The El Torno Project is centered on a past-producing gold mine located in the Andean Cordillera in the mining friendly province of Jujuy , Argentina near the international border with Bolivia.
The property consists of four mining rights covering a total of 7,863 hectares. Soltera has a rental/purchase agreement with the titleholder, and the next payment due is US$150,000 on 30th June 2012. The area is accessible by road all year round, with electricity available from Santa Catalina Village (8 km away) and abundant water in a nearby river.
MAJOR EXPLORATION TARGETS
El Torno contains a large gold-rich quartz vein system that extends north-south for 14 km and is up to 20 metres wide. The central parts of the system have been worked since the Incas, resulting in about 1 km of underground galleries that are now flooded.
The vein system was investigated by Puma Minerals in 1997 who carried out over 2,100 m of drilling. They were followed in 1999 by Peñoles (discoverer of the world’s largest silver mine and Mexico’s largest and richest gold mines) who undertook trenching, grab sampling, and geological surveying as well as a geophysical IP survey. The drilling showed that gold is concentrated in a 2 metre-wide zone on the western side of the main vein. Puma estimated that a 1.3 km length of the vein could have the potential for over 500,000 ounces of gold to a depth of 100 metres or 2 million ounces to a depth of 400 metres at an assumed grade of 10 g/t gold (not NI-43-101 compliant).
Soltera has carried out two stream sediment geochemical sampling programs and a detailed structural survey. The results show that:
- The main vein system appears mineralized along its full length of 14 kilometres.
- The vein system is folded into an anticlinal form and the tested mineralization in the west wing could extend across into the east wing which is totally untested.
- There are broad and strong stream sediment geochemical gold anomalies over wide areas of the country rocks up to 2 km from the main vein that are centered on suites of small veins and stockworks that could be major open-pit targets.
- The exploration area has been reduced effectively from 80 km2 to 10 km2 and within this precisely defined area there is potential for several million ounces of both underground and open-pit gold.
The next step is to carry out a two pronged exploration program on both the geo-chemical anomalies and the main vein system. Mapping, surface sampling and small, specifically targeted, geophysical programs will be used to define drill targets.
The above is described in full detail in a recent Project Report available here: EL TORNO PROJECT REPORT 2009
SURFICIAL GOLD – DEVELOPING FOR PRODUCTION
During the past eighteen months, Soltera has investigated the possibility of small-scale gold production from eluvial (surface weathered) material with a view to rapid cash generation to fund exploration of the major gold targets.
The mineral title owner produced gold from this surface material using a trommel and sluice system until April 2007 when he closed the operation due to illness. The production plant is still in place, so Soltera purchased the plant and formed an exploitation agreement with the title owner. Full details of the agreement are available in an 8-K filed with the SEC (see SEC 8-K filing here). In essence the joint venture gives Soltera the rights to mine the surface deposits and process the material at the existing plant, with the mineral title owner receiving 10% of gold produced. The agreement is for four years renewable for another four years provided that half the elluvial material has been worked.
However, a test sampling program of eluvial material carried out in late 2010 produced disappointing results. Trace gold is widespread throughout the area sampled, but higher concentrations are rare and erratically distributed. The sample area, of about 35 hectares, was chosen because of the thickness of eluvium rather than possible gold content or the presence of a geochemical gold anomaly, and it is likely that thinner eluvium over geochemically anomalous areas will have higher grades. This will be investigated further.
On the other hand, a short sampling programme along 300 m of the main vein within a geochemical anomaly produced some spectacular results, as described above. This has raised the possibility that small-scale production may be possible from ‘hot spots’ along the vein surface and this possibility is also being investigated.
10 Reasons to invest
in Mining IN Argentina
Mining In Argentina
Argentina is rapidly becoming one of Latin America’s major copper and gold producers, posting a remarkable increase in production over the past 3 years. Gold, copper and silver production is set to increase with Argentina historically being a major producer of industrial minerals and construction materials which contributed at least 66% of mining earnings, whilst metalliferous minerals contributed only 24%. Read More…