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CUALEThe Cuale VMS District is centered 4 kilometers southwest of the pueblo of Cuale, the center of the Ejido of Cuale. The primary business of the Ejido is lumber harvesting. Cattle ranching and farming are secondary activities. There are multiple mining concession owners in the Cuale VMS camp. Industrias Peñoles maintains the rights to the 308 Ha "La Prieta" concession. They remain active with care-and-maintenance activities in the District. The San Antonio concessions overlap the "Minas de Oro", including Grandeza, El Carmen, Las Talpas, Peregrina and San Antonio. These concessions are owned by a Mexican individual.The known VMS prospects in the Cuale district occur in an area 4 kilometers long by 2.5 kilometers wide with the long dimension of this area oriented northwest (Fig. 30). The associated geochemical anomaly is somewhat larger, with dimensions of 8 kilometers by 4 kilometers. Mortensen et al. (2008) analysed lead isotopes from galena in 2 samples from Cuale. They observe that these samples yield radiogenic compositions typical of most other samples from the Guerrero Terrane. At Cuale, the most likely source of radiogenic lead was the pelitic schist in the pre-Jurassic basement as there are no continent-derived sediments interlayered with the Cuale Volcanic Sequence. SAN JUANSan Juan is approximately 2 km south-southeast of the Cuale mill. In 2007, Zinco identified one of the strongest geochemical anomalies for silver on its entire VMS Property in the San Juan prospect area. The anomaly is 225 meters long and defined by 19 soil samples in two survey lines 100 meters apart that remains open to the west (an area of steep topography). The average result of these soil samples is 12.4 ppm Ag, 354 ppm Pb, 47 ppb Au, 216 ppm As, 74 ppm Sb and 732 ppm Ba. The highest silver result is 48.9 ppm Ag.Follow-up mapping using a portable Niton XRF gun in the anomaly area shows that mineralization at San Juan occurs over a 280 meter strike length near the contact between a flow-banded, spherulitic rhyolite flow-dome and overlying rhyolite lapilli tuff (Fig. 31). The historic mine workings are located along this contact, and these are now flooded or caved in. The average result of 24 chip channel and grab samples from surface rock sampling along the mineralized zone is 139.2 g/t Ag, 0.36% Zn, 0.36% Pb and 0.1 g/t Au. In 2008, the Company drill-tested San Juan with 2066.52 meters of drilling in 12 reverse-circulation drill holes. Of these, Holes ZIM6, 7, 10, 11 and 12 were exploration holes peripheral to the known deposit area. Results are listed in Table 5. The best overall intercept was 185 g/t Ag, 1.51% Zn and 0.71% Pb across 85.68 m in RC hole ZIM9. Figure 32 implies that the true width of the mineralization is on the order of 100 meters. The mineralization consists mainly of yellow disseminated sphalerite with minor pyrite, galena and tetrahedrite. Petrographic work to identify other silver minerals has not yet been done. The host rocks are pervasively altered to quartz, phengitic sericite and minor chlorite. Photos of the mineralization are in Figures 34 to 38 . Table 5 RC intercepts for drill holes from San Juan and surrounding area.
SAN RAFAELThe Company has never done any work on the San Rafael deposit. According to Hall and Gomez-Torres (2000), San Rafael is a stockwork deposit hosted in quartz-porphyritic rhyolite. Mineralization consists of pyrite, sphalerite, galena and sphalerite with pervasive sericitic alteration. In 1986, Compañia Fresnillo tested IP anomalies near San Rafael with 1198 meters of drilling in 12 small-diameter diamond core holes, including 4 underground holes.SAN NICOLASThe San Nicolas deposit is about 1700 meters northwest of San Juan on the west side of the Arroyo Corazon valley. It consists of two adits and several open cuts on a steep south-facing slope. Historic production in the 1980's totaled 79 965 tonnes of 0.19 g/t Au, 121 g/t Ag, 1.57% Pb, 3.18% Zn and 0.136% Cu (Hall and Gomez-Torres, 2000a). Mineralization exposed in the bottom of the open pit consists of sericite schist intercalated with iron carbonate and semi massive sulfides. The average result of 5 chip-channel samples cut across the outcrop is 310 g/t Ag, 3.5% Zn, 2.5% Pb and 0.3% Cu across 14 meters (samples 19781 to 19785). About 35 meters to the southeast, a silicified, copper rich zone that might represent a stockwork was identified. A chip channel sample across this area yielded results of 4.2% Cu, 1.1% Pb and 93 g/t Ag (sample 26016). Hole ZIM24 was drilled to test the copper-rich stockwork zone, with negative results.NARICERONaricero occurs about 170 meters northeast of San Nicolas. It was the largest past producer of the Cuale District with 782 544 tonnes of 0.34 g/t Au, 157 g/t Ag, 1.05% Pb, 2.85% Zn and 0.06% Cu, mainly from an open cut on the west side of the Arroyo Corazon canyon (Hall and Gomez-Torres, 2000). Prior to being worked by Zimapan, a number of independent operators had mined out selected horizons of the Naricero orebody from several underground room and pillar operations.Mineralization occurs in an 80 to 400 meter thick sequence of re-sedimented rhyolite lapilli tuffs intercalated with black argillite that occurs between a quartz-feldspar porphyritic subvolcanic dome in the hanging wall and a spherulitic quartz-feldspar porphyritic rhyolite flow-dome in the footwall. VMS deposits are contained within two horizons that are separated by a stratigraphic interval of about 30 meters. The argillaceous sediments are the preferred host, although the tuffs can also be mineralized. The lower horizon is the thickest, and more laterally extensive having dimensions of 390 by 195 meters (Hall and Gomez-Torres, 2000). The Lower Naricero Horizon is partially exposed in the bottom of the open pit. The average result of 25 chip-channel and grab samples from 180 meters of exposed strike length is 280 g/t Ag, 0.33 g/t Au, 7.0% Zn, 3.7% Pb and 0.06%Cu. Primary sulfide minerals are sphalerite, pyrite, galena, chalcopyrite and tetrahedrite. Lesser amounts of tetrahedrite-tennantite, geocronite and proustite-pyrargarite are also present (Hall and Gomez-Torres, 2000). Perpendicular and above this high-grade horizon, a continuous chip-channel sample cut across 19.1 meters of silicified tuff beds exposed in the pit wall yielded an average result of 80.4 g/t Ag, 0.5 g/t Au, 0.02% Cu, 0.5% Pb and 1.4% Zn. In 2008, the Company drilled two holes into Naricero. Hole ZIM 25, located 70 meters southeast of the open pit, intercepted two zones of silver-rich, but sulfide poor mineralization from the upper horizon (Table 6). Hole ZIM 28, located 140 meters west of the open pit, was intended to explore for the western strike extent of Naricero, but the hole broke into two levels of underground workings. The upper level occurs between 1884 and 1890 meters elevation, and the lower level occurs between 1845 and 1851 meters elevation. A partial sample of the ore from the upper level contains 74 g/t Ag, 3.09% Zn and 0.42% Pb across 2.04 meters. Table 6 RC intercepts for drill holes from Naricero. Sections of ZIM28 marked by an asterisk with no values are mined out.
REFUGIORefugio is located about 550 meters northwest of Naricero. Past production from the Refugio deposit was 34,569 tonnes of 156 g/t Ag, 0.14 g/t Au, 1.95% Zn, 0.89% Pb and 0.1% Cu (Hall and Gomez-Torres, 2000), mainly from a single adit on the road to El Realiz. Based on geological correlations between historic drill holes 206u-R, 302 and 303, the Refugio massive sulfide occurs in a northerly trending horizon of black argillite that dips about 40ºE. This orientation co-incides well with surface measurements of the Refugio Horizon, which outcrops on the northeast flank of Cerro Caracol, and is marked by markedly anomalous lead and silver values in soil samples.JESUS MARIA AND PATROCINIOIn 1977, Zimapan completed 343 meters of drilling in 12 short, small diameter core holes along the surface outcrop of the Jesus Maria deposit, and 304 meters in 6 holes at Patrocinio. Between 1982 and 1983, Zimapan produced 46,751 tonnes of ore grading 109 g/t Ag, 3.31% Zn, 1.85% Pb, 0.09% Cu and 0.06 g/t Au from the Jesus Maria open pit (Hall and Gomez-Torres, 2000). In 1983 and 1984, an additional 613.2 meters of drilling in 7 exploration holes were completed at Jesus Maria, and 280 meters in 6 more holes were drilled to explore Patrocinio.In 2008, the Company drilled 1607 meters between Jesus Maria and Patrocinio in 13 reverse circulation drill holes to confirm and expand upon Zimapan's historic drilling results. Drill holes ZIM16, 19 and 30 have intercepted a mineralized body more than 210 meters long, at least 50 meters wide down-dip, and ranging from 17 to 42 meters thick (Fig. 39). This body is defined by mineralized intercepts containing more than 5% combined lead and zinc, as well as significant copper values (Table 7). Overall, the best result is 5.03% Zn, 1.39% Pb, 0.21% Cu and 14 g/t Ag across 41.82m in Hole ZIM30 (Fig. 40). Photos of the mineralization are in Figures 41 to 44 . Table 7 RC intercepts for drill holes from Jesus Maria and Patrocinio.
BRAMADORBramador is located about 35 kilometers southwest of Talpa de Allende, and 16 kilometers southwest of Desmoronado (Fig. 14). The principal economic activities in the area are coffee-farming and ranching. The known VMS deposits occur on concessions owned by Minera Vagabundo S.A. de C.V. that cover a combined surface area of 290 Ha, and are exposed in the arroyo San Jeronimo over an area 3 kilometers long by 700 meters wide between the pueblos of Bramador and Concepcion de Bramador (La Concha).In 1986, the MMAJ and Servicio Geologico Mexicano drilled 2296.2 metres in seven NQ diamond drill holes between La Concha and Bramador. All of the reported mineralized intercepts occur on the Company's Cabrel concession. Limited geological mapping was done by the Company in 2006 (Fig. 45). The volcanic sequence at Bramador unconformably overlies a metamorphic basement dominated by greenschist. The basement is unconformably overlain by least 300 meters of rhyolite lapilli tuff. Massive sulfides occur near the top of the rhyolite tuffs, and are penecontemporaneous with intrusive rhyolite domes and bedding-parallel cryptodomes that range from 40 to 120 meters thick. The massive sulfides are overlain by at least 300 meters of black argillite intercalated with sandstone. These are intercalated with, and overlain by, a thick sequence of feldspar, hornblende and magnetite megacrystic pillowed andesites up to 1200 meters thick. In general the geologic formations strike east-northeast, and dip southerly. Mortensen et al. (2008) analysed lead isotopes from galena in 2 samples from Bramador. They observe that these samples yield the least radiogenic compositions of 31 samples from the Guerrero Terrane. They conclude that the Pb in these deposits was derived from igneous rocks that were not significantly contaminated by crustal material. This is consistent with the geological cross-section of Fig. 46 that shows Bramador occurs on a basement of greenschist derived from metamorphosed oceanic crust. LA MINAAbout 6 km east of Bramador, pyrrhotite-dominant massive sulfides outcrop in a creek near "La Mina", in the center of the Volantin Property. La Mina is centered on an easterly trending, steeply south dipping massive sulfide that contains 16% Zn, 6.5% Pb, 0.1% Cu and 387 g/t Ag across 1.5 m (sample 16215). Mineralization consists mainly of massive pyrrhotite with sphalerite, galena and subordinate chalcopyrite. The zone is exposed by two short adits 50 metres apart at 710 metres elevation in the Arroyo de la Mina. The easternmost adit exposes a 2 metre wide zone of azufron, or siliceous hematite with anomalous metal values of 21.3 ppm Mo, 94.3 ppm Cu, 0.3% Pb, 0.2% Zn, 4.8 g/t Ag, 42 ppm Ni and 183 ppm As (sample 16213). The mineralization was found by the Company's prospector. No geological inspections of La Mina have yet been done by the Company.DESMORONADOThe Desmoronado VMS camp is located 3 to 4 kilometers northwest of the pueblo of Demoronado, an agricultural community located at the historic smelter site. Principal economic activites in the area are coffee farming and ranching. The known workings occur in an area 1600 meters long and 600 meters wide between Cerro La Bola and the Angelica mine adit on Company property. In 2006, one of the Company's prospectors walked to Almatea from Desmoronado, and took a few samples from some of the mine dumps. The best result was from the Almatea dump, where a grab sample returned values of 102 g/t Ag, 1.3 g/t Au, 10% Zn, 1.2% Pb and 0.2% Cu (sample 19186). The Company has never done any geological inspections of this camp. The following information is from the reports of previous operators.Five sulfide lenses are known in Desmoronado: (i) San Antonio-San Pedro, (ii) San Rafael (also known as Cuatro Minas), (iii) Cinco Minas, (iv) Cerro La Bola and (v) Amaltea. Miranda-Gasca (1995) reports that VMS deposits occur on dacite and latite flows that are overlain by felsic tuff, black shale and rhyolite agglomerate. The volcanic rocks are intruded by magnetic I-type monzodiorite with abundant xenoliths of mafic rocks. Between 1967 and 1973, Zimapan produced 266,500 tons of ore grading 13.6% Zn, 2.6% Pb, 0.97% Cu, 154 g/t Ag and 1 g/t Au from an underground mine at Amaltea. Concurrent with the mining operations, an exploration drilling campaign consisting of 1938.45 metres in 37 small-diameter core holes was completed. In 1975, Ing. E. Rocha completed an initial mineral resource calculation for the San Rafael massive sulphide body based on 23 intercepts. In 1989 Zimapan re-visited Cuatro Minas with a second campaign of drilling for a total of 2884.5 metres completed in 1991. The final result of that work was the ore resource estimate in Table 4. In 1986, the MMAJ covered the area with stream sediment samples. Nine contiguous drainage basins define an anomaly 3.5 kilometers long and 1.5 kilometers wide with average result of 13.8 ppm Ag, 94 ppm Cu 219 ppm Pb and 492 ppm Zn from 9 samples. The southwestern third of this anomaly is caused by the known mineralization, but there are no known workings in the northeastern two thirds of the anomaly area. The Company has not yet verified these historic results, but they could imply a significant strike length of the mineralized horizon well beyond the known deposits. ARANJUEZThe Aranjuez VMS camp is located 8 kilometers southwest of Talpa de Allende. The principal known VMS deposit of this district is La América. The deposit is held on a 96 Ha concession that is owned by a Mexican individual. The América lens is oriented 060-080º/50-75ºSE, is about 5 meters thick, and occurs at the contact between rhyolitic and sedimentary rocks (Miranda-Gasca, 1995). It has been mined out underground for a strike length of about 50 meters.On the Company's Property, the largest workings are the Descubriadora adits. The adits are driven into a zone of strongly silicified rhyolite with stringers of chalcopyrite, sphalerite and minor pyrite. A chip-channel sample across one of these yielded results of 472.9 g/t silver, 0.44 g/t Au, 0.06% Zn, 0.6% Pb and 0.04% Cu across 1 meter (sample 19170). In general, the mineralization appears to represent a footwall stockwork zone. Stratigraphically above the Descubriadora stockwork, there is a mineralized horizon of black argillite that has been located by rock sampling over a 1000 meter strike length. The average result of 19 surface rock samples from this horizon is 79 g/t Ag, 0.33 g/t Au, 0.2% Pb, 0.1% Zn and 0.03% Cu. Geological mapping done by the Company in 2007 and 2009 implies that the argillite that overlies the Descubriadora stockwork is a fault off-set of the same argillite horizon that hosts the América VMS deposit (Fig. 47). |
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