Spokane, Wash.-based Minera Andes (MAI-A) has announced plans to drill the Arroyo Verde gold-silver prospect in eastern Chubut province, Argentina, in late July.
Arroyo Verde is a joint venture with Pegasus Gold (PGU-M) in which Minera Andes, the operator, can earn an 80% interest.
Minera Andes’ program will consist of 1,000 metres of reverse-circulation (RC) drilling in up to
10 holes. The company plans to test for extensions on known mineralized structures that are obscured by alluvial cover. High-resolution geophysics, completed in late June, helped target the location of the drillholes. The company aims to expand the size of the discovery made by Pegasus in 1996, which delineated a small gold-silver resource based on 25 shallow RC holes.
To earn its interest, Minera Andes must spend US$1.3 million over four years, including US$200,000 in the first year. Completion of the proposed 1998 drill program will satisfy the year’s commitment.
Elsewhere in Argentina, Minera Andes is waiting for check assays on the second round of drilling at the El Pluma/Cerro Saavedra gold-silver property in Santa Cruz province. In May, the company completed 20 RC holes (totalling 2,014 metres) plus 2,620 metres of trenching, centered around the Saavedra West target.
More than half of the drill samples and all of the trenching samples have been assayed. Those samples with significant intercepts have been submitted to certified laboratories for independent confirmation. Results are expected by mid-July.
Minera Andes has also completed a detailed examination of five additional prospects (covering 29,520 ha) in Chubut province. This second pass of field reconnaissance located northwesterly and northeasterly trending vein structures
in volcanic rocks similar to those at El Pluma/Cerro Saavedra. Further work is planned here, though drilling, if warranted, would not take place until 1999.
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