Francisco aims drills at Marlin property

Francisco Gold (FGX-T) intends to drill the Marlin gold-silver property in Guatemala once shareholders and regulators approve the company’s proposed acquisition of that property’s owner, privately held Montana Gold

Montana, which is based in British Columbia, controls more than 6,000 sq. km in western Guatemala. The Marlin property, 30 km west of Huehuetenango, is its most advanced property and has the potential to host a large, low-sulphidation epithermal gold system.

The acquisition agreement calls for Francisco to issue 600,000 shares to Montana. In addition, Montana will receive one share for the discovery, at Marlin, of each minable ounce of gold-equivalent above 600,000 oz.

The Main zone has been outlined over an area measuring 350 by 200 metres, with trench samples returning up to 13.34 grams gold and 232 grams silver per tonne over 118 metres. A total of 305 chip samples returned an average grade of 6.06 grams gold and 71 grams silver.

As part of its due diligence, Francisco carried out trenching and sampling on the property. A series of trenches, spanning 400 metres, were dug across the Main zone to depths of 1.5 to 3 metres. Results from continuous 2-metre channel samples taken by Francisco are said to support the high-grade values reported by Montana. The samples were assayed by Chemex Labs of Vancouver using standard fire-assay techniques. Meanwhile, Rescan Engineering is performing an independent check of samples. All these results are to be released when the proposed deal closes, on May 1, 2000.

Francisco reports that ongoing exploration has extended the strike length of the Main zone and outlined a new target, a few hundred metres south of the Don Pancho-Don Tello structural corridor. The Don Pancho-Don Tello zone is 200 metres south of the Main zone. Previous sampling by Montana identified a mineralized area 900 metres long by 10 to 50 metres wide. A total of 111 chip samples from the area returned an average of 3.47 grams gold and 183 grams silver per tonne.

At the Los Cochis zone, 600 metres west of the Main zone, 82 previous samples returned an average of 1.15 grams gold and 12 grams silver.

Montana holds three reconnaissance targets on the same trend as the Marlin property. The most advanced of these, La Cienega, has been identified over an area measuring 1.4 km by 250 metres. A total of 215 chip samples from the silicified zone returned an average of 15 grams silver and 3.5 grams gold. As part of its acquisition agreement, Francisco will issue one share for the discovery, on these targets, of each minable ounce of gold-equivalent in excess of 250,000 oz.

Meanwhile, in neighbouring El Salvador, Montana has formed a joint venture with Intrepid Minerals (IAU-V) to explore the 10,000-ha San Cristobal property. Montana stands to earn a 60% interest by spending US$600,000 on exploration by December 2001.

San Cristobal hosts numerous old workings that exhibit extensive zones of hydrothermal alteration. Previous exploration identified three zones of brecciation and silicification, which host anomalous gold and silver mineralization.