Geoff, I understand your position, but I disagree. Having been a tracker of gold companies & stocks for years with many a geologist friend, here are some points you should consider:
1. (From the July 12, 1999 release) "The Paititi pit contains a minimum of two flat-lying, auriferous, sheeted quartz stockwork systems exposed over 650m by 150m in a pit recently exploited by artisanal miners. The potential of these flat-lying veins to host an open-pit gold deposit does not appear to have been previously recognized as earlier exploration concentrated instead on the concept of a vertical quartz veining system."
Note how the past management was not concentrating on the idea of a flat-lying system, but a deep, vertical one. As well, old management was using much older methods for testing the core. I'm told the new technical team has a much more accurate form of analysis.
2. With regard to the new Conglomerate Zone (From the June 16, 1999 release): "The acquisition was made on the advice of Eaglecrest's geological team who have observed visible gold in the matrix of the conglomerate. In addition, the conglomerate zone is reported to carry gold in the quartz pebbles and as well has a uranium geochemical anomaly and a radiometric anomaly."
A little homework with the help of my geologist friend:
Uranium geochemical anomalies are particular to South Africa's biggest gold producing deposit, 'Witwatersrand'. With regard to the Witwatersrand deposit: "Gold was discovered in 1886 in quartz-pebble beds in Witwatersrand quartzite in the Transavaal near the present site of Johannesburg. Production through the first 100 years of exploitation of this type of deposit was estimated by Pretorius (1989) to have amounted to 52% of all gold that had ever been produced up to 1987 from all world sources. (from “Mineral Deposit Modeling”, 1993, Geological Association of Canada) It is my understanding that the Witwatersrand deposit is hosted TOTALLY in conglomerates.
This brings me to my next point. Another of my geo-buddies says that there is a theory out there among the majors & geologists in general that South America & Africa were at one time attached prior to continental drift and that South America hosts much the same geology from that period in time as Africa. If this is so, and the San Simon project has this geology with gold & uranium present in the conglomerates with the info. I have mentioned on the similarities to the Witwatersrand deposit, I stand by my claim that Eaglecrest's San Simon project could very well make Argentina Gold look like peanuts.
Karl |
