Mexoro upbeat about past producing Cieneguita

If one adheres to the safety-in-numbers school of mining and exploration then Mexoro Minerals’ (MXOM-o) Cieneguita property, in Mexico’s Sierra Madre occidental belt in Chihuahua state, is a pretty safe bet.

Cieneguita is in the heart of the Sierra Madre gold-silver belt, about 375 km southwest of Chihuahua city, in the Baja Tarahumara canyons of southwest Chihuahua state, and just 20 km from Goldcorp’s (G-T, GG-n) El Sauzal gold mine, which produced 306,900 oz. gold last year.

The region hosts other sizable gold deposits too, including Kimber Resources’ (KBR-T, KBX-x) Monterde deposit (resource of 1.3 million oz. gold), roughly 260 km southwest of Chihuahua city, and Coeur d’Alene Mines’ (CDM-T, CDE-n) Palmarejo deposit (proven and probable reserves of 62.4 million oz. silver and 751,100 oz. gold).

Minefinders’ (MFL-T, MFN-x) Dolores mine is not far away, 250 km west of Chihuahua city, with proven and probable reserves of 2.44 million oz. gold and 126.64 million oz. silver.

Mexoro acquired Cieneguita from Glamis Gold, which had operated a mine there from 1995-98 until the plunging price of gold made it uneconomic. Historic estimates show that Glamis mined about 198,000 tonnes of rock grading 2.27 grams gold per tonne. (Goldcorp acquired the assets of Glamis Gold in 2006.)

Now Mexoro is extending the mineralized body on the property and drill results released in September suggest there may very well be more good news ahead.

The highlight was an intersection of 23 metres grading 8.9 grams gold per tonne and 63.3 grams silver per tonne, including 3.7 metres of 32.4 grams gold and 72 grams silver.

“This intercept suggests that there are high-grade, structurally controlled zones within the more generally disseminated body of mineralization, which may help to raise the overall grade of the deposit,” Mexoro said in a statement.

Other highlights included hole 47, which cut 48.8 metres of 0.8 gram gold per tonne, 166.9 grams silver, 0.5% lead and 1.1% zinc; and hole 44, which returned 18.4 metres averaging 1.1 grams gold and 30.2 grams silver.

With these new mineralized intervals, Mexoro says mineralization at Cieneguita can be traced along a length of 1 km and remains open to the west-southwest and at depth in the western part of the mineralized body.

So far, the gold mineralization identified at Cieneguita is of the epithermal vein variety and localized exclusively within intra-caldera rocks (mega-breccias and infill tuffs). The mineralization is structurally controlled, occurring at the intersections of east-northeast structures and north-south extensional faults, the company says.

According to a technical report on Cieneguita, Mexoro conducted exploration and detailed mapping work last year that resulted in the discovery of three new gold zones. The Pit 1 north area (Tajo 1) yielded a rock chip sample assaying 31.6 grams gold over 2 metres.

A chip sample taken in the Pit 2 south area (Tajo 2) yielded 4.8 grams gold and 94.5 grams silver. Sampling in the central zone returned a 2.5-metre chip sample containing 4.22 grams gold per tonne and 20.4 grams silver.

Gold-bearing rocks on the Cieneguita property are of three main types: oxide, sulphide and mixed.

The Cieneguita caldera appears to be part of a larger caldera complex that exhibits a rough north-south trend, which may, at its southern end, include Goldcorp’s El Sauzal project.

Field mapping in 2006 indicated that the Cieneguita caldera is about 15 km wide and up to 32 km long.

At presstime, Mexoro traded at about US35 per share on the Over-The-Counter Bulletin Board (OTCBB).

In September, Mexoro retained Haywood Securities to sponsor a listing on the Toronto Stock Exchange or the TSX Venture Exchange.