Cornucopia in gold venture with Centurion Mines, Utah

Vancouver-based Cornucopia Resources is embarking on a joint venture with Centurion Mines of Salt Lake City, Utah, at the West Tintic mining district in central Utah, Cornucopia announced recently.

Located about 80 miles southwest of Salt Lake City, the joint venture comprises 5,000 contiguous mining acres containing a number of former gold-silver producers including the Scotia mine.

Under the terms of the agreement, Cornucopia’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Red Mountain Resources, can earn a 50% interest by spending $250,000 within 12 months and by issuing 50,000 shares of Cornucopia treasury stock.

Red Mountain can increase its interest to 60% by spending another $250,000 on exploration, buying $250,000 worth of Centurion treasury shares at market prices and issuing to Centurion 50,000 Cornucopia treasury shares.

The joint venture will attempt to delineate near-surface oxidized deposits in host rocks similar to those at American Barrick Resources’ Mercur mine 40 miles to the northeast.

Cornucopia Chairman Andrew Milligan says disseminated gold mineralization was identified recently around the Scotia mine property (reopened by Centurion last month) and at several other locations on the West Tintic properties.

Assays from 149 samples taken from the Scotia mine, just before it was shut down in 1920, averaged 0.27 oz gold and 8 oz silver per ton, Milligan says.

Mineralized rocks in the district consist of a north-trending structure of 400 to 500 million-year-old quartzite and limestone, intruded on a number of times by igneous rocks.