Solitario poised for busy drill season

Vancouver – Denver-based Solitario Resources (SLR-T) is gearing up to drill-test eight mineral projects in Latin America, including several newly acquired gold and silver projects in Brazil and Bolivia.

Among the projects scheduled for drilling this year are the advanced Bongara high-grade zinc project and the Libertad gold project, both in Peru, the Pedra Branca platinum group elements (PGEs) project and the Mercurio gold project, both in Brazil, and the Trifuno gold-silver-lead-zinc project in Bolivia.

Drill programs are planned for two new acquisitions, the Pau d’Arco gold project in Brazil, and the Titicayo silver project in Bolivia. Pau d’Arco is situated in the Tapajos gold district, which has a strong history of artisinal mining. The Brazilian property has never drill-tested. Titicayo is an early-stage silver Bolivian project that will be tested with 800 metres of drilling.

Another recent acquisition scheduled for drilling is the Pachua Real silver-gold project in Mexico. The project is situated in the Pachuca-Real del Monte mining district, which has historically produced more than 1.4 billion oz. silver and 7 million oz. gold.

President Chris Herald stated that the eight projects represent “the most significant array of mineral properties” in the company’s history, and added that each has “excellent potential to develop into a top-tier mineral deposit.”

Anglo Platinum is funding the next round of exploration at Pedra Branca in Brazil. This year’s US$1.25-million program is part of a $7-million earn-in joint venture, and will include drilling, resource modeling, metallurgical testing and other pre-feasibility related work.

Drilling at the Bongara project in Peru is aimed at delineating a high-grade zinc resource within an area representing about 5% of the known extent of mineralization. The 4,500-metre program is slated to begin later this year, and will be followed by feasibility-stage programs, assuming positive results.

The Libertad gold project in southern Peru is the first property to be explored and drilled under the company’s “strategic alliance” with Newmont Mining (NEM-N, NMC-T).