New World takes plunge in Bolivia

Vancouver — In the face of a recent major shift towards socialism in Bolivia, New World Resource (NW-V, NWFFF-O) is optioning the Lipea gold and copper project in the southwestern portion of the country, near the border with Argentina.

Lipea is a mineralized magmatic breccia system that saw extensive exploration from 1995 to 1997 by Battle Mountain Gold, since acquired by Newmont Mining (NMC-T, NEM-N). Drilling up to 300 metres below surface encountered gold-copper-silver mineralized structures over 1 km of strike length and across a width of about 300 metres.

The mineralization is hosted in a Tertiary-aged Bonete volcanic complex; three steeply plunging breccia pipes have been identified (Lipea, Central and La Mosa). The pipes are primarily composed of andesitic fragments cutting the volcanic sequence.

Battle Mountain drilled almost 13,000 metres in 44 holes on the breccia complex at Lipea, with significant results including the following:

– Hole LP-03 — intersected 108 metres grading 2 grams gold, 25.5 grams silver per tonne and 2.2% copper in the Lipea zone (ending in mineralization);

– Hole LP-13 — cut 24.4 metres of 5.3 grams gold, 5.2 grams silver and 0.15% copper at the gold-enriched Central zone; and

– Hole M-01 — returned a 9.2-metre intercept averaging 6.9 grams gold and 5.1 grams silver at the La Mosa zone.

Mineralization occurs mainly as veinlets and disseminations. The three breccias are exposed at surface and are thought to coalesce at depth.

New World can acquire up to 75% of the project from a Bolivian individual by making cash payments totalling $1.1 million, issuing 1.85 million shares and spending $2.2 million on the property over four years.

In a statement, company president John Lando commented: “Our due diligence review, which included a site inspection last week and meetings in Bolivia to assess the political climate, has persuaded us that Lipea has the potential to become our flagship project.”

Bolivia’s new president, Evo Morales, recently took office, following overwhelming support in a December election. Morales, a strongly left-leaning politician and the first leader of Bolivian Indian background, has pledged to end corruption and address the rampant poverty in Bolivia, one of South America’s poorest countries. His campaign promise to nationalize Bolivia’s natural gas reserves is being closely watched by a number of multinational corporations with interests in the area.