Stewart R. Wallace — 1919–2009 - Society of Economic Geologists

EXPLORATION REVIEWS
48 SEG NEWSLETTER No 78 JULY 2009
... from 47
Exploration Reviews (Continued)
the mining operations at its Dolores
gold and silver mine in Chihuahua
state in mid-February. The Dolores mine
is expected to produce around 1.7 Moz
gold and 64 Moz silver over a more
than 15-year mine life. Proven and
probable reserves for the Dolores mines
are on the order of 99.3 Mt containing
2.44 Moz gold and 126.64 Moz silver.
Congratulations to Minefinders for the
tremendous effort of more than 14 years
of exploration and development at
Dolores, now crystallized in a longterm,
low-cost production Ag-Au mine.
Pan American Silver Corp. and
Orko Silver Corp. announced that they
have reached an agreement for the
joint development of Orko’s La
Preciosa silver project in the state of
Durango. Pan American will contribute
with the 100% of the funds necessary to
develop and construct an operating
mine, in consideration for a 55% interest
in the joint venture; while Orko will
contribute its exploration expertise and
the La Preciosa project and related concessions
to retain a 45% interest. Pan
American will spend US$16M over 36
months at La Preciosa to conduct
resource definition drilling, acquire necessary
surface rights, obtain permits,
and ultimately prepare and deliver a
feasibility study to maintain its interest
in the JV.
PERU
Apoquindo Minerals Inc., through its
wholly owned Peruvian subsidiary,
Minera KoriTambo SAC, has
announced an option/joint venture
agreement with Teck Peru S.A.,
whereby KoriTambo has been granted
an option to acquire an initial 51%
interest in the Zafranal Cu-Au porphyry
project in southern Peru, subject
to a back-in right and royalty reserved
to Teck Peru. Exploration efforts to date
at Zafranal include 11,805 m of drilling
in 36 holes, as well as detailed mapping,
rock sampling, AMT and EM geophysical
surveys. Results include 110 m
@ 1.22% Cu and 77 m @ 1.80% Cu &
0.21 g/t Au.
Chariot Resources has completed a
feasibility study for the Mina Justa copper
project, located at the Company’s
70% owned Marcona copper property
in Peru. A total of 227,843 m in 938
holes has been drilled on the Mina Justa
deposit, with 28,607 m in 137 holes
drilled on the Magnetite Manto
deposit. During the planned 11.5 year
operating life, vat leaching will produce
approximately 1.06 billion pounds of
Cu in cathodes (481,596 t) and the concentrator
will produce approximately
1.64 Mt of concentrates containing 1.32
billion pounds of payable Cu (598,801
t), 16.0 Moz of payable Ag, plus a
minor amount of payable Au.
Bear Creek Mining announces a
positive scoping study and updated
resource estimate at the Santa Ana Ag
deposit, southern Peru. The resource
estimate is based on 55,575 m of
drilling in 306 diamond drill holes and
totals 66.8 Mt (measured + indicated) @
44.6 g/t Ag, 0.32% Pb, and 0.55% Zn
with a 20 g/t cut-off. Silver will be recovered
using a heap leaching process; Pb
and Zn will not be recovered. The scoping
study determined that the project
has positive economics, excellent exposure
to up-side silver prices, well-defined
resources open to expansion, straightforward
construction and development,
and favorable infrastructure. The project
will produce an average of 4.6 Moz
of Ag annually over an 11.8-year mine
life.
Recent drilling results at Minera IRL
Limited‘s Ollachea project confirm a
substantial Au zone. Since October
2008, 26 diamond drill holes have been
completed totaling 8,706 m. The Au
deposit is comprised of sheeted quartzsulfide
veins and veinlets in a sheared
slate host rock. Intersections from recent
drilling include 160 m @ 4.39 g/t Au, 80
m @ 2.22 g/t Au and 8 m @ 23.02 g/t
Au. These results add a down dip
dimension to the central gold zone
which extends 400 m along strike and
200 m downdip. The zone is located
within a broader Au bearing sequence
of rocks extending over 1,400 m.
Trevali and Glencore signed a memorandum
of understanding to develop
the Santander Ag-Pb-Zn project in
Peru. Trevali will have the option to
acquire 100% ownership in the new
mill and processing complex. Glencore
will provide its operational experience,
enabling Santander to reach optimum
concentrate production levels in an efficient
manner. Trevali has secured a
long-term concentrate off-take agreement
whereby Glencore will buy 100%
of the Santander project production at
benchmark terms.
NORTHERN
EURASIA
Regional Correspondent:
Alexander Yakubchuk (SEG 1999 F)
Orsu Metals Corp, London UK
E-mail: ayakubchuk@orsumetals.com
Detailed information can be found at
http://gold.prime-tass.ru
RUSSIA
The Ministry of Natural Resources of the
Russian Federation has published a list
of strategic deposits. The list has 986
onshore deposits, including 823 deposits
of solid commercial minerals. The following
gold deposits have been
included into this list, among others:
Ametistovoye (Renova) in Kamchatka,
Natalka (Polyus Zoloto) in Magadan,
Kupol (Kinross Gold Corp) in
Chukotka, Maiskoye (Highland Gold
Mining) in Chukotka,
Mnogovershinnoye (Highland Gold
Mining) in Khabarovsk, Bystrinskoye
(copper, gold–Norilsk Nickel),
Darasunskoye (Yuzhuralzoloto) in the
Zabaikalsky Krai, Blagodatnoye
(Polyus Zoloto), Olympiada (Polyus
Zoloto), Eldorado (Sovrudnik) in
Krasnoyarsk, Miheevskoye (copper,
gold–Russian Copper Company) in
Chelyabinsk, Sukhoi Log (government
fund) in Irkutsk. Foreign companies will
be reimbursed for the discovery of new
strategic deposits in Russia and will
receive a bonus from the state budget if
the license for deposit development is
not granted. Bonus rates for the discovery
of a strategic deposit will be on sliding
scale of 25 to 50% for various minerals,
with 30% for copper and gold.
Russia will compensate documented
costs for exploration and evaluation of
the discovered deposit, including interest
on financing. Also, investors with a
combined license will have the initial
subscription payment refunded. The initial
payment calculation will be based
on the date of the decision to decline a
subsoil license, with the calculation
finalized within the following 90 days.
On the corporate front, a supermerger,
proposed between Noril’sk
Nickel, Rusal, and Metalloinvest in
early 2009, has not been approved,
mostly due to corporate reasons.
Several companies reported their
intention to reduce previously
announced exploration spending. For
example, Polymetal and AngloGold
Ashanti have declared discontinuation