TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Precious metals-focused explorer Newstrike Capital on Tuesday reported that it had found three significant mineralised structural corridors at its Ejutla property, located in Oaxaca state, Mexico.

The Vancouver-based firm, which targets known and historic mining districts in Mexico, said that a recent exploration programme had found these structures to each host extensive gold- and silver-bearing, low-sulphidation epithermal veins.

"Our exploration efforts at Ejutla confirm a target-rich environment and results underpin the exciting potential for substantial extensions to known mineralised systems. The Ejutla property is located within the Taviche mining district, an area already well known for its significant gold and silver production,” Newstrike president and CEO Richard Whittall said.

Ejutla comprises the 18 866 ha Ejutla Fracc 2 claim block, 100% owned by Newstrike with no royalties, and located 45 km south of the capital city of Oaxaca de Juarez.

The property is in the region of Fortuna Silver's producing San José-Trinidad mine, 20 km to the west of Ejutla, and Gold Resources' El Águila mine 25 km to the east, as well as several other Canadian exploration projects.

Newstrike would now complete a Canadian National Instrument 43-101-compliant technical report on the property that would include recommendations for future drilling. The report is expected soon.

Among the exploration highlights were channel sample 59092, which measured 0.412 g/t of gold and 701 g/t silver over a 0.6 m interval, sample 29055, which measured 0.013 g/t gold and 664 g/t silver over a 5 m interval and sample 39466, which measured 1.26 g/t gold and 14 g/t silver over a 1.8 m interval.

The three structural corridors consist of a series of north-west-trending fracture zones that display important northerly and north-easterly-trending splays, each filled by mineralised felsic dikes and/or by complex sub-parallel mineralised low sulphidation banded epithermal quartz and quartz/calcite veins and vein systems typical of structures in the surrounding Taviche mining district.

Individual veins vary in thickness from a few centimetres to as much as ten metres and are separated by a host wallrock that displays extensive argillic alteration and silicification.

One of the structural corridors, ‘Las Casas’, located in the western half of the property, had been most extensively explored to date and was mapped in detail over an 8 km strike length, with outcrop evidence suggesting it exceeds 10 km along strike and is as much as 3 km in width.

Vein textures and geochemistry were found to be typical of those encountered in the boiling zones of epithermal systems or just above the boiling zone, indicating the higher parts of the mineralised system are exposed at surface.

Newstrike added that the location is an ideal scenario for preserving potential metal lodes at depth. Mapping is ongoing to advance the other two structural corridors, both of which exceed several kilometres along strike and vary from one to two kilometres in width.

Newstrike is also focused on developing its low-risk, high-grade Ana Paula gold exploration project, in Mexico’s Guerrero gold belt.