IMA gains ground in southern Argentina

Vancouver — IMA Exploration (IMR-V) has acquired the 127-sq.-km Victoria claim package, which is contiguous with the company’s Bayas property in southern Argentina’s Chubut province.

The new property increases IMA’s land holding to 200 sq. km in Chubut, and the junior is reviewing several other new projects. The Las Bayas property is on the same geological trend as Brancote Holdings’ Esquel deposit, which hosts a resource of 3.8 million oz. gold.

IMA evaluated satellite data from the Victoria claims and believes the principle zone of gold-bearing quartz veins previously identified on the Las Bayas property may extend up to 4.5 km on to the Victoria claims. The only two rock samples taken from the Victoria claims returned values of 1.4 and 0.8 grams gold per tonne. Further exploration is planned for the remainder of 2002.

Previous sampling of the veining on Las Bayas returned gold values of up to 25.8 grams per tonne. Individual veins on Las Bayas occur up to 22 metres in width and are exposed intermittently along strike; they’ve been traced over 350 metres. The style of mineralization and trace element signatures on Las Bayas are characteristic of low-sulphidation epithermal precious metal mineralization.