Verena acquires Brazilan project

Toronto-based Verena Minerals (VMCO-C) has acquired 100% of a past-producing mineral project in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Norte.

The Bonfim property was an underground scheelite mine that began production in 1969. The mine produced tungsten until 1981, when it closed because of depressed prices.

Although the mine was never tested for gold during its operation, 150 samples were taken from the scheelite horizon (at 2-metre intervals) in 1993 and assayed for gold. Verena reports that these samples returned an average of 9.38 grams gold per tonne, with many assays running over 30 grams.

In that same year, 110 kg of gold were recovered by leaching 20,000 tonnes of waste material and rejects from the mine, for a recovered grade of 5.5 grams.

During its due diligence review of the project, Verena identified a close relationship between the gold and bismuth minerals. The junior then negotiated an agreement to acquire the project for US$36,000, payable in 12 monthly installments. The vendor retains a net smelter return royalty of 1.5%, and is entitled to a payment equal to 1% of the present value of a defined deposit.

Verena is planning an exploration program aimed at defining a gold reserve on the property, with the other minerals of tungsten and bismuth potentially being value-added products. The program will also test other portions of the scheelite horizon, which has been traced over 3 km along a synclinal structure.

Through a local subsidiary, Verena also controls more than 1.2 million ha of gold concessions in Tocantins and Goias states, near the national capital, Brasilia.