56,803,759
UC Close 2006-06-07 C$ 0.43
Mr. Richard Hamelin reports
UC RESOURCES LTD.: PRELIMINARY RESULTS OF PHASE 2 DRILL PROGRAM CONFIRM POTENTIAL FOR BULK TONNAGE DEPOSITS AT COPALQUIN PROJECT, DURANGO STATE, MEXICO
UC Resources Ltd. is providing early results from the phase 2 exploration program at the company's 64,000-hectare (640-square-kilometre) Copalquin project, Durango state, Mexico.
The company's concessions cover all of the historic mines and prospects that comprise the former Copalquin mining district, and the exploration program currently being carried out by UC Resources represents the first systematic modern exploration work ever carried out in this area. The Copalquin district is in the northern part of Mexico's prolific Sierra Madre gold belt, which hosts several, multimillion-ounce equivalent gold deposits, such as Gammon Lake Resources' Ocampo mine, Alamos Gold's Mulatos project and Glamis Gold's El Sauzal mine, and management believes the project represents an exceptional early stage prospect.
As previously announced in Stockwatch, a limited drilling program carried out in 1998, by previous operator, Bell Coast Capital Corp., intersected significant gold and silver mineralization at two of the historic mines known as Refugio and Cometa. However, market interest at the time was limited and the property was returned to its Mexican owners. In 2004, Planet Exploration Ltd. acquired the option on the core claims and entered into a joint venture with UC Resources. During late 2004, and early 2005, UC Resources completed an initial drilling program designed to verify the results reported by Bell Coast Capital Corp. and, based on the results of phase 1 UC Resources, bought out the interest of the joint venture partner and has expanded the land package to more than 64,000 hectares.
As reported in Stockwatch on Aug. 10, 2005, a total of 31 drill holes have tested mineralization in the area of the El Cometa prospect and five drill holes have tested mineralization in the area of the El Refugio prospect. Compilation studies indicate that many of the mineralized intervals reported by both UC and BCC from the El Cometa area actually represent only the highest-grade sections within much wider zones of lower-grade mineralization. For example, drill hole UC-14 reportedly intersected 11.6 metres of mineralization averaging 3.01 grams per tonne (g/t) gold and 300.6 g/t silver. An inspection of assay information shows that the overall mineralized zone in drill hole UC-14 actually averaged 0.76 g/t gold and 73.1 g/t silver over 51.2 metres. It is important to note that, with the same conversion factor used by Gammon Lake (65:1), this 51.2-metre intersection averages 1.9 g/t gold equivalent. Other examples of drill holes from the Cometa area which intersected wide zones of mineralization include DDH UC-01, which intersected a 31.4-metre-wide interval that averaged 0.41 g/t gold and 40.8 g/t silver. BCC drill hole EC-10 reportedly intersected 6.9 metres of mineralization averaging 17.03 g/t gold and 352 g/t silver. Core logs and drill hole assay information prepared by BCC show that the reported intersection actually forms part of a 23.5-metre-wide interval that averaged 8.42 g/t gold and 192.5 g/t silver.
At Refugio, located 500 metres west of Cometa, Bell Coast reported completion of a single drill hole, ER-31, which intersected a 78-metre-wide zone that averaged 0.22 g/t gold and 5.8 g/t silver. Within the mineralized zones, gold values ranged from 0.05 g/t to 0.90 g/t and silver values ranged from 1.0 to 10.0 g/t. Four drill holes, completed in 2005, by UC from a station approximately 50 metres southeast of BCC hole ER-31, confirmed the strike extension of the mineralized zone to the east of El Refugio. The last hole of the program, DDH UC-24, intersected a 17.9-metre-wide zone that averaged 2.94 g/t gold equivalent.
According to technical reports prepared by BCC and Planet Explorations, the gold and silver mineralization at Cometa and Refugio is localized within silicified breccias and stockwork zones. However, very little detailed geological work was completed and the relationships between the mineralized zones are uncertain. The primary objective of the current program was to determine if these breccias and stockwork zones are isolated occurrences or if they form part of a regionally extensive mineralized system.
Geochemical surveys carried out in December, 2005, identified potential strike extensions of Cometa to the southwest and north of the areas that were previously drilled (see Stockwatch, Feb. 24, 2006). Three 100-metre-deep holes have been completed from southwest of Cometa and two 150-metre-deep holes have been drilled from a station north of the Cometa. The first drill station was approximately 100 metres southwest of the nearest previous hole. The first two holes, DDH 06-01 and DDH 06-02, were drilled to the north at inclinations of 85 and 45 degrees, and the third hole was drilled to the northeast at an inclination of 45 degrees. All holes intersected silicified breccia and stockwork zones similar to the mineralization encountered in ER-31 over core lengths ranging from 50 to 80 metres. The gold values in DDH 06-01 and DDH 06-02 range from 0.05 g/t to 0.34 g/t, and silver values range from 1.0 g/t to 5.9 g/t. Although grades for the first two holes were disappointing, the width of the mineralized zone encountered clearly supports the exploration model that these zones form part of a more extensive mineralized system than was previously recognized.
In the area north of the Cometa prospect, two drill holes, 06-04 and 06-05, have been completed. These holes were drilled to the east and northeast at an inclination of 50 degrees. They also encountered 90- to 100-metre-wide intervals of silicified breccia and stockwork-type mineralization. A drill hole completed in this area by Bell Coast Capital in 1998, EC-25, returned a 49.0-metre-wide interval that averaged 0.43 g/t gold and 14.4 g/t silver or a gold equivalent gold grade of 0.65 g/t. All of the mineralized intervals from 06-03, 06-04 and 06-05 have been submitted for assay and results will be released as soon as they are available.
In summary, results of the phase 2 program clearly confirm that the mineralized zones at Cometa and Refugio represent parts of the same mineralized system. Satellite imaging, preliminary geological work and geochemical surveys suggest potential extensions of the mineralized zones for up to four kilometres to the east of Refugio and up to two kilometres to the west of Cometa. Geological maps published by the CRM (Mexican Department of Mines) show gold and silver occurrences extending even farther along the projected extent of the known zones, and suggest the target area for phase 3 is approximately 10 kilometres in length. A schematic geological map available on the company's website shows the potential extensions of the main target area.
The drill is now testing a third prospect located approximately 300 metres north of Cometa, known as the La Soledad area. The La Soledad is the largest of the historic mines at Copalquin and, according to Wilkins, 1998 total production from the mine is approximately 200,000 ounces of gold and eight million ounces of silver from an estimated 136,000 tons of material. As part of the 1998 program, Bell Coast attempted to test the downdip extent of the mineralized zone developed by the mine workings. However, drill sites were located at too high an elevation and the holes that were drilled intersected the underground workings. The current drill pad is located roughly 60 metres lower in elevation than the previous drill pads and represents the first drill program to test the extent of this mineralized zone. It is important to note that the La Soledad zone is hosted within rocks which appear to have been downdropped relative to the breccia and stockwork zones that host gold and silver mineralization at Cometa, and that there is potential to intersect these zones at depth below the mine workings.
The technical information contained in this release was prepared by Carl von Einsiedel, PGeo, who is the qualified person.
Like many of the other success stories in the Sierra Madre, Copalquin has a history of gold and silver production going back hundreds of years and the work presently being carried out by UC represents the first modern, systematic exploration in this district. UC's focus is solely in Mexico and the company is actively searching for additional quality assets so that UC can become a producing gold and silver exploration and development company in 2006.
Subject to TSX Venture Exchange acceptance, the company has entered into a financial advisory services agreement with the CPM Group of New York. CPM Group is a leading commodities market research, consulting, asset management and investment banking firm, and it will offer UC advisory and capital raising services. Based on CPM's 20 years of experience and exposure to its international contacts and professionals, it is able to add significant value. CPM is to be granted options to purchase 100,000 shares at 32 cents per share to vest as to 25,000 shares each three months. The agreement is for a term of one year at a monthly compensation of $7,000 (U.S.).
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