Brazil’s “Jardim dem Ouro”
By Andrew K. Burger
22 Apr 2007 at 12:28 PM GMT-04:00
PRETORIA, South Africa (ResourceInvestor.com) -- In the heart of the Amazon basin, Brazil’s “Jardim dem Ouro” (“Garden of Gold”) is bustling with gold mining exploration activity.
Situated in the north-central Tapajos region of Brazil’s Parà state, the Tapajos Gold Province has yielded some 600 metric tonnes of gold in the past 40 years - the great majority of it by artisinal mining.
With gold prices moving up and down between the US$650 and $700 per ounce marks, a number of exploration companies are using modern exploration methods and technology to identify and develop large-scale gold prospects there.
In addition to
Serabi Plc’s Palito gold mine (see last week’s story),
Amerix Precious Metals Corp. [TSXv:APM],
Aurora Gold Corp. [OTCBB:ARXG],
Brazauro Resources [TSXv:BZO] and
Solitario Resources [AMEX:XPL; TSX:SLR]
are among those that see promise - and profit - in the region’s geology.
Carumbe
Using three drill pads located 100 metres apart, Toronto’s Amerix Precious Metals Corp. in late 2006 completed drilling and sampling of six angle core holes adjacent to the open pit mine at its Carumbe prospect, three each at -50 degrees and -70 degrees from horizontal along a northwesterly orientation and extending a total of 1146.69 metres.
Management on April 16 reported assay results for two of the six, with high-grade gold values of up to
135 grams/tonne (g/t) in drill holes ACR 33 and ACR 34,
which were drilled from the same drill pad at different inclinations adjacent to the Carumbe open pit mine.
ACR 33’s -50 degree drill hole intersected 1m of gold mineralization assayed at 6.1 g/t between 114.0-115.0 metres depth
while
ACR 34’s -70 degree drill hole intersected 2.8 metres at 40.3 g/t between 212.18 and 214.50 metres. The remaining four holes are being reexamined and additional sampling is being done.
Vila Porto Rico
Carumbe is located 15 km north-northwest of Amerix’s flagship Ouro Roxo project. Both are part of Amerix’s Vila Porto Rico exploration license. Historic and active gold mines within the 50,000 hectare Vila Porto Rico project area have produced more than 2 million ounces of gold from placer and bedrock mining operations, according the company.
The six drill holes recently completed at Carumbe aimed at testing mineralization along fault splays around the region-wide Ouro-Roxo-Cantagalo fault zone, an area of historic and active gold mining activity.
“Gold mineralization at the Carumbe project occurs within and adjacent to vertical fault zones. The project area contains historic open pit gold mines and one vertical shaft for underground mining,” according to Amerix’s media release.
“Initial grab samples from the Carumbe mine contained gold values of 57 g/t, 21 g/t, 5.3 g/t and 1.9 g/t Au. Gold occurs in pyrite-chalcopyrite-quartz veins, fractures and sulfidic breccia zones, within the fault zones that cut gneissic metasedimentary rocks.”
Amerix now is putting the latest sample and assay results together with the ongoing surface mapping and geochemical data it is accumulating and more comprehensive assaying is in progress. Management intends to conduct follow-up drilling based on the results of this work.
Aurora
Aurora Gold Corp., based in Balcatta, Australia, holds exploration licenses for seven properties in the Tapajos region, each of which was selected because of its proximity to historically documented records of gold occurrences and production.
Management on April 18 reported that recently completed drilling results from the Molly Prospect on its Sao Domingos property have extended the 300 metre strike zone of a mineralised structure containing gold by more than 100 metres to the east.
Results from three additional drill sections at 40 metre spacing all intersected significant alteration and mineralization, including the following:
5.44 metres at 1.4 g/t Au from 53.8 metres
1.88 metres at 3.2 g/t Au from 66.4 metres
0.97 metres at 3.6 g/t Au from 60.2 metres
0.90 metres at 5.1 g/t Au from 37.2 metres
1.85 metres at 3.2 g/t Au from 53.1 metres
0.89 metres at 9.8 g/t Au from 106.6 metres
0.93 metres at 4.3 g/t Au from 90.7 metres
The Molly prospect’s JORC-compliant inferred and estimated resources are currently estimated at
1,428,000 tonnes at 3.94 g/t Au, or
180,000 ounces of gold.
Management is now working on resource modeling and pre-feasibility studies for Molly. This year’s drilling is to focus on strike extensions of the deposit and collecting geotechnical and metallurgical data, according to a media release.
“The resource still remains open along strike in both directions and to depth, and Aurora Gold will continue to evaluate the potential. [We are] confident that Molly could evolve and link up with other noted targets further along strike. The results could see a series of satellite mines that could provide high grade mill feed for years to come and provide a cash flow to aggressively explore the Tapajos properties,” management stated in the release.
Solitario
Wheat Ridge, Colorado’s Solitario Resources Corp. is another gold explorer with its sights set on the Tapajos region. On Feb.12, management announced the results of a second drilling program conducted late last year on its wholly-owned Mercurio gold prospect, which covers 8.550 hectares.
In total, nine of the 11 widely spaced drill holes intersected significant gold mineralization, management stated in a media release.
Core holes
SB-16 intersected 7.0m grading 6.9 g/t Au,
SB-18 intersected 34.0m of 2.7 g/t Au and
SB-20 intersected 26 metres grading 1.6 g/t Au.
"We have had an exceptional success ratio in intersecting mineralization at Mercurio, with both high-grade and lower-grade disseminated gold mineralization being found in several widely spaced zones.
We intend to initiate a follow-up drilling program later this year," Solitario’s president and CEO Chris Herald said in a media release.
Solitario has been carrying out an “aggressive evaluation and acquisition program of gold prospects in the Tapajos region of northern Brazil for the past two years,” according to management.
“We made field evaluations of more than a hundred prospects during this period. This effort paid off in 2005 with the initial drill testing of the 8,000-hectare Mercurio project where we intersected strong gold mineralization in multiple core holes.”
“Informal gold production from saprolite soils by local miners has occurred in approximately a dozen different localities during the past 10 years. Geochemical sampling and geophysical magnetic and IP surveys conducted by Solitario indicates mineralization extends beyond the current drill pattern,” they added.
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