Excellon, Apex hot on Platosa

Partners Excellon Resources (EXN-V) and Apex Silver Mines (SIL-X) have tabled encouraging assay results from a drill program on the Platosa property in Mexico’s Durango state.

The 11,600-acre property is being explored and evaluated by Mineras de Cordilleras, a wholly owned Mexican subsidiary of Apex, which can earn up to a 65% direct interest in the property from Excellon. In return, Excellon will receive US$1.3 million in property payments and a minimum of US$1.5 million in exploration expenditures, to be made over five years.

Last February, Apex drilled five test holes, one of which, No. 5, intersected massive sulphides averaging 35.2% zinc and 14.4% lead, plus 36.4 oz. silver per ton, over 24.4 ft. Follow-up drilling began in May.

Silver-zinc-lead mineralization at Platosa occurs in tabular bodies known as mantos. Records from the 1970s indicate that localized mining occurred from three mantos west of drill hole 5. About 75,000 tonnes of high-grade ore were produced from these mantos.

Apex’s second round of drilling focused on two mantos, dubbed Nos. 4 and 5. Sixteen diamond core holes totalling 6,070 ft. were drilled on 33-ft. centres.

Highlights of this second program are shown in the accompanying table. Fifteen holes intersected manto 4, which is 295 ft. below the surface, while five holes cut manto 5, about 33 ft. below manto 4.

Both mantos are hosted by a paleo-channel of dolomitic grainstone in limestone sedimentary debris breccias. Locally, the sulphides exist as sand and at times core recovery tends to be low.

Says Apex President Keith Hulley: “Drill results and geophysics both provide strong indications of more discoveries. The style and complexity of the mineralization encountered is consistent with that of a large-scale silver-lead-zinc replacement system.”

Drilling to date has illustrated that disseminated sulphides and thin seams of massive sulphides extend southwest, east and northwest of mantos 4 and 5. Also, geophysical data indicate that untested anomalies lie north and south of these mantos. The next stage of exploration will include further geophysical and geologic analysis, along with soil geochemistry.

Mineralization found at Platosa is similar to that found at the Ojuela mine, 15.5 miles east of Platosa, which reportedly has produced 5-6 million tons grading in excess of 0.11 oz. gold, 15.3 oz silver, 15% lead, 10% zinc and 0.2% copper.