Based on an agreement with a group of five mineral property owners, Paramount Ventures & Finance (VSE) will acquire rights to more than 27,500 hectares of gold and copper prospects in Jujuy province in the northern tip of Argentina, near the Bolivian border.
No modern exploration has been carried out on the land package, although the properties have been subject to a long mining history on a small scale and to limited depths.
Several distinct types of mineral deposits have been identified on the properties. These include quartz-vein gold, gold-bearing paleoplacer conglomerates, sedimentary copper, bedded lead-zinc sulphides in black shales, and alluvial gold placers.
The properties are perched on a high plateau within flat or gently rolling terrain. Access is described as “excellent,” with roads extending from a state highway to the mining licences. La Quica is the nearest regional centre, about 80 km to the east, with airport, accommodation and transportation facilities.
Paramount’s priority exploration target is the area known as El Torno, near the centre of the property. Three parallel quartz veins have been worked here, from surface and underground, to a maximum depth of 70 metres. Paramount intends to drill-test these veins at depth.
An extensive exploration program is also planned for the Eureka deposit, which lies 5 km east of El Torno. The initial discovery here is described as a 1-to-2-metre-thick, locally high-grade, copper-bearing sandstone with values of up to 18% copper. This is underlain by a 1.5-to-2-metre-thick gold-bearing conglomerate.
No systematic sampling has been performed in the area, but Paramount reports that recoveries from a 5-metre-long Wiffley Table are 2 to 3 grams per cubic metre. Two geological theories have been proposed for the genesis of the deposit (one based on similarities to the Rand deposit in South Africa and the other based on a Carlin-type model), both of which suggest to the company that the property’s overall potential is exceptional.
Paramount is required to make an initial payment of US$50,000 followed by two payments of US225,000 each, after 90 days and 180 days.
To complete the purchase of a 100% interest, the company would have to make further payments totaling US$6.5 million by January 1, 1998. No work commitments, royalties or other considerations are involved in the agreement, which remains subject to regulatory approval.
Paramount also has other projects in Argentina.
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