Australian-American Mining Corporation Limited is pleased to provide an exploration update on the Bluebell VMS project in Arizona. AusAmerican announced in August 2012 it had secured an option to purchase the Bluebell and De Soto VMS projects located in Arizona, USA. The first exploration programme commenced in October and included geological mapping, channel sampling, the purchase of a data package, and the staking of new ground (which was finalised in November 2012).
The October 2012 sampling programme included 15 channel samples. The channel sampling outlined surface mineralisation in the Yavapai Schist which is host to the Bluebell mine. The sampling returned zones of gold and silver mineralisation as well as the expected copper mineralisation. The best intercepts included:
38m at 1.2% copper, 0.51g/t gold, and 22.9 g/t silver (see figure 1)
22m at 0.45% copper and 2.9 g/t silver
13m at 0.86% copper and 4.6g/t Ag
A data package containing maps, reports, and cross sections of previous work was purchased in October 2012. The data obtained from the data package includes:
83 drill holes for 3747.8m (75 underground and 8 regional)
Underground mine plans and sampling information
799 soil samples
Ground magnetic surveys
EM profiles and interpretations
Geological mapping
To be able to access this amount of data, much of it over 80 years old, is quite rare with resource projects in the USA and has provided invaluable information to our technical team as they review the material. The review continues to greatly assist the company in planning the initial drilling programme. A new copper VMS target has been identified from the data package on the recently staked ground 1km north of the Bluebell mine. The soil samples show a 700m long anomaly of over 100ppm copper. The average copper grade within the anomaly is 413ppm with a highest value of 1,262ppm and the anomaly is open towards the south. The 2013 programme will follow-up on the results of the 2012 surface exploration programme with 5,000m of RC drilling planned to test the stock work zones of the Bluebell mine. The drilling contract has been signed and the drill rig is expected to arrive on site late January.