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Gold/Mining/Energy : Mining News of Note -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LoneClone who wrote (19412)	5/12/2008 10:48:19 AM
From: LoneClone	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 195027

Orko Silver Could Be Onto A Company-Maker At La Preciosa By Charles Wyatt minesite.com[tt_news]=45587&tx_ttnews[backPid]=755&cHash=ca1e431cc4 When we wrote about Canadian-listed Orko Silver towards the end of last year the suggestion was that the company was aiming to boost its resource estimate at its La Preciosa project in Mexico to 100 million ounces of silver, but that this might take a little time to achieve. In fact it took just a few months, as in March chief executive Gary Cope was able to announce a new estimate of 15.35 million tonnes grading 0.321 grammes per tonne gold and 190.0 grammes per tonne silver. At a cut-off grade of 100 grammes that gives silver equivalent of 209.2 grammes per tonne. This estimate is still in the inferred category, but the contained metal amounts to 93.7 million ounces of silver and 158,000 ounces of gold which, on a silver equivalent calculation derived from adding the silver grade to 60 times the gold grade, comes to 103.2 million ounces of silver equivalent - 41 per cent ahead of the previous figure delivered last October. Job done, some might say, but not Gary Cope. Once one target is hit he switches to another, and recent results from further drilling on the Martha vein at La Preciosa show that 150 million ounces of silver equivalent could now be in range. The Martha vein accounted for all of the additional ounces added in the new resource estimate and now represents 56 per cent of the total resource estimate for La Preciosa. And there’s still plenty more to come from this epithermal vein which has a true average width of 9.92 metres. La Preciosa, in which Orko has a 100 per cent interest, has the look of a company maker according to Gary. Martha is just one of the veins in the deposit which is situated at a height of 2,100 metres in the Sierra Madre Occidental Mountains. The others are the Abundancia, La Gloria, Luz Elena, and Esperancita veins and all are currently being tested for strike length potential and down dip projections. The difference between Martha and the rest, however, is that it dips at a relatively flat 20 degrees, whereas the other veins on the property dip between 45 and 60 degrees. As a result Gary Cope has given the go-ahead to Mine Development Associates of Reno Nevada to complete a 43- 101 compliant independent resource estimate. MDA ought to deliver on that in the third quarter of this year and Gary will not be afraid to stand behind them with big boots on if things start to slip. Included in this work will be a block model and a preliminary economic assessment that will include studies on mining methods, types of plant, cash flow, and so forth, so it will effectively be a scoping study. If it looks good quite a lot of the work required for a pre-feasibility study will be already in the bag. Again, there should be a hefty increase in the resource, as the last one only included data from an extra 36 holes. This one will be based on data from an extra 70 holes or more as Orko recently drilled its 220th hole at La Preciosa. All the recent drilling news from Martha has been good. In February an intersection of 39.66 metres in a hole deepened from 250 metres to 521 metres graded 0.37 grammes per tonne gold and 235.2 grammes per tonne silver, giving a silver equivalent grade of 257.5 grammes from a depth of 351.22 metres. At the time Gary pointed out that what looked like a new vein some 140 metres below Martha had been intercepted in a nearby hole which graded 643.3 grammes per tonne silver equivalent over 3.82 metres. Then, at the same time as the resource estimate was announced, Orko also came up with an intersection on the Martha vein grading 458.3 grammes per tonne silver equivalent, including over 3 metres grading more than 1.5 kilos of silver equivalent per tonne. This is well into bonanza territory, so it came almost as an anti-climax when an intersection of 25.59 metres was reported at the end of April grading 222.5 grammes per tonne silver equivalent. A couple of other points should also be made about this company, the share price of which stands out among some of the disasters of late. First, recent metallurgical testwork indicates that silver recovery from the deposit should be close to 90 per cent. Second, Orko has built a very promising property portfolio around La Preciosa. The company is earning a 75 per cent interest in the adjacent Santa Monica project from Goldcorp by spending US$1.5 million on exploration. It has a similar arrangement with Silver Standard on the San Juan property, but only has to spend US$750,000 on this one. Interesting times for Gary and his crew.