Results. Are they Economic?
North Bacon drilling results
Yamana Resources Inc YRI
Shares issued 27,390,859 Dec 7 close $1.00
Tue 8 Dec 98 News Release
Mr. Richard Walters reports
The recently completed second drilling campaign has confirmed a high-grade silver-gold quartz lode system on North Bacon, part of Yamana's Bacon property in Santa Cruz province, Argentina. Bacon is one of 20 properties making up the company's wholly owned Santa Cruz project. This latest round of drilling started on Sept. 22, 1998 and ended on Nov. 18, completing 48 drill holes for 2,375 metres. Assays are pending for four of the 48 holes.
This campaign focused on a 250-metre section, known as Veta Martha, of the more than 1.5-kilometre-long, eastward-striking quartz-vein system. The program had a two-fold purpose: scout drilling to further explore indicated extensions of the vein system; and pattern drilling involving fences every 25 metres across Veta Martha, designed to build a silver resource.
At least six diamond drill core holes (DDH) hit highs of more than 5,000 g/t (160 ounces per tonne) Ag over true thicknesses (tt) of 0.5 to 1.5 metres within wider intervals of excellent grade (see table). The best drill intercept comes from DDH 37, which intercepted 8.10 metres (tt) of 2,989 g/t Ag with 4.42 g/t Au. Thirteen metres above this intercept, a trench (S 16) was cut across an outcrop of vein, yielding 1.9 metres (tt) of about 39,000 g/t (1,255 opt) Ag with 108 g/t (3.5 opt) Au.
Observed Richard Walters, Yamana's executive VP and chief operating officer, "I am confident that we have found a commercially viable silver deposit, the magnitude of which is yet to be determined. Much of the near-surface precious-metals mineralization has an in-situ value exceeding $500 per tonne, and that can be classified as direct shipping rock." He added that potentially economic mineralization is known to extend to at least 65 metres downdip in one or more sections of the quartz vein.
The Bacon property lies in the southern portion of a newly recognized silver district in western Santa Cruz where several recent discoveries have attracted international attention from both the mining industry and investors. The North Bacon discovery is a precious-metals-rich, quartz fault-vein exhibiting classic epithermal textures. Geologically, the North Bacon discovery is akin to those epithermal precious-metals deposits of the Tonopah district in south central Nevada, which produced 174 million ounces of silver and 1.86 million ounces of gold.
Yamana's Bacon property package consists of 321 square kilometres of mineral rights and 357 square kilometres of overlying surface rights. A two-year option to purchase Estancia 1st de Abril was recently consummated, providing both unlimited access and a local operations base. This land package lies northwest of, and adjacent to, the Manantial Espejo deposit
owned by Black Hawk Mining and Barrick Gold, with reported reserves and resources in all categories of 7.9 million tonnes grading 191 g/t Ag and 2.87 g/t Au. (At a ratio of 60:1 Ag:Au, this is equivalent to about 1.5 million ounces of gold or 89.3 million ounces of silver.)
The top of the silver-rich shoot identified by drill fence S 14 (DDH 37 and 49) was exposed by the trench on drill fence S 16. A portable diamond power saw was used to cut a strip of rock 2.5 centimetres deep and 7.6 centimetres wide by 6.2 metres long from the bottom of the trench. This sampling produced what Mr. Walters described as "truly bonanza results" - a 3.8-metre (tt) interval of about 20,144 g/t Ag with 54.5 g/t Au, including 1.9 metres (tt) of 39,280 g/t Ag and 108 g/t Au, within which is 0.67 metres (tt) of 83,278 g/t Ag and 53.2 g/t Au. This trench, combined with DDH 37-39, 49, 69-71 and 73 (see table), identifies a shoot of high-grade silver, at least 150 metres long, within the Veta Martha quartz vein.
The 66 holes drilled so far represent only an initial appraisal of the epithermal silver mineralization carried in the extensive Bacon quartz vein system, said Mel Klohn, Yamana's Santa Cruz project manager. "These mineral systems are difficult to evaluate because veins abruptly pinch and swell both along strike and downdip; only a certain percentage of the vein will be mineralized; the geometry of the mineralization will be irregular; and, typically, extreme grade variances are encountered in closely spaced drill holes."
Other drill targets both east and west of Veta Martha have also produced encouraging results:
At Sugar Hill, Yamana geologists collected a small float sample of vein material that returned 16,761 g/t Ag with 16.69 g/t Au. DDH 64, drilled near this site, penetrated a vein 17 metres down its dip from the surface, encountering 357 g/t Ag over 0.8 metres (tt).
At Veta Medio, a previous fence of RC holes, numbers 6-9, encountered a series of quartz veins 0.5 to 1 metre thick (tt) and all running about 20 to 25 g/t Ag. A 169-metre angle hole, DDH 84, has been drilled beneath this fence and results are pending.
At Veta NE, a sample of quartz-veined subcrop returned 4,158 g/t Ag with 6.00 g/t Au. Nearby, DDH 62 intersected 0.32m (tt) of 2,317 g/t Ag, 26 metres below the surface.
At Veta Martha Oeste, strong silver mineralization was intersected in two scout holes, RC 82 and 83, which are 300-metre and 200-metre step outs, respectively, west of DDH 39, along the projection of Veta Martha. RC 83 intersected 1.7 metres (tt) of 315 g/t Ag and RC 82 hit 1.7 metres (tt) of 473 g/t Ag with 2.01 g/t Au, both 40 to 44 metres below the surface and within thicker sections of lesser silver ineralization.
Observed Mr. Klohn, "The assay returns, together with the mineralogical and textural characteristics at these four sites indicate our drill penetrations may have nicked the top of more high-grade silver shoots.
These are all good indications that we are dealing with a very large, silver-pregnant hydrothermal system."
Extensive surface sampling north of the drilled area has discovered two other promising drill targets:
At Far North Bacon, 85 rock-chip samples have proved up two prominent quartz-sulphide vein structures about one kilometre northeast of and subparallel with Veta Martha. The larger vein is traceable for about 1.5 kilometres along strike, and includes a 500-metre section one to six metres wide containing between 100 and 300 g/t Ag, with gold values ranging up to 2.3 g/t Au. The smaller vein, which runs for about one kilometre in tandem with the larger, is up to one metre wide, and includes a 150-metre section containing detectable pyrargyrite (ruby silver). The best sample assays 6,821 g/t Ag, with 19.27 g/t Au.
The eastward-striking Argenta Centro quartz-vein system lies six kilometres north of Veta Martha within an area about 0.5 by three kilometres. A suite of 61 rock-chip samples taken on three of the main vein structures shows the sulphide-rich system to be dominated by base metals (Cu, Pb and Zn) with supplementary precious metals. Different samples contain up to 3.1 per cent Cu, 4.7 per cent Pb, and 8.8 per cent Zn. Gold is consistently anomalous, with values up to 3.35 g/t Au. Silver values commonly range from
5 to 30 g/t Ag, with a high of 314 g/t Ag.
Remaining assay results of the latest Bacon drilling campaign will be reported as soon as they become available, probably before the year's end.
A third drilling campaign on North Bacon is anticipated to begin next year, and will include the new targets. Meanwhile, metallurgical tests for precious-metals extraction will be conducted.
Yamana has engaged mineral industry consultants, Micon international Limited, to perform an independent technical audit of its Bacon project.
Following site visits in October, Micon's senior geologist, Andrew P.G. Abraham, Ph.D., who conducted the initial stage of the audit, released his preliminary findings. "Yamana has established a strong and experienced exploration team supported by competent and diligent technical staff," he reported, noting that Yamana follows sample procedures and protocols which are "standard to the exploration industry." The report concluded, "Micon believes that the North Bacon target offers excellent potential for further
discovery of epithermal silver-gold mineralization." WARNING: The company relies on litigation protection for "forward-looking"
statements.
Santa Cruz, Argentina
NORTH BACON DRILL HOLES
September - November 1998 Drill Campaign
PRELIMINARY ASSAY SUMMARY
True
Inter- Thick- Ag Au
Interval cept ness gpt gpt
(m) (m) (m) Average Average
-------- ------ ------ ------- -------
DDH or RC Hole No. 34
Hole abandoned / no assay
DDH or RC Hole No. 35
5.5 - 8.0 2.5 2.09 1,539 0.98
7.0 - 7.5 0.5 0.42 3,179 1.34
DDH or RC Hole No. 36
2.0 - 8.5 6.5 5.50 419 0.38
7.5 - 8.5 1.0 0.85 1,197 1.74
DDH or RC Hole No. 37
10.0 - 20.0 10.0 8.10 2,989 4.42
15.5 - 16.5 1.0 0.81 12,747 22.58
DDH or RC Hole No. 38
17.5 - 22.0 4.5 3.65 4,831 5.91
18.5 - 20.0 1.5 1.22 8,110 11.80
DDH or RC Hole No. 39
17.0 - 26.0 9.0 7.29 1,591 1.78
22.5 - 24.0 1.5 1.21 6,958 7.08
DDH or RC Hole No. 40
10.0 - 12.0 2.0 1.52 238 0.27
DDH or RC Hole No. 41
6.0 - 8.0 2.0 1.52 137 0.16
DDH or RC Hole No. 42
57.5 - 58.5 1.0 0.81 151 0.18
DDH or RC Hole No. 43(x)
3.8 - 5.1 1.3 1.05 46 0.02
DDH or RC Hole No. 44
3.5 - 4.5 1.0 0.92 150 0.30
DDH or RC Hole No. 45 & 46
Hole abandoned / no assay
DDH or RC Hole No. 47(x)
4.9 - 5.6 0.7 0.60 79 0.05
DDH or RC Hole No. 48
2.2 - 7.2 5.0 4.67 2,267 3.05
5.3 - 5.9 0.6 0.51 12,570 17.72
DDH or RC Hole No. 49
48.0 - 51.0 3.0 2.43 2,528 3.56
48.0 - 50.0 2.0 1.62 3,735 5.28
DDH or RC Hole No. 50(x), 52(x), 53(x)
None greater than 3.0 g/t Ag
DDH or RC Hole No. 51
77.2 - 79.8 2.6 1.46 284 0.17
DDH or RC Hole No. 54(x)
16.0 - 18.0 2.0 0.84 28 0.08
DDH or RC Hole No. 55
100.0 -101.6 1.6 0.80 127 0.16
DDH or RC Hole No. 56(x)
58.0 - 59.2 1.2 0.93 34 0.01
DDH or RC Hole No. 57(x)
17.0 - 23.5 6.5 3.26 35 0.02
DDH or RC Hole No. 58(x)
33.9 - 35.9 2.0 1.62 72 0.01
DDH or RC Hole No. 59
52.0 - 67.0 15.0 7.80 90 0.16
DDH or RC Hole No. 60
Hole drilled for mineral character
specimens/ore microscopy/petrology
DDH or RC Hole No. 61
20.7 - 26.0 5.3 1.7 275 0.07
DDH or RC Hole No. 62
28.8 - 29.7 0.9 0.32 2,409 2.25
DDH or RC Hole No. 63(x)
36.4 - 40.8 4.4 3.52 63 0.03
DDH or RC Hole No. 64
23.0 - 24.4 1.4 0.81 359 0.40
DDH or RC Hole No. 65
19.5 - 26.6 7.1 5.77 136 0.07
DDH or RC Hole No. 66(x)
24.5 - 30.3 5.8 4.84 200 0.16
DDH or RC Hole No. 67
None greater than 3.0 g/t Ag
DDH or RC Hole No. 68(x)
48.9 - 53.8 4.9 3.14 37 0.05
DDH or RC Hole No. 69(x)
30.0 - 32.2 2.2 1.89 869 1.07
30.0 - 30.9 0.9 0.73 2,006 2.33
DDH or RC Hole No. 70
58.0 - 77.7 19.7 8.86 438 1.91
76.4 - 77.7 1.3 0.58 5,096 28.04
DDH or RC Hole No. 71(x)
43.5 - 46.1 2.6 2.11 2,722 7.25
43.5 - 44.2 0.7 0.53 9,562 26.20
DDH or RC Hole No. 72(x)
24.2 - 32.1 7.9 5.97 57 0.03
DDH or RC Hole No. 73(x)
71.4 - 76.9 5.5 2.49 401 0.39
72.4 - 72.9 0.5 0.23 2,259 1.27
DDH or RC Hole No. 74(x)
17.3 - 19.0 2.6 1.74 110 0.07
DDH or RC Hole No. 75(x)
40.3 - 42.9 2.6 1.71 67 0.01
DDH or RC Hole No. 76
Assays pending
DDH or RC Hole No. 77 & 80
None greater than 3.0 g/t Ag
DDH or RC Hole No. 78, 79 & 81
Assays pending
DDH or RC Hole No. 82(x)
40.0 - 44.0 4.0 3.40 378 1.24
40.0 - 42.0 2.0 1.70 473 2.01
DDH or RC Hole No. 83(x)
42.0 - 48.0 6.0 5.10 137 0.13
46.0 - 48.0 2.0 1.70 315 0.29
DDH or RC Hole No. 84
Assays pending
DDH or RC Hole No. 85
Hole abandoned / no assay
All are in grams per tonne.
Status as of Dec. 2, 1998.
Average = Average of Acme and Geolabs, except (hole No.)(x) = Acme only,
and subject to adjustment on receipt of Geolabs assays.
Drill holes 34, 77 - 83 and 85 are reverse-circulation (RC) rotary holes;
all others are diamond drill core holes.
(c) Copyright 1998 Canjex Publishing Ltd. canada-stockwatch.com
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