Australian-based Newcrest Mining plans to drill-test the Diente Verde gold-copper porphyry prospect in the central Argentine province of San Luis.
Newcrest can acquire a 60% interest in the property from Goldcliff Resource (GCN-V) by spending US$4.8 million on exploration over four years.
The property centres on a 2-sq.-km alteration zone. The DV showing is a potassic-siliceous altered porphyry containing disseminated and stockwork-style sulphide and oxide mineralization, with secondary magnetite.
It is poorly exposed in a caldera setting and is just beginning to weather-out from capping volcanic flows.
Goldcliff collected 140 samples at 1.5-metre intervals across an exposed area measuring 75 by 50 metres. Gold values ranged from 0.037 to 5.79 grams for an average grade of 0.68 gram, whereas copper values ranged from 0.066% to 1% for an average grade of 0.53%.
Surface work by Newcrest has confirmed these values and significantly expanded the zone of gold and copper mineralization.
The proposed drill program will consist of 15 reverse-circulation holes, spanning 3,000 metres.
Newcrest is also targeting the Mario showing, 1,200 metres southeast of the DV showing. Surface work has revealed two new exposures of
quartz-limonite-malachite stockwork in feldspar porphyry. Preliminary results from sampling show gold values ranging from 490 to 1,101 parts per billion.
Earlier grab sampling by Goldcliff in the Mario area revealed values of up to 0.66 gram gold and 1% copper.
In preparation for drilling, a 35-km magnetic and induced-polarization geophysical survey is under way, along with trenching and road access for the drill sites.
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