War Eagle drilling grows Tres Marias

Vancouver – War Eagle Mining Company‘s (WAR-V, WARGF-O) step-out drilling is boosting the size of the mineralized body at its Tres Marias zinc-germanium mine project in Chihuahua State, Mexico.

Four recent surface holes, all collared south of the shaft at the past producing mine, returned high-grade zinc values along with significant germanium grades.

Hole GO-3 cut almost 5 metres (from about 41.6 metres down-hole depth) averaging 21.8% zinc and 243 grams germanium per tonne and was followed by a deeper 7.6-metre interval (at 79 metres depth) of 18.5% zinc and 119 grams germanium.

War Eagle’s Tres Marias project is a former high grade zinc and germanium mine first put into production in the late-1940s and operated until the early-1990s. It churned out about 125,000 tonnes of high-grade oxide and sulphide zinc-lead-germanium ore with reported average historic grades of about 20% zinc and 300 grams germanium.

The company is in the midst of compiling a resource estimate based on its definition drilling and underground sampling programs. It looks to delineate about a half-million tonnes of mineralized material in its goal to recommence operations.

War Eagle also has a mine development application in the works looking to permit a roughly 3-metre by 4.5-metre two compartment shaft sunk to about 150 metres depth, below the existing 7th level of the past workings. Additionally, an underground rehabilitation program is underway on sections of the workings.

Mineralization at Tres Marias is associated with a low-temperature style of Mississippi Valley-type geology. Zinc, lead and germanium were deposited into Cretaceous-aged Santa Elena limestones, which included reef formations comprised of shells and seawater. Oil field brines containing sulphur, zinc, lead, iron, germanium and hydrocarbons migrated from adjacent basins and mixed with the seawater in the reef zones.

Chemical reactions in the mixing brines caused the formation of breccia bodies, collapse zones and deposition of sphalerite (also containing germanium), galena, iron sulphides and gypsum.

The collapse structures provide a readily identifiable surface expression usable as an exploration tool. Aerial examination of the Tres Marias area shows dozens of such structures, or depressions, within a 9 by 2-km zone giving the company targets to chase down that could contain additional mineralization.

Primarily a byproduct of sulphide zinc mining, germanium is a hard grayish-white material that is a semi-conductor and has unique optical properties. It is principally used in manufacturing fibre-optic networks and infrared night vision systems, and as a polymerization catalyst.

Demand for the element has remained strong with sustained growth in infrared security products, silicon-germanium based wireless telecommunications networks and usage in manufacturing of light emitting diodes. Germanium’s market price soared from the US$250 per kg level in 2003 to a recent price of about US$1,150 per kg.