Energold joint ventures two concessions
Shares issued 14,340,394
1999-04-19 close $0.23
Monday Apr 19 1999
See Minaterra Minerals Ltd (MIN) News Release
Mr. Greg Amor reports
Minaterra Minerals has acquired a right to acquire a 60 per cent interest in the
Rey Midas and Rey Salomon concessions from Energold Mining. Terms of the
acquisition include the issuance to Energold of 500,000 shares of Minaterra for
each property. For each property, 200,000 shares are to be issued on receipt of
regulatory approval and 300,000 shares are to be issued on the first anniversary
date. These 60 per cent interests will be acquired by Minaterra's Dominican
subsidiary, Inversiones Mineras S,A. (IMSA), and will be subject to the July 16,
1996, agreement between Minaterra and Energold whereby Minaterra will
expend by Dec. 31, 2003, $1.1-million on exploration in the Dominican Republic
after which time Energold can earn back a 50 per cent interest in IMSA by paying
Minaterra $1.25-million, and a further 10 per cent for an additional $1-million.
Energold has also been granted an 18 per cent participation right in all future
financings of the company.
The Rey Midas and Rey Salomon concessions are in the east-central Dominican
Republic and underlain in large part by rocks of the Los Ranchos formation. The
2,400 hectare Rey Midas and 1,376 hectare Rey Salomon concessions surround
Falconbridge's Managua concession to the north, south and west.
The exploration target on these concessions is a Pueblo Viejo style high
sulphidation epithermal gold mineralization hosted by volcanic and/or sedimentary
rocks of the Los Ranchos formation. Falconbridge's Managua concession, which
hosts high sulphidation epithermal gold-copper mineralization in northwest trending
quartz-sulphide veins cutting the Los Ranchos formation contains a mineral
inventory of six million tonnes of .81 per cent copper, 2.22 grams per tonne gold
and 5.67 grams per tonne silver in the Orange Field zone. Pyrite bearing siltstones
have been encountered at depth in drill core at Managua. Falconbridge geologists
correlate these sediments with the Pueblo Viejo member of the Los Ranchos
formation, the unit that hosts mineralization at Pueblo Viejo. Falconbridge's Ceja
de Coco concession is immediately east of Managua. Ceja de Coco, which was
worked on by Falconbridge between 1991 and 1998, is underlain in large part by
volcanic and volcaniclastic rocks of the Los Ranchos formation. This concession is
host to two northwest trending mineralized zones, the Dona Amanda and the
Dona Loretta zones. Falconbridge has calculated a mineral inventory of 46 million
tonnes of 0.45 per cent copper for the Dona Amanda zone. A drill intercept of
40.4 metres of 2.99 per cent Cu has been reported for the Dona Loretta zone.
Preliminary reconnaissance programs were conducted between 1996 and 1998
on the Rey Midas and Rey Salomon concessions. A follow-up grid-based
mapping program was conducted on Rey Midas in 1998. Preliminary mapping
and prospecting revealed a zone northwest trending of quartz-sulphide veins
cutting argilically altered spillite of the Los Ranchos formation (platanal member) in
the southern portion of the Rey Midas concession, adjacent to the Managua
concession. A follow-up program of grid establishment (11.1 line kilometres), soil,
float and outcrop sampling, 1 to 1,000 scale geological mapping, limited trenching
(37.5 metres in six trenches) and a magnetometer survey was conducted on the
Rey Midas concession in March 1998. The program confirmed the extension of
the Orange Field zone onto the Rey Midas concession. Steeply dipping, northwest
trending gold-bearing quartz-sulphide-oxide veins on Rey Midas have yielded up
to 0.58 grams of gold per tonne and 38.6 grams of silver per tonne over 2.5 m
and 0.64 grams of gold per tonne and 51.4 grams of silver per tonne over 0.6 m
(true widths) in trenches. Mineralized float samples have yielded up to 7.8 grams
of gold per tonne and 2.0 grams of silver per tonne. Subcrop from a subparallel
zone at the southern end of the grid, approximately 500 m to the southwest of the
previously mentioned zone, has yielded values up to 0.88 g/t gold and 8.4 g/t
silver.
Graphitic sediments with pyrite laminations have been mapped in the north-central
part of the Rey Midas concession. These sediments, which are correlated with the
Pueblo Viejo member of the Los Ranchos formation, have also been logged in
drill core on the adjacent Managua concession. More importantly, these sediments
are the main host to mineralization at Pueblo Viejo.
Two zones of mineralization and alteration, hosted by volcanic and volcaniclastic
rocks of the Los Ranchos formation, have been discovered as a result of
preliminary mapping and prospecting on the Rey Salomon concession. These two
zones are located along strike from known gold-silver-copper mineralization on
the adjacent Rey Midas, Managua and Ceja de Coco concessions. Values of up
to 1.35 grams of gold and 72.2 grams of silver per tonne, with anomalous levels of
arsenic, copper, mercury, molybdenum and antimony have been obtained from
quartz vein float cutting silicified and argilically altered quartz keratophyre
(Zambrana member or its intrusive equivalents) in the western part of the
concession, along strike from the Orange Field zone. Anomalous concentrations
of gold (up to 60 parts per billion), silver, copper, mercury and molybdenum have
been obtained from quartz veined and argilically altered feldspar crystal tuffs in the
eastern part of the concession, along strike from the Dona Amanda zone. The
style of mineralization and alteration, along with the anomalous metal suite
indicates that the Rey Salomon concession is host to epithermal gold-silver
mineralization, similar to that on the Rey Midas, Managua and Ceja de Coco
concessions and as such is a promising exploration target. |
