Ourominas options properties

Junior Ourominas Minerals (OMI-T) has entered into option agreements on two properties in the Peixoto de Azevedo area of Brazil’s Mato Grosso state.

The company has 90 days in which to review the geological potential of the properties. Diamond drilling is already under way on one target, Gaucho, and initial assay results are pending. Metallurgical testing has also been conducted, with initial results indicating that gold recoveries in excess of 90% are obtainable.

Negotiations are continuing with Brazil’s Jaruana Mineracao Industria e Comercio regarding the option agreement for 11,000 ha of its wholly owned 230,000-ha Juruena project. Assay results from the final drill holes did not show significant mineralization. In the meantime, Ourominas has been exploring two targets outside the option area identified by aeromagnetic survey. One of them, Clareira, consists of three pits along a 0.5-to-1-metre-wide quartz vein hosted in a moderately propylitized granite.

This vein has been traced along strike for more than 500 metres and contains massive sulphides (pyrite, chalcopyrite and galena), as well as visible gold. Ourominas plans to establish a grid over the three pits and conduct ground geophysics and soil sampling.

Meanwhile, Noranda (NOR-T) has received assay results from diamond drilling on the Aripuana property, also in Mato Grosso state. Noranda is earning a 70% share in the project from Ourominas and its partners, Ambrex (AMBX-C) and St. Genevive Resources (SGVE-C).

Hole AR97-24 was drilled to test an extension of the Valley deposit. The results averaged 10.2% zinc and 4% lead, plus 57.75 grams silver and 0.4 gram gold per tonne over a core length of 11.4 metres. These results, combined with the drilling conducted by Ambrex in 1996, suggest an increase in the dimensions of the mineralized zone both downdip and along strike.

Noranda expects its first phase of drilling to wind down in the next four months.