Mindoro tallies Lobo results

Vancouver — The initial results from a second bout of drilling on the Lobo gold property in the Philippines has returned encouraging values for Edmonton-based Mindoro Resources (MIO-V).

The junior punched hole 14 some 15 metres north of hole 5 (14.28 grams gold over 13.8 metres). The latest hole was drilled vertically hitting the favourable quartz-barite-pyrite hydrothermal breccia zone from 47.4-to-59.5 metres and returning 15.71 grams gold over 12.1 metres. The true width of the zone is estimated at 7-to-8 metres.

Hole 15 was collared from the same site and drilled at a 45 degree angle to the east. This hole hit the target from 23.4-to-31.6 metres, yiedling 10.1 grams gold over 8.2 metres within a bbroader zone of 14.6 metres grading 6.52 grams gold.

Also collared from the same site and drilled at a 78 degree angle to the west, hole 16 cut 0.41 gram gold over 8.3 metres from 59.6 metres downhole. The targeted quartz-barite-pyrite breccia in this hole has been strongly faulted, sheared and has abundant clay and andesite fragments introduced by the faulting.

Holes 17 and 18 both cut the targetted breccia some 15 metres to the north. Assay results are pending.

The best results from the first round of drilling came in hole 7, which cut 22.34 grams gold over 13 metres. Holes 8 and 9 were drilled 172 metres south of hole 7 and intersected, respectively, 3.5 metres averaging 2.4 gram gold, 2.5 gram silver and 0.43% copper, and 4.1 metres grading 2.4 grams gold, 4.84 grams silver and 0.5% copper.

Based on the initial drilling, Mindoro moved the rig back to the central part of SW Breccia zone. Crews will attempt to delineate the zone at 40-metre spacings and to depths of 150 metres below surface.

So far, drilling has tested a 190 metre section of the SW Breccia zone, which lies along the 2-km long Camo structural trend.

The SW Breccia zone appears to be low-sulphidation epithermal mineralization overprinted on to an earlier, copper-gold high-sulphidation style. The zones occur as pods or lenses, so a considerable amount of drilling will be required to define the mineralization.

Mindoro picked up the Lobo property back in 2000 by inking a deal with a privately-held Philippine company led by Australian nationals. Under the deal, the Edmonton-based junior can earn a 51% stake in both the Lobo and nearby Archangel properties by spending US$1.5 million over three years and issuing 500,000 shares for each project. It can then earn an additional 24% by issuing another 500,000 shares and taking the project to the feasibility stage. On completion of a feasibility study, the private company gets a further 500,000 shares.

Located in the province of Batangas, the Lobo property has long been considered prime hunting ground for high-grade copper and gold mineralization. The history of the project dates back to the early 1900’s when the Lobo copper deposit was discovered along the Sampson structural zone. Development however, did not start until 1944 when Pan Philippine developed the project for barite. In 1966, the property was taken over by Copper Belt Mining and developed for copper. Between 1966 and 1969 the mine produced 604 tons of copper, 47.18 kg of gold and 955.75 kg of silver. Since 1969, the property has lied dormant as foreign firms elected to stay away from the country due to draconian mining laws, political unrest and tenement issues.

The Sampson vein contains classic “El Indio” style pyrite-enargite-tetrahedrite veins. Production and reserves at El Indio total 23.2 million tonnes averaging 4% copper, 6.6 grams gold and 50 grams silver per tonne. El Indio also produced 191,000 tonnes of direct shipping ore that averaged 209 grams gold.

The Lobo mine are is underlain by andesitic flow. The vein strikes north 60 degrees east and dips at 60 degrees northwest. In outcrop, the zone is made up of barite and quartz, with occasional copper oxides. Earlier this year, the Philippine government finally granted a mining permit for the project paving the way for Mindoro to start work. The company completed a gridding, prospecting, trenching, and rock-geochemical sampling over the project. The reconnaissance work outlined another major major epithermal vein systems some 800 metres away. Dubbed Camo, the trend extend for atleast 2-km with widths ranging up to 20 metres. The highest trench values came from the SW Breccia zone in the southwestern part of the Camo trend and became the initial target of the drill campaign.