Kimber encounters more gold and silver at Monterde

Vancouver — Drill testing of two structures has yielded grades and styles of mineralization similar to those of the Carmen deposit on Kimber Resources’ (KBR-T) Monterde property in Chihuahua state, Mexico.

Kimber is working on prefeasibility-stage drilling, metallurgical testing and environmental studies, which are designed to assess Carmen’s potential as an open-pit mine. Meanwhile, the company is examining the property’s underground potential, and is exploring other parts of the 1,800-hectare property, where structurally controlled gold and silver mineralization is hosted by a volcanic intrusive complex.

The property contains a former small underground mine, which produced 68,000 tonnes of oxide ore that graded 19.3 grams gold and 311 grams silver per tonne between 1937 and 1943. Kimber recently drill-tested the Cocos structure, 200 metres to the east of the Carmen deposit, and the Cob structure, on the east side of Carmen.

Two of Kimber’s first four holes on the Cocos structure intersected significant gold and silver mineralization. Hole MTR-200 cut 16 metres grading 1.2 grams gold and 28 grams silver per tonne from a down-hole depth of 206 metres. MTR-204 intersected 14 metres, grading 0.5 gram gold and 57 grams silver per tonne from a depth of 152 metres, and 26 metres grading 1.7 grams gold and 21 grams silver from a depth of 184 metres.

The Cocos structure runs parallel to the Carmen deposit. It has been traced over 300 metres, and the ground between Cocos and the Carmen deposit remains untested.

Kimber’s five holes into the north-striking Cob structure also showed good grades over 10- to 15-metre widths along 150 metres of strike length. The whole structure is 450 metres long.

One hole, MTR-198, returned 0.8 gram gold and 68 grams silver over 30 metres from a depth of 24 metres. Another, MTR-202, intersected 10 metres of 2 grams gold and 157 grams silver from a depth of 78 metres down-hole. A third, MTR-206, contained 16 metres of 2.1 grams gold and 165 grams silver per tonne from 106 metres down-hole.

Drill testing north of the Dome fault, which crosscuts the Carmen structure, showed Carmen-related structures continue for 75 metres north of the fault, where they appear to have been faulted off. Thirteen significant intercepts ranging from 4 to 60 metres long returned gold grades in the 0.1-to-2.5-gram range and silver grades between 1 and 244 grams per tonne. The longest intersection, 60 metres, graded 0.3 gram gold and 122 grams silver per tonne. Five of the holes came up blank.

Kimber’s infill drilling at the main Carmen deposit intersected both the Carmen structure and the Los Hilos structure, a parallel structure about 200 metres to the northeast that intersects Cob. Among the better intersections were two from hole MTR-186: 14 metres of 1.3 grams gold and 243 grams silver per tonne, from a 2-metre depth, and 24 metres of 1.7 grams gold and 118 grams silver, from a depth of 246 metres.

The company is incorporating these results into its resource estimate for the Carmen deposit in an effort to outline the equivalent of one million minable oz. gold at the deposit.

Last September, Kimber upped the resources at Carmen based on results from 170 drill holes, using a cutoff grade of 0.5 gram gold per tonne for the higher grade material while its lower grade resource was based on a 35-gram silver cutoff. The higher grade material contains some 289,000 oz. gold and 15 million oz. silver in the measured and indicated categories, in 5.1 million tonnes grading 1.75 grams gold and 91 grams silver per tonne. There are another 3.2 million tonnes grading 1.76 grams gold and 88 grams silver per tonne in the inferred category, which contain 183,000 oz. gold and 9.1 million oz. silver.

Lower grade blocks contain 44,262 oz. gold and 12 million oz. silver in 6.1 million tonnes grading 0.23 gram gold and 61 grams silver in the measured and indicated category. Inferred resources include 3.1 million tonnes grading 0.35 gram gold and 59 grams silver for 36,000 oz. gold and 6 million oz. silver.

Carmen is oxidized to a depth of 300 metres.