Previous
Exploration
Three centuries ago, Spanish colonial miners put in ten horizontal
tunnels into the weathered mineralized zones and removed a limited
amount of "high-grade" (30 to 45 ounces of silver per
ton) ore. The miners were forced to stop work when they encountered
hard unweathered rock. In 1994, a government agency (Consejo de
Recursos Minerales) took 347 samples from the rock dumps left behind
by the Spanish miners. The rock dumps contain 21,595 tonnes
of rock averaging 308 grams (9.9 ounces) per tonne silver and 1.53
grams (0.05 ounces) per tonne gold.
Based on this sampling and Stroud’s more recent sampling,
grades average approximately 8.0 ounces silver per tonne and 0.02
ounces gold per tonne with high grade (over 45 ounces silver per
tonne) sections in the breccia zones.
Stroud Diamond Drilling
In 1999, Stroud drilled three holes into the La Rayas zone. These
diamond drill holes encountered silver-gold mineralization ranging
in widths from 25 to 56 metres with grades ranging from 80 to 286
grams silver per tonne and 0.2 to 1.0 grams gold per tonne.
Sampling Programs
Following the limited but very successful drilling program at La Rayas, a program of mapping and prospecting led the discovery of a second zone of mineralization. Dr. Derek McBride, P.Eng. took a series of samples from the old mine workings, which assayed 37.6 grams to 1466.6 grams silver per tonne and 0.17 grams to 3.94 grams gold per tonne. The sampling showed that mineralized structure to be approximately 700 metres long. Earlier miners took out high-grade weathered ore in zones 5 to 10 metres wide.
Additional prospecting on the property located three additional mineralized zones in 2006. Previous sampling from the El Cobre System located east of the Los Reyes Zone assayed 447(g/t) silver, 4.00(g/t) gold and 9.0% lead over 0.7 metres and 0.65 metres of 177.50(g/t) silver, 5.00(g/t) gold and 1.1% lead. A number of adits were located on the mineralized structure. La Esperanza System is located east of the El Cobre System and was discovered by a road cut. The El Zapilote System is located west of the Guadalupe System. Sections of the structure contain a well-developed system of adits and raises, which were used to carry out a limited amount of mining.
