Resource outlined at Sierra Azul

Junior Stratabound Minerals (SB-A) has calculated a resource for the past-producing Sierra Azul lead-zinc property in Mexico’s Coahuila state.

A preliminary resource of 700,000 tonnes grading 9.22% zinc and 3.69% lead was calculated from eight surface drill holes, four underground holes drilled by previous owners, 174 underground channel samples and smelter receipts from 4,000 tonnes of sulphide mineralization mined during the 1970s. Nearly two-thirds of the resource is oxidized.

Dubbed Santa Genoveva, the deposit averages 10 metres in true thickness, extends at least 50 metres downdip and strikes northwest to southeast for at least 475 metres. A specific gravity of 2.5 and 3.5 respectively, was assigned to the deposit’s oxide and sulphide material, respectively, for tonnage estimations.

Mineralization is associated with a brecciated dolomite body and an adjacent 15-metre-thick stratiform manto body, which formed at the contact of the dolomite and an arkosic unit. The mineralized bodies are part of a larger carbonate sequence that has been traced on surface for 10 km along strike.

Small historical workings are found at several points along the sequence.

In the 1800s, mining on the property centred on near-surface oxide mineralization (reportedly running better than 30% combined lead-zinc). The operation was converted to a shallow underground mine in the 1970s, during which time 4,000 tonnes averaging 12% zinc, 4% lead, 30.9 grams silver and 0.25 gram gold were mined.

After 1977, the project fell into obscurity for two decades and changed hands twice through inheritance. Legal restrictions prevented the beneficiaries from seeking outside assistance until early last year, when they optioned their 19-sq.-km parcel of land to Stratabound.

Since then, Stratabound has staked and optioned additional ground, increasing the property to its current size of 40 sq. km. To earn a 100% interest in the optioned ground, which includes most of the deposit, the company must pay a total of US$850,000 over five years.

Stratabound is now drawing up plans to rehabilitate and lengthen an adit to the underground workings. This will allow underground drilling to test for downdip and northern extensions of mineralization. Based on a few holes, the mineralization appears to be increasing in grade and sulphide content in those directions.

The company is awaiting results from six scout holes that were drilled into untested chargeability anomalies. One of the anomalies is on strike with Santa Genoveva and is reportedly nine times as intense as the anomaly associated with that deposit. Both are enclosed by a broader anomaly of low resistivity, which is interpreted to reflect the favorable dolomite breccia unit.