Vancouver — A mapping and geochemical program by Minefinders (MFL-T) has identified seven drill-ready gold targets within, and peripheral to, the Malacate caldera system in northern Sonora state, Mexico.
Focusing on a 65-sq.-km area, the prospects are defined by anomalous-to-ore-grade gold mineralization associated with volcanic calderas.
The strongest anomalies are found within the El Ruidito, Ahumada North and West Bordo Blanco areas. At El Ruidito, values ranging from 1-to-9.3 grams gold per tonne have been received from a high-grade, gold-bearing calcite-quartz vein measuring 1-15metres in width and outcropping continuously for more than 600 metres of strike length.
Rock chip samples collected from the northern portion of the Ahumada prospect returned from 0.5-to-7.7 grams gold. The mineralization is hosted in stockwork-veined and altered conglomerates, felsic dykes and andesitic volcanic flows that stretch for more than 2 km and have widths up to 600 metres.
The southern portion of the Ahumada prospect also returned encouraging values from hydrothermal breccias, open space and cockscomb quartz with calcite replacement textures over an area that measures 2 km by 100 metres. Sample results from this area yielded from 0.1-to-4 grams gold.
At the West Bordo Blanco prospect, an altered and stockwork-veined conglomerate, which has been traced over a strike length of 2 km, returned values grading 0.5-to-5 grams gold.
Based on the results and the presence of hot-spring sinters, the surface exposures may mark the upper levels of several mineralizing systems, which could yield higher grades at depth. The company aims at drill testing these targets in the near future.
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