Northair targets Venturina for bulk-tonnage potential (July 20, 1998)

Geological mapping and sampling continue to confirm and expand on a potential bulk-tonnage gold-silver target at the Venturina property in the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua.

International Northair Mines (INM-V) has traced a zone of gold and silver mineralization over a strike length of 1,000 metres and a width ranging from 15 to 75 metres. Much of the structure is concealed by a thin colluvial cover. Results from 287 chip and channel samples point to an average grade of 1.64 grams gold and 43 grams silver per tonne.

Mineralization occurs in a wide, complex northwesterly-striking fault zone that is interpreted to dip sub-parallel to the topography.

The Venturina property lies in the Sierra Madre Occidental province and covers a core position of the historic Dios de Guia gold-silver district, which has a rich history of high-grade production dating back to the late 1800s. Abundant small mine workings are found on the property. Northair’s president, Fred Hewett, notes that the property appears not to have been explored by modern methods.

The company’s wholly owned Mexican subsidiary, Grupo Northair de Mexico, can acquire a 100% interest in the property by paying US$138,000 in cash and 100,000 shares over four years.

Sampling to date has concentrated on the northwestern end of the Venturina target, referred to as NW zone, which has a strike length of about 550 metres. There, 226 chip and channel samples have been found to average 1.76 grams gold and 38 grams silver.

Sections of the zone were sampled by continuous, 5-metre channels in areas of good exposures, along with representative “panel grabs” over small outcrops. A panel sample represents a 5-by-5-metre area. Systematic channeling was also carried out in old underground workings. Hewett says the underground samples comprise 15-20% of the total samples.

The NW zone was sampled on 13 sections along the 550 metres of strike length. From northwest to southeast, a summary of the sections is as follows:

Section	Interval(m)	Gold Grade (g/t)	Silver Grade (g/t)
1	25	5.00	114.9
2	14	1.13	24.2
3	28	1.70	17.9
4	27	1.48	46.7
5	16	1.80	25.4
6	15	2.42	35.2
7	23	3.80	40.2
8	25	3.17	32.0
9	27	2.11	25.8
10	20	4.12	19.7
11	27	2.28	56.6
12	34	1.61	269.6
13	10	5.81	198.0

All sections crosscut the strike of the mineralization, with the exception of section 11, which is sub-parallel. Section 10 follows section 9 and represents a true width of about 55 metres. All assaying has been conducted by Chemex Labs, with check assaying by Bondar-Clegg & Co.

“We have been very cautious in our sampling,” Hewett tells The Northern Miner. “We made a great deal of effort to take representative samples.” As an example, he cites section 7, which ran 23 metres averaging 3.8 grams gold and 40.2 grams silver and which comprised seven samples. Four of those were panel samples, while three were 5-metre chips. The assay values range from a low of 0.69 gram gold and 23.4 grams silver to a high of 7.36 grams gold and 91 grams silver. “It is a remarkably consistent zone,” Hewett says.

Preliminary bottle-roll tests from surface and a few selected underground samples indicate a gold recovery of about 81%.

Most of the mineralization in the NW zone is hosted by an andesite tuff, the oldest unit observed in the district. Faulting has vertically offset andesite against dacite.

On the southeastern end of the Venturina target, referred to as the SE zone, 73 samples were taken over a 500-metre strike length and averaged 1.17 grams gold and 50.2 grams silver. Many of these samples are continuous, 5-metre channels. Several small mine workings trend along the zone.

The SE zone is structurally complex, with most of the mineralization occurring in a dacite unit.

The Venturina target is exposed over a vertical range of 300 metres. This is partly due to post-mineral faulting and doming, which have caused uplifting of rocks in the south.

Regionally, the district is underlain by mineralized, Tertiary-age volcanic units covered by younger, post-mineral volcanic and volcano-sedimentary units.

The Dios de Guia district lies in an interpreted domal complex, where uplifting and faulting by a suspected deep-seated intrusive have vertically offset the mineralized volcanic units. However, the only intrusive on the property noted to date is a fine-grained felsic dyke. Northair describes the area as structurally complex, with abundant pre- and post-mineral faulting developed along several regional orientations.

Epithermal gold-silver mineralization occurs in a low sulphide environment in zones of massive quartz veining, horsetail veinlets, stockworking and massive, multi-stage silicification. Oxidized pyrite constitutes less than 5% of the zone and does not appear to be directly associated with gold and silver values.

Hewett says some sample sites have run 2-3 grams gold in silicified volcanics with no veining, while noting that stockwork mineralization with the same grade has a slightly higher sulphide content.

Mapping, sampling and hand-trenching are ongoing, as the company branches out from the main area of interest to look at the surrounding ground. Other targets include the Salvador, San Jose West and San Jose East showings, all of which are marked by historic mine workings.

Salvador is 800 metres east of the Venturina zone. Thirteen samples have been taken, returning values of up to 7.3 grams gold and 287 grams silver.

The San Jose West target is 2 km northeast of Venturina. Sixteen samples taken from the area average 1.39 grams gold. A further 500 metres to the east, at the San Jose East target, 20.95 grams gold and 94.8 grams silver were encounted, based on three samples.

Mechanical trenching on Venturina is not expected to begin until September, after Mexico’s rainy season subsides, with drilling scheduled to follow.

This work is budgeted at $500,000, including the first phase of drilling.

Northair has spent only US$50,000 to date on Venturina.

Northair has solidified its land position by optioning ground from Visionary Mining (VIN-V) and Cominco (CLT-T) to hold in excess of 2,500 ha around the Venturina property. Northair can earn, from Visionary, a 51% interest in a 2,050-ha package by spending US$550,000 on exploration over three years and paying US$50,000 cash plus 200,000 shares.

Northair can earn a 100% interest in the 10 de Mayo property by paying Cominco $30,000 over six years, while conducting exploration. Cominco retains a 60% back-in right, which it can exercise once a production decision is made, or once exploration expenditures reach US$5 million.

The company has 5.1 million shares outstanding, or 6.5 million fully diluted. Working capital is reported to be $1.3 million.