VANCOUVER (miningweekly.com) – Gold major Yamana Gold has decided to proceed with its 75% option agreement on Mirasol Resources’ Gorbea belt projects, in Chile.
Optioned in March 2015, junior Mirasol announced on Tuesday that it had received a $400 000 option payment from Yamana as confirmation that it would continue exploration at the Gorbea Belt Joint Venture (Gorbea JV) for a third year, targeting large, bulk-mineable oxide gold deposits.
The Gorbea JV covers nine 100% Mirasol-owned precious metal properties totalling about 23 084 ha, including the Atlas and Titan projects.
Yamana has the option to acquire, in multiple stages, up to a 75% interest in these projects by completing a series of exploration expenditures, making $2-million in staged option payments to Mirasol and funding Mirasol's 25% retained project capital position to production.
To date, Yamana has spent about $4.1-million on exploration of the project, against the $10-million required to satisfy the first stage of the option earn-in for a 51% interest in the Gorbea JV. Yamana has also up to now made cumulative option payments totalling $580 000 to Mirasol.
The Gorbea JV exploration programme is targeting large-tonnage high-sulphidation epithermal (HSE) oxide gold deposits. Recent significant discoveries of this deposit type have been made elsewhere in this same mineral belt by Gold Fields, at Salares Norte (resource of 3.8-million ounces gold grading 4.6 g/t, and 43.8 million ounces of silver grading 53.1 g/t), and by Barrick Gold, at Alturas (inferred resource of 6.8-million ounces of gold grading 1 g/t gold).
During the southern hemisphere 2015/16 summer exploration season, Yamana drilled a total of 6 146 m of diamond drill-hole and reverse circulation drilling in 14 holes across Atlas and Titan.
At Atlas, the best intercepts include 40 m grading 1.38 g/t gold and 17.9 g/t silver. Mineralisation is developed in brecciated host rocks and is associated with advanced argillic alteration accompanied by vuggy silica and silica-alunite. These characteristics suggest the presence of a deeply oxidised, HSE precious metal system at Atlas, Mirasol advised.
Up until mid-April, Yamana had completed 2 000 m of drilling in six holes, with the 2017 programme expected to be complete by early June.