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Escorpion Project
In early 2005, the Company successfully concluded lengthy negotiations to acquire the right to earn a majority interest in a large land position covering two former producing gold mines, the Merceditas and the Chululera, plus district-scale exploration potential.,. Additionally, the property has extensive prospect activity, ranging from small trenches and pits to several small adits and substantial glory holes. Despite its previous production history and evidence of widespread gold occurrences, the property has been only casually explored by mining companies like Amax, Rio Tinto, Rio Algom, and Chevron, and has not been subjected to detailed evaluation or drilling.
Gold mineralization at Escorpion occurs within a regional and wide north-northeast-trending shear zone that appears to localize many phases of intrusive rocks (as dikes, sills, and small intrusive bodies) hosted by sedimentary and volcanic rocks. The entire complex has been subjected to multiple hydrothermal events involving silicification, sulfide emplacement, argillic alteration, intense limonitic alteration, and widespread quartz stockworks. Gold has a strong association with silver, arsenic, antimony, lead, cadmium, and molybdenum. In the Chululera area, previous samples have returned gold values averaging 4.23 grams per tonne (0.124 ounces per ton) with high-grade values to 15.10 grams per tonne (0.44 ounces per ton) in a 2 to 10 meter thick zone that is 50 meters wide and 200 meters long (6.5 to 33 feet thick, 164 feet wide by 656 feet in length). At Merceditas, samples collected from workings average 1.46 grams per tonne (0.043 ounces per ton) from a flat lying zone extending 100 m (328 feet) along strike with thicknesses of 40-50meters (131-164 feet). Both zones appear to be open along strike and at depth.
Escorpion is located approximately 318 kilometers (191 miles) north of Santiago, in Region IV of Coquimbo, Chile. The property is situated in the coast ranges of Chile, and is accessible via excellent paved and gravel roads. Numerous dirt roads traverse the majority of the property itself. The Escorpion comprises 159 hectares (about 393 acres), covering nearly 5 square kilometers (about 1.8 square miles).
The Company is pleased to add Escorpion to its Chile portfolio. Escorpion's bulk tonnage gold potential in an area that is accessible year-round validates our continued emphasis on Chile as a premier venue for gold and copper exploration and timely development to production. Furthermore, this property, terms of agreement, and our partner fit with our strategy to acquire and develop high quality exploration properties while developing partnerships capable of taking a property to production.
Field exploration has been initiated with the intent to prepare the project for drilling in mid 2005.
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