In the Main zone, hole 140 intersected 236.2 metres averaging 1.24 grams gold and 61.7 grams silver per tonne. This included a 15.2-metre interval that ran 11.52 grams gold and 707.7 grams silver.
The company says the high-grade mineralization it has encountered in the current and previous drill campaigns indicate that the feeder structures continue over the entire 1,900-metre-long Main zone. This mineralization remains open at depth.
Drilling on the Dolores property recommenced in January, since which time Minefinders has completed 28 infill holes and four stepout holes. At the Norte target, about 1 km from the Main zone, two initial stepout holes intersected encouraging mineralization. Hole 1 was angled at minus 45 and cut 6 metres averaging 1.28 grams gold and 7.7 grams silver. Hole 2 was drilled from the same pad at minus 70 and intersected 13.7 metres averaging 4.03 grams gold and 5.6 grams silver. The Norte target is believed to represent the northern extension of the East Dyke mineralized system, which lies 1,500 metres to the south.
Drill samples were taken at 1.5-metre intervals and weighed between 12 and 18 kg each. The samples were collected and transported from the site and assayed by Chemex Labs.
To date, 170 of the 220 drill holes drilled in the 1.9-km-long zone have encountered mineralization grading 3 grams gold-equivalent per tonne, or greater. Of these 170 holes, 148, or 67%, encountered multiple intercepts that exceeded 3 grams gold-equivalent per tonne.
Minefinders will update its drill-indicated and inferred resource figures once all assay results from the current program are in. The resource currently stands at 59.3 million tonnes grading 1 gram gold and 58.5 grams silver per tonne, which, based on a 0.5-gram cutoff grade, is equivalent to 1.91 million oz. gold and 111.56 million oz. silver.
The main zone deposit remains open at depth and along strike, and Minefinders believes additional stepout drilling will expand the overall deposit.
In the first quarter, the company incurred a loss of $234,209, compared with a loss of $319,014 in the corresponding period of 1999. The company spent $636,747 on exploration in the recent 3-month period, compared with $535,892 a year earlier. On March 31, 2000, working capital stood at $1 million.
Meanwhile, Minefinders is expanding its exploration focus to include the La Bolsa property in Sonora state, near the Arizona-Mexico border. Targeting a 20-sq.-km area of anomalous gold mineralization, the company has outlined an east-westerly trending, gold-bearing quartz-calcite stockwork consisting of two epithermal gold prospects: El Rudito and El Malacate.
At El Ruidito, 32 channel samples averaged 1.4 grams gold over a 600-metre strike length. Individual 2-metre channel samples returned up to 9.3 grams gold.
About 2 km to the southeast, at El Malacate, 61 of 95 samples returned anomalous gold values over an 800-metre strike length. Individual channel samples returned up to 2.9 grams gold over 3 metres and 1.9 grams gold over 30 metres.
The mineralization is hosted in stockworks, breccias and veins in carbonates, clastic sediments and volcanic flows intruded by rhyolite dykes.
Farther south, in Zacatecas state, Minefinders is advancing the 2.9-sq.-km La Luguna property and the adjacent 5-sq.-km San Antonio property. La Laguna covers the extension of a strong precious metal anomaly outlined by the company in 1998 and 1999. The soil geochemical anomaly has been outlined over a 1-km-by-400-metre area. Chip samples averaged 0.5-4 grams gold, with individual samples returning up to 6.93 grams gold and 401 grams silver. The mineralization is hosted in low-angle quartz-adularia stockworked veins and jasperoidal breccias in calcareous sediments. Minefinders believes that this mineralization dips beneath the La Laguna property.
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