COMMENTARY — Worldwide gold exploration prospects

The Mining Investment Service of Tucson, Ariz., has compiled a study based on 434 gold exploration deposits throughout the world. And although these projects exist at various stages of exploration, sufficient work has been carried out on most of them for a resource estimate to be established.

Each of the prospects was analyzed on the basis of certain criteria: * Location — It is not surprising that North America ranks first among the regions surveyed in terms of the the number of gold prospects identified (193). This ranking is most likely the result of the extensive gold production base in Canada and the U.S. Latin America ranks second, at 94, with most targets being in Mexico, Chile and Argentina. Following in rank are Australasia, Africa and Europe, with 90, 30 and 27, respectively.

* Ore tonnage — The identified gold prospects in Latin America possess the largest average regional tonnage, at 78.7 million tonnes, and their size is generally more than 75% larger than the average worldwide gold exploration prospect (44 million tons). Europe ranks second, at 57.7 million tonnes, followed by Australasia, at 50.9 million tonnes. Both North America and Africa measure significantly below the world average in terms of tonnage.

* Gold grade — The grade of each prospect was compared with the world average (1.35 grams per tonne) and with regional averages. It was found that the relatively small targets of Africa possess the highest average grades (4.54 grams per tonne), while those of Latin America and North America are at the bottom (0.75 and 0.9 grams per tonne, respectively). (Note: Some gold prospects, especially in North America, are polymetallic, and the study made no attempt to determine “equivalent” gold grades of these.) For its part, Latin America ranks significantly below the worldwide average.

* Contained gold — Europe, at 7.6 million oz., ranks first in this category, a reflection of its generally high-grade deposits. The average gold prospect in Latin America contains more than twice the amount of gold as that of North America (1.9 million oz. versus 813,000 oz.). The Latin American figure is statistically equivalent to the world average, while the estimate for North America is barely 40% of this average.

Further details of the 33-page study may be obtained by contacting Mining Investment Service at 3441 Raintree Dr., Tucson, Ariz. 85741.