Might be a good time to buy on rumor & sell on the news??
Company Press Release
Minera Andes Drilling Begins at Arroyo Nuevo Gold Prospect
SPOKANE, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 20, 1997--Minera Andes Incorpo(Alberta Stock Exchange:MAI. - news; NASDAQ:MNEAF - news) A reconnaissance drilling program designed to test for gold-bearing zones has begun at Minera Andes' Arroyo Nuevo prospect in Neuqun Province, Argentina.
The Arroyo Nuevo drill program is the first of at least three drilling programs scheduled by Minera Andes for the 1997-1998 Argentina field season. Additional properties may also be drilled as further preliminary work is completed.
Arroyo Nuevo is a 4,958-hectare property located immediately south of the historic Andacollo placer and vein gold district. The prospect is underlain by a sequence of Jurassic tuffaceous sandstones with minor quartzite, shale and limestone. Small stocks of Cretaceous/Tertiary porphyritic dacite intrude the sedimentary rocks. Tertiary andesites, basalts and boulder deposits partially obscure the sedimentary and intrusive rocks.
The Andacollo gold district is also one of several mineralized areas along the east side of the Loncopu graben being explored by several companies. Other mineralized areas along this trend include Pino Andino and Campana Mahuida (see map on Internet at cdn-news.com or minandes.com)
Work by Minera Andes indicates Arroyo Nuevo has potential for sediment-hosted disseminated gold mineralization. Significant gold mineralization in the Agua Mallin area of the property yielded a total of six rock chip samples with gold values of 0.02 g/t; 0.51 g/t (0.015 oz/t); 3.01 g/t (0.088 oz/t); 3.39 g/t (0.099 oz/t); 9.06 g/t (0.264 oz/t); and 291.36 g/t (8.50 oz/t).
The reverse-circulation drilling, being conducted by N.A. Degerstrom, Inc., is estimated at 2,000 meters (see map) and follows a surface geologic program consisting of mapping, soil and rock sampling and geophysical surveys at Arroyo Nuevo. Geologic mapping has covered 37 square kilometers. The induced polarization and ground magnetic geophysical surveys covered about nine square kilometers, and revealed anomalies in gold and mercury in both soils and rocks and areas of silicification in Mesozoic sediments intruded by younger igneous rocks.
Over 190 rock samples were collected, along with more than 900 soil samples taken on a grid. Soil sample results show arsenic, gold and mercury anomalies that are generally coincident and are elongated to the northeast and/or to the northwest. The largest +100 ppm arsenic anomaly is nearly 1,000 meters long to the northeast and up to 300 meters wide. Within that arsenic anomaly is a coincident but smaller +50 ppb gold anomaly. Scattered mercury anomalies are generally coincident with gold and arsenic anomalies. Scattered rock sampling within the area of the soil grid yielded gold values as high as 1.2 g/t.
The initial drilling program is designed to test for gold mineralization and geologic information, primarily in areas with anomalous gold, mercury, silicification or geophysical anomalies. Minera Andes is a mining exploration company that controls approximately 25 projects on about 700,000 acres of mineral exploration land in Argentina. Most of the properties are located in the Andean Cordillera and are primarily gold and copper exploration targets. To date, the Corporation has reviewed more than 200 mineral properties in Argentina, and is currently staffed with 12 geologists. Opportunities in other countries are under review.
Although Minera Andes believes many of its mineral prospects have promising potential, its properties are in the early stages of exploration. None have yet been shown to contain proven or probable mineral reserves. There can be no assurance that such reserves will be identified on any property or, that if identified, any mineralization may be economically extracted.
The Alberta Stock Exchange has neither approved nor disapproved the information contained herein. |
