Property consists of the Gallardo Concession and fractions, a
7 km x 7.5 km area in Sonora, Mexico, adjoining the Arizona border from 10 to 17 km east
of Agua Prieta. Title to the concession is expected in early 1999. Valid prior interior
concessions cover part of an active gypsum mine, a gypsum prospect, and a gold prospect.
The remainder is exploration concession E-82/20867 covering 4,490 hectares.
The paved
highway from Agua Prieta to Chihuahua crosses the property. An improved gravel road
linking Agua Prieta to Rusbayo crosses the Cenizas Mountains somewhat south of the
property. Numerous ranch roads provide interior access to the property. Ranches on the
western side of the property are served with electrical power. Topography is generally
flat at elevation 1,300 m except for isolated peaks rising to about 1,600 m. Vegetation is
typical of the chaparal zone of the Sonoran Desert: cactus and mesquite predominate.
Surface water flows only intermittantly during strong rainfall.
Geology Summary:
A large Tertiary epithermal gold system is present, based on
local gold-bearing, pyritic, hydrothermal breccias, abundant quartz-chalcedony-calcite
fracture fillings, widespread silicification of structural intersections and permeable
units, and general pyritization of rocks in a 4 x 7 km area. Anomalous gold and
trace element geochemistry accompanies brecciation and silicification.
Oldest exposed
rocks are recrystallized limestones and siltstones of the Cretaceous Bisbee Group. The
carbonate beds are preferentially silicified and intruded by quartz monzonite porphyry
north of a major east-west structural zone. A thick Paleozoic carbonate section probably
underlies Cretaceous rocks. Jurassic intrusions, volcanic rocks, and structures may also
occur at depth in the property. The Bisbee porphyry copper of Jurassic age is located 50
km northwest of the property. Principal host rocks to gold mineralization are a
west-dipping sequence of volcaniclastic beds, andesite tuffs, and rhyolite tuffs that
unconformably overlie Cretaceous rocks and appear to be intruded by a pyritic rhyolite
plug or sill. A strong north-trending shear zone more than 1,000 m wide cuts the entire
section and is associated with alteration and gold mineralization at intersections of E-W,
N60E, and N50W veinlets in a generally continuous zone 5 km long.
Gallardo is comparable to the Sleeper mine gold deposit in Nevada, based on comparable
length and width of structural intersections in similar Mesozoic sedimentary rocks
overlain by Tertiary felsic volcanic units. Gold mineralization at both locations is
principally related to hydrothermal breccias at structural intersections in Tertiary
volcanic units. Sleeper is famous for its bonanza electrum ore shoots in younger breccias
surrounded by a broad area of fracture-hosted gold, arsenic, and antimony mineralization.
Initial Sleeper reserves were 3.4 Mt grading 7.5 g/t gold and 27.4 g/t Ag. At Gallardo,
permeable unwelded tuffs and volcaniclastic beds are widely altered, silicified, and
weakly mineralized, suggesting that bulk-tonnage disseminated gold mineralization may also
be present.
Geochemistry Summary:
Thirty-five rock chip samples from outlying alteration
occurrences average 0.017 ppm gold with a highest value of 0.180 ppm. Silver
averages 0.62 ppm with a highest value of 7.3 ppm. Arsenic averages 34 ppm with a
highest value of 207 ppm. Barium averages 1005 ppm with a highest value of 14,600
ppm. Visible barite is seen in many samples and has been mined from thick veins near
hydrothermal breccias. Galena is seen in samples with the higher gold results.
Results for approximately seventy additional samples are available upon request.
Geophysics Summary:
Gallardo is situated on the prominent N50E trending zone of
gravity anomalies that includes the Bacoachi and Arizpe base and precious metal mineral
districts in Sonora and the Hachita porphyry copper system in New Mexico. Additional
information will be reported in the near future.
Drilling Summary:
None
Reserves Summary
None
Other:
None
DISCLAIMER: MineMarket.com, its affiliates,
associates, or assigns are not responsible for the content, accuracy or marketability of
any of the services or information contained in or linked to this website. Furthermore,
MineMarket.com, its affiliates and its assigns make no representation or warranty of any
kind or character with respect to the adequacy of any services or information contained in
or linked to this website for any purpose and disclaim all liability of any kind arising
from its use.
