Francisco to table El Sauzal feasibility study

Vancouver — Junior Francisco Gold (FGX-V) expects to table a bankable feasibility study for its El Sauzal project in Mexico late in 2001.

Situated 13 km west of Batopilas in Chihuahua state, El Sauzal contains an oxide gold reserve of 20.9 million tonnes grading 3 grams gold per tonne, equivalent to 2 million contained ounces. Prefeasibility work has deemed the reserve minable by open-pit methods.

The feasibility study is being completed by Tucson-based M3 Engineering & Technology and the Denver office of Golder Associates. Slope stability studies and the routing of the production road have already been identified, as well as site locations for the plant and tailings pond. Geotechnical drilling and bulk metallurgical sampling are to begin early in 2000.

The study envisions a 6,000-tonne-per-day operation and is expected to produce gold at less than US$70 per oz. over the first two years. Based on recent engineering work, the capital costs could be 25-30% lower than the originally estimated US$139 million.

Geologically, El Sauzal represents a high-sulphidation, epithermal gold deposit. The host rocks comprise andesite flows, tuffs and breccias, which grade upward into intercalated, highly altered dacitic volcanic rocks. Gold mineralization occurs in the upper dacite along with quartz-kaolinite- dickite-alunite alteration. The dacites are overlain unconformably by post-mineral rhyolite and dacite breccias and conglomerates that contain no significant gold mineralization.

Meanwhile, in Guatemala, Francisco has drilled 10 additional holes on its Marlin gold-silver property. Following up on an encouraging first round of drilling, the recent drilling promises to increase the mineralized zone by 150 metres to the southwest and 125 metres to the south. Assay results are expected in January.