EAGLECREST EXPLORATIONS LTD. (VSE:EEL)
Tue 1 June 99
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Following is NRI Fax Alert, issued on Tuesday, June 1, 1999.
NATURAL RESOURCE INVESTOR
& WORLD GOLD STOCK REPORT
/ / / FAX ALERT #12, Vol. 1999 / / /
(company-sponsored investor relations report)
EAGLECREST EXPLORATIONS LTD. (VSE:EEL)
BIG-TIME BOLIVIAN GOLD:
DRILLING SET FOR MULTI-TARGET PROJECT;
FIRST TARGET SITE ALREADY YIELDING 200,000 OZ/GOLD
FOR LOCAL SHALLOW-PIT MINERS;
COULD HOST MULTI-MILLION OZ. GOLD DEPOSIT
Three Major Gold Systems from 6KM to 12KM Length Identified;
Several Potential Major Gold Deposits Seen
At Company's 100%-owned San Simon Gold District
On 7,000 Hectares of Gold-Rich Amazon Plateau.
FAX HOTLINE FOR MARKET HOURS 6 / 1 / 99
Eaglecrest Explorations Inc. (VSE:EEL), now controlled and operated by a
new group of explorationists widely respected in the mining industry, is
once again out to show the world that it may be onto one of the biggest
gold discoveries in the Western Hemisphere.
There's a lot of compelling evidence in already to indicate the company may
prove to be right at its major Bolivian gold project. If so, this story
could unfold into one of the most exciting discovery plays in recent
memory, as we outline in this report.
An upcoming first-phase 3,000-meter wide-core diamond drilling program
should put an end to any second-guessing once and for all. Now scheduled
for July, the drilling program, if successful, could quickly vault
Eaglecrest to the status of industry darling, as happened recently with
other discovery plays like Argentina Gold Ltd., recently bought out by
Homestake Mining.
Why the excitement? The focus of the company is its 7,000-hectare,
100%-owned San Simon Gold District in northeastern Bolivia, adjoining
Brazil.
Rising moderately to a 650 meter height over the lower-lying (200 meter
elevation) Amazonian jungle, the San Simon is a brush-covered, gold-rich
plateau that is basically an extension of the nearby gold-prolific
Brazilian Precambrian Shield.
Even at first glance, there's good reason to get the juices flowing. Gold
has been mined out of multiple locations on the company's San Simon
properties by local shallow-pit and alluvial mines ever since the Jesuit
Order began working there in the early 17th Century. Right up to today,
locals continue to hand-mine at three or more major sites on the San Simon,
including the Trinidad, Buriti and Paititi locations.
Some reports have indicated that the gold grades have run to in excess of
19 grams/tonne, even allowing for only 50% recoveries. Management believes
that locals have extracted more than 200,000 ounces of gold from shallow
pits in just the last five years alone.
"There's gold in many locations here," one Eaglecrest manager said. Several
major gold producers evidently already agree, and are looking closely at
the idea of participating in the project in some way.
Second Chances Come Again
The notion of a new potentially world-class gold project dropping on the
mining scene is, as in this case, always a bit startling. How could
something this grand, and so potentially rich, have stayed off the radar
screen so long?
This is something of a story in itself. Because, simply put, the "new
Eaglecrest" and this immensely exciting project are a comeback story.
It's the story of a project possibly not altogether well handled,
exploration-wise, in Eaglecrest's earlier incarnation. And one which a new
team has now determinedly rescued from oblivion with new finance and
thoroughly systematic exploration methodology.
The "old Eaglecrest," in fact, achieved considerable prominence for the San
Simon property in the boom-market days of the earlier '90's. At one point,
in 1996, the company received an offer (still on file in Eaglecrest's
office) from a world-class gold mining major to buy into the company by
purchasing 1-million shares at $CDN 5/share. The company's management at
the time turned down the offer. The then-management hurried to drill the
property on their own, but possibly without adequate study of local geology
or mineralogy, so as to quickly increase share values for a possible
take-out bid.
Then, two horrible things happened. First, while local miners continued to
extract hundreds of gold ounces with primitive recovery techniques all
around the company's drill sites, the old Eaglecrest's knowledge of
geological structures and sampling techniques possibly proved inadequate to
accurately factor in both structural trends and a prevalent coarse-gold
effect at the Paititi site. So drill results generally confirmed gold
values but shockingly proved inconclusive.
Second, the boom in junior gold share markets abruptly ended at about the
same time, and Eaglecrest was suddenly unable to finance further work as
its share values skidded from multi-dollars to pennies. In the two to three
years of ensuing financial struggles, the early glory of Eaglecrest and its
golden San Simon project swiftly faded from the memory of the markets.
It wasn't until late 1998 and early 1999 that the company came back to life
- restructured, reorganized and refinanced - under new management and new
control, making San Simon an entirely new story.
First, a powerful new management group came into Eaglecrest. Led by
President Gary Cope, Eaglecrest's board of directors comprises
substantially the same seasoned exploration group that recently achieved
considerable discovery success with Western Copper (which rose as high as
$11/share and brought in Teck Corp. as partner). This includes WC's
chairman, Dale Corman, plus Lawrence Page, Robert Swenarchuk and noted
geologist Tom Patton as Eaglecrest directors.
Next, the new Eaglecrest team attracted two widely-respected geologists
with ample Latin American experience to manage a systematic ground-up
exploration program at San Simon - George Cavey as exploration manager, and
Arthur Freeze as project manager. And to resolve the prior possibly
inadequate drill-sampling techniques, they brought in a world-famous mining
geochemist, Dr. Barry Smee, to advise on correct sampling techniques and
sample preparation involving coarse gold.
Going For the Gusto For Real
This time around, the new Eaglecrest group went through a highly technical
work-up of the San Simon with a vengeance, using anecdotal surface evidence
of the area's gold potential solely as a point of departure and not a
be-all-end-all. Systematically, the company applied all modern analytical
techniques to come up with a scientific assessment of the property's
exploration merits.
The astonishing findings? The San Simon has not one but at least three or
more major geologically-different, large gold-bearing zones that have the
potential for four to five discrete, large mining projects. These include:
1. The Paititi/Buriti mineralized trend was found not to be localized, as
formerly thought, but over fully seven kilometers of strike length.
The company now plans its first drill program by early July on one
exposed 600M section of this trend where local miners have extracted
thousands of ounces of ounces of gold within a few years. But a
technical survey showed several other prospective host locations which
do not outcrop and are of equally strong interest along the 7KM trend.
Importantly, a wholly new interpretation of the Paititi mineralization
likewise also concluded that this zone is actually folded into
horizontal layers, and is not vertical as formerly thought. This
seriously affects the new drill plans, as contrasted with former
efforts. The zone is 80M to 100M thick and is ideal for bulk-tonnage
open-pit mining since it is nearly flat-lying. Management now believes
each of the several signature areas along the 7KM trend could also
host a similar major bulk-tonnage gold deposit.
2. The Trinidad vein (Mina Vieja) is located approximately six kilometers
west-northwest of the Paititi open pit now being worked by local
miners. Here, mineralization was found to comprise a roughly east-west
trending, shallow south-dipping auriferous quartz vein. This vein
varies between two and four meters in thickness, in the productive
areas. The new studies also found that this vein is discontinuous but
can be traced over a strike length exceeding four kilometers.
Importantly, the gold grade of the vein is reported to average
approximately six grams per tonne.
3. At Manganesa, at the west end of the Mina Vieja vein system (beyond
the present Eaglecrest claims boundary), crude underground mining
methods are being employed by more than 100 informal miners, working
more than 20 inclined shafts. Gold grades at Manganesa are locally
reported to exceed 50 g/t, but average 10 g/t. This geology overlaps
onto the Eaglecrest ground considerably and is also a high-priority
target.
But that's not all. The new Eaglecrest team found several other areas
within the San Simon that are gold targets. Of particular interest is an
area at the extreme northwest end of the property. This area is underlain
by similar geology to Paititi and reportedly has a well-developed quartz
stockwork system over a significant surface area. In addition, a further
new target has been identified; a 12-kilometer long, gold-bearing,
quartz-pebble conglomerate formation that is associated with elevated
uranium stream sediment anomalies and compelling physical signatures,
containing gold in both the matrix and in the quartz pebbles. These have
the potential for huge discoveries, management says, noting that the
similar, famous South African and West African conglomerates, also with
uranium signatures, host deposits aggregating into many millions of ounces.
As an example, the West African Tarkwanian district reportedly hosts
reserves in the 30-million-ounce range.
The key to exploring this wealth of gold potentials is to prioritize.
Accordingly, as a first step, Eaglecrest is planning its 3,000-meter
first-phase drilling program on the 600M segment of the seven kilometer
Paititi trend that is already exposed and has been the site of very active
local shallow-pit mining. And this time, Eaglecrest crews will be working
with sampling methodology that should account for the coarse gold or nugget
effect that did not seem to be adequately accounted for previously.
The company hopes to establish a stand-alone deposit of up two million gold
ounces here, to kick things off as a basis for broader exploration efforts
on the San Simon. As mentioned, the first drilling program should start by
early July of this year, about six to seven weeks from now. Interest from
several major mining companies is quite intense, and we think it's likely
that Eaglecrest will quickly come up with a major joint-venture partner to
undertake broader exploration of several San Simon targets if its first
drill program is successful.
Outlook
We look for mounting anticipation and excitement as the drill date nears
for the company. If it can deliver, at last, after all these years, on what
looks like the obvious promise of "Big Gold" at San Simon, there'll be no
looking back.
It's simply a great play at this time for those who love having a seat in
the front row for the thrill of discovery. We'd watch Eaglecrest very
closely from this point on.
The company trades on the Vancouver Exchange under the symbol EEL, and has
28 million shares outstanding (43 million fully diluted). Recent price:
about $CDN 0.25. - NRI/WGSR
For immediate corporate information, call
Eaglecrest Explorations Ltd. at (888)456-1112
or visit their website at manexresourcegroup.com.
Published by NRI/WGSR, 501 W. Glenoaks Blvd., Suite 340, Glendale, CA,
91202. Except for free trial issues, cost for subscribers is set at
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its accuracy cannot be guaranteed. Investing in junior securities is
speculative and carries a high degree of risk. Readers should consult their
own investment counselor regarding information or editorial viewpoints
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an offer or solicitation to purchase shares of the company. This
information may not be used in any jurisdiction in which shares of the
company have not been exempted/registered. Please consult your broker to
determine the legality of your purchase or sale. Safe Harbor Disclaimer:
Certain statements contained herein constitute forward-looking statements
within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act and Section 21E of
the Exchange Act. Such statements include, without limitation, statements
in the U.S. regarding business and financing plans, business trends and
future operating revenues and expenses. Although the company believes that
the statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such
expectations will prove to be correct. Forward-looking statements are
typically identified by the words: believe, expect, anticipate, intend,
estimate and similar expressions, or which by their nature refer to future
events. The company cautions investors that any forward-looking statements
made by the company are not guarantees of future performance, and that the
actual results may differ materially from those in the forward-looking
statements as a result of various factors, including but not limited to,
the company's ability to be able to continue its substantial projected
growth, or to be able to fully implement its business strategies. Copyright
(c)1999 NRI/WGSR
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