Metalline Announces Operations Update
2008-01-30 09:00 ET - News Release
COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho, Jan. 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Metalline Mining Company announces the purchase, delivery and activation of two additional diamond drills, the completion and activation of the analytical laboratory and water well CT2 at the Sierra Mojada Project, Coahuila, Mexico.
Since completion of the geotechnical drilling in the oxide zinc resource, our Hagby and Termite drills have been drilling in the Encantada and Fronteriza mines exploring the copper, silver mineralization north of the Sierra Mojada fault. We have now commissioned a second Hagby drill and a second Termite drill. The second Hagby is drilling from the surface exploring for oxide zinc mineralization south of the Iron Oxide and Smithsonite Mantos. The second Termite is drilling in the La Nortena area of the Encantada mine. Commissioning of these two new drills has included training the necessary additional local workers as drillers and driller helpers. There are now four drills operating, two eight hour shifts per drill.
A major upgrade of our sample preparation laboratory was completed during the summer of 2007 to provide better sample preparation for silver-bearing samples. Our on-site chemistry laboratory capable of giving us assays to screen our samples and provide timely feedback to operations is now in operation. The lab consists of a Varian model 240-FS atomic adsorption spectrophotometer (AA unit), fume hood and sample digestion facilities in the laboratory. The technicians have been trained on the AA unit and are perfecting laboratory procedures using our standard sample suite.
We now control operations from drilling through assay, with improved productivity and reliability.
Drilling continues with two objectives. The primary objective is to resolve issues raised by our engineers and consultants in completion of the feasibility study on the oxide zinc mineralization. This includes providing "piercing points" that better define the top of the mineralized zone, increasing confidence in some areas where more data points are required, and refining knowledge of the geology and mineralization continuity adjacent to major faults. The second objective is to provide additional data on silver mineralization and the polymetallic mineral system north of the Sierra Mojada fault, so that a resource model can be constructed for the silver rich polymetallic mineralization.
One of our water exploration holes, CT2, located approximately 5 kilometers east of Esmeralda was developed to supply our internal water demands. A pump was installed and a four inch water line laid from the well to the road where a 63,000 liter storage tank was constructed on an elevated platform. This well will reduce our drilling water cost and eliminate our demands on the constrained water supply of the towns of La Esmeralda and Sierra Mojada. |
