Almaden hits at Bufa

Vancouver — Drilling by Grid Capital (GID-V) has encountered high-grade gold and silver values at the Bufa project in Mexico’s Chihuahua state.

The Vancouver-based junior can earn a 60% interest in the project from Almaden Minerals (AMM-T) by spending US$2 million on exploration and issuing 500,000 shares to its joint-venture partner.

Several holes returned high-grade gold and silver values associated with lead-zinc mineralization over relatively narrow intervals. The best results were observed in hole 3, which returned 1.62 metres (from 64.38 to 66 metres) grading 9 grams gold and 447 grams silver per tonne, including 0.82 metre of 17.15 grams gold and 787 grams silver, plus a 1.6-metre interval grading 8.7 grams gold and 503 grams silver.

The best results from hole 4 were an 0.52-metre interval grading 2.87 grams gold and 363 grams silver and a 0.86-metre interval of 2.5 grams gold and 109 grams silver.

Almaden and Grid view these results as “extremely significant” as they represent four pierce points along an estimated 10% of the 1.4-km strike length of the Bufa vein system. The companies note, however, that parallel veins are contained in the brecciated vein systems, as indicated by hole 3, which intersected four mineralized zones of veining and brecciation. Grid also cautions that there is not enough geological information “to accurately determine the true widths of the intersections.” The company plans to test the discovery further.

Grid also holds rights to explore the Galeana property, accessible by road from the town of Guadalupe y Calvo. The company can earn a 60% interest from Almaden by issuing 500,000 shares to the underlying vendor and by completing a US$1.25-million work program by mid-2007. Recent exploration at Galeana has identified drill targets along three major vein systems, all of which saw some historic production before the Mexican Revolution.

Historic mining in the general Guadalupe y Calyo region focused on multiple, vein-type gold-silver occurrences. Past production is pegged at 2 million oz. gold and 28 million oz. silver at average grades of 37 grams gold and 870 grams silver.

Almaden also has other projects in Mexico, including a joint venture with BHP Billiton World Exploration to explore for copper-gold deposits.