Northwestern spots two geochemical targets at Picachos (September 26, 2005)

Toronto-based junior Northwestern Mineral Ventures (NWT-V) has outlined two more mineralized zones on its Picachos property in Durango state, Mexico, and plans to drill the targets.

A soil survey shows two areas with overlapping zones of silver, gold and base metal enrichment, one called Los Cochis and the other Guadalupe. The 7.7-sq.-km property also hosts two other zones defined in the geochemical survey, El Toro and El Pino.

Los Cochis, about 3 km long and between 0.5 and 1 km wide, is centred over old mine workings that exploited five northwest-striking vein structures. The peak silver value in the soils was 1,696 grams silver per tonne and the peak gold value 0.45 gram per tonne. Lead and zinc concentrations were also high in the soils.

Sampling in the workings at Los Cochis returned significant silver and base metal values. A chip-channel sample across the Campamento vein ran 312 grams silver per tonne across 12 metres, with 2% zinc and 1% lead. Another on the El Fresno vein averaged 1,170 grams silver per tonne over 5 metres, with zinc and lead values of 1.2% and 1.3%, respectively.

Two other veins are known at Los Cochis. The Canuto structure assayed 954 grams silver across 3.5 metres, with 0.6% lead and 0.2% zinc. At Las Chivas, a channel sample ran 181 grams silver per tonne, with 3% zinc and 0.8% lead, over 2.3 metres. Sampling from an adit in Las Chivas returned a 48-metre channel averaging 56 grams silver per tonne.

Soil samples at Guadalupe delineated a soil enrichment zone about 0.5 sq. km in area, with peak values of 23.7 grams silver and 0.43 gram gold per tonne. There, too, old workings could be sampled and a 250-metre trench was stripped on surface.

The trench yielded chip-channel samples 4.5 metres long, grading 43.4 grams silver and 0.2 gram gold per tonne, and 68 metres long, grading 9 grams silver and 0.03 gram gold per tonne. In subsurface workings, the best result was from the main Guadalupe vein, which returned 808 grams silver and 3.2 grams gold per tonne over a sample length of 1.4 metres.

Three other vein structures are known. The Cocina vein ran 2,628 grams silver and 28.9 grams gold per tonne, but over only 0.3 metre. The Mina Buenas Aires structure averaged 416 grams silver and 2.7 grams gold over 1.2 metres, and the Pelillos vein, 51 grams silver and 0.3 gram gold over 1.4 metres.

Sampling results from El Toro and El Pino, are pending. Northwestern is earning a 100% interest in the property from RNC Gold (RNC-T).