Homestake boostsVeladero resource

Ongoing drilling by Homestake Mining (HM-N) on its 60%-owned Veladero property in northwestern Argentina has increased the gold resource by 39% to 7.8 million contained ounces.

The increased resource is based on 87 additional holes drilled since June 1999 into the Amable and Filo Federico deposits, as well as stepout holes drilled to the north and east.

Veladero now hosts a resource of 7.8 million oz. gold and 147.4 million oz. silver, up 39% and 47%, respectively, from the previous estimates of 5.8 million oz. gold and 100 million oz. silver. The Amable and Filo Federico targets host an indicated and inferred resource totalling 200.1 tonnes grading 1.09 grams gold and 20.8 grams silver per tonne, based on a cutoff of 0.31 gram gold. The major expects to upgrade the resource categories to reserve status by June of this year.

Homestake is particularly encouraged by mineralization hit between the two deposits. This mineralization, though not included in the resource calculation, opens up new possibilities for increasing the resource.

Says Homestake President Jack Thompson: “We have substantially expanded the project’s mineral endowment and made significant progress in assessing its metallurgical and environmental characteristics.”

Based on results, Homestake and joint-venture partner Barrick Gold (abx-t), which owns a 40% interest, have increased to US$18 million from US$13 million the budget for additional exploration and condemnation drilling on potential leach pads and waste dump sites.

Gold mineralization at Veladero is hosted in a suite of Tertiary-age volcanic rocks — the same rocks that host the Pascua, El Indio and Tambo deposits.

Homestake acquired its interest last April through its US$190-million takeover of Argentina Gold.