Kimber sees Carmen look-alike at Carotare

Vancouver — The coming year promises to be a busy one for Kimber Resources (KBR-T, KBX-X), which plans to advance its Carmen gold-silver deposit to feasibility while exploring two adjacent epithermal systems identified last year at the Monterde property in Chihuahua state, Mexico.

The feasibility study for Carmen is focused on developing an oxidized deposit amenable to open-pit mining and adjacent to the Carmen underground mine, which operated in the 1930s.

Recent exploration has outlined measured and indicated resources of 19.5 million tonnes grading 0.87 gram gold and 57 grams silver per tonne, containing about 545,000 oz. gold and 35.9 million oz. silver. An additional 7.4 million tonnes of 1 gram gold and 39 grams silver are in the inferred category.

In November, the company reported the first resource estimate for the Carotare target, which, like Carmen, is a typical low-sulphidation epithermal system. Based on 28 holes drilled to date, Carotare hosts measured and indicated resources of 2.7 million tonnes grading 0.82 gram gold and 29 grams silver per tonne. Inferred resources add another 3.7 million tonnes of 0.85 gram gold and 25 grams silver.

The Carotare target remains open in all directions. With ongoing drilling, the company believes the newly defined target has similar potential to the Carmen deposit.

Another exploration priority is El Orito Norte, an epithermal system that is believed to link the Carmen and Carotare deposits. Kimber notes that the Carmen and Carotare deposits and the El Orito Norte exploration target form a belt of alteration and mineralization more than 3 km long.

A separate but nearby target, Vetas Minitas, hosts measured and indicated resources of 900,000 tonnes grading 0.71 gram gold and 91 grams silver, plus 400,000 tonnes at 0.37 gram gold and 69 grams silver in the inferred category.

Total measured and indicated resources at the Monterde property now contain an estimated 636,000 oz. gold and 41 million oz. silver, or about 1.1 million gold-equivalent oz. (based on 85 units of silver to one unit of gold). The company’s goal is to demonstrate at least 3 million resource oz. from the various deposits, and to develop new targets on the 280-sq.-km property.

Kimber’s wholly owned Monterde property is situated in the prospective Sierra Madre region, which hosts numerous other gold-silver deposits and exploration targets being explored by various companies.