VANCOUVER, Jan. 25, 2019
/CNW/ - Mirasol Resources Ltd.
(TSX-V: MRZ) (OTCPK: MRZLF)
(the "Company" or "Mirasol" ) is
pleased to announce that the Company has signed an
option to purchase (OTP) agreement (the "Agreement")
completing consolidation of the large prospective Sascha –
Marcelina Low Sulfidation Epithermal (LSE) Au-Ag district in
Santa Cruz province, Argentina.
Under the terms of the Agreement, Mirasol can acquire 100% of
the Marcelina claims from a privately-owned mining company, by
making staged option payments totalling US$3.4 million over 4 years, with US$3.15 million due on the 4th anniversary.
If the OTP is exercised, the Marcelina claims will be subject to a
1.5% NSR royalty. There is a minimum US$300,000 exploration spending commitment by
Mirasol during the first three years of the option period.
Stephen Nano, President and CEO
of Mirasol, stated: "Consolidation of the very prospective Sascha
and Marcelina projects into a large-scale district play has been a
long-term objective of Mirasol. This agreement will allow the
multiple underexplored prospects to be systematically explored
utilizing the Company's knowledge of large-zoned epithermal Au+Ag
districts, gained through more than 15 years of successful
exploration in Santa Cruz
province."
Highlights of the Sascha District
- The consolidated Marcelina district has a "footprint" in excess
of 65 sq-km, as defined by anomalous Au+Ag rock chip samples and
satellite-based alteration mapping.
- The claims package comprises 30,600 ha of contiguous
exploration claims, including the 24,900 ha Sascha claims, which
are 100% owned by Mirasol, and an additional 5,700 ha controlled by
Mirasol under the 4-year OTP agreement.
- The project is centered on the extensive Marcelina "Silica Cap"
interpreted to represent the preserved steam heated alteration and
water table silica "blanket", a feature typical of the near
paleosurface level of an LSE Au+Ag system.
- Multi-kilometre long Au+Ag vein and structural trends, which
traverse and outcrop surrounding the Marcelina Silica Cap, display
similarities in areal extent and geological setting to the Cerro
Negro Silica Cap, where GoldCorp operates the "Vein Zone and Bajo
Negro" mines in the world class Cerro Negro Au+Ag Mining District
located 100 km to the north of Sascha-Marcelina.
- Rock chip samples from the Sascha-Marcelina district have
assays ranging from weakly Au anomalous (10's ppb) in the area of
the Silica Cap (above the mineralized epithermal interval), up to a
peak assay of 160 g/t Au, (5.14 opt) and 780 g/t Ag (25.07 opt) at
the Sascha Main prospect (interpreted top of the high grade Au+Ag
mineralized epithermal interval).
- Initial remodeling of shallow drilling, completed at the 5 km
long Sascha Vein trend in 2009 by
then Joint Venture partner Coeur Mining, shows that grade vectors
to-depth with interpreted untested Au+Ag "shoots" of higher-grade
mineralization, representing compelling priority targets for drill
testing.
- Other mineralized trends recognized at the project have not
been systematically mapped, sampled nor previously drill tested,
suggesting significant potential to define new drill targets along
these trends using current exploration technologies and new deposit
models.
- Mirasol is mobilizing a field team to the Marcelina District to
begin a program of systematic surface exploration to define drill
targets. This exploration will initially be focused on the
Estancia, Igloo and Sascha vein trends.
Project History and Ownership
The consolidated district comprises 30,600 ha of contiguous
exploration claims. Mirasol staked 16,500 ha of the claims in
2003, to secure the Sascha Vein Zone (Figure 1, inset 2). At that
time the Marcelina claims were held by competitors. The
Mirasol-controlled 5 km-long Sascha Vein Zone was partially drill
tested on the western end while under joint venture to Coeur Mining
from 2006 to 2009. Two shallow holes were also drill by Coeur at
the Sasha Sur prospect, into what Mirasol now interprets as the
footwall of the structure, which warrants further testing. Coeur
terminated the joint venture in 2009 and returned 100% of the
project to Mirasol. On the 23rd of January
2019, Mirasol signed an OTP for the 5,700 ha Marcelina
claims, consolidating the full district under one company for the
first time.
Project Geology and Exploration
Mirasol has recently completed an integrated interpretation of
district-scale exploration data sets collected prior to 2009.
Anomalous rock chip Au+Ag assays and Aster satellite alteration
anomalies defined a 16.5 x 4.0 km (65 sq. km) "footprint" to the
district, showing a large-scale, zoned alteration system
characteristic of a large LSE Au+Ag system (Figure 1). Five,
multi-kilometre long, mineralized vein and silicified breccia
trends have been recognized to date across the consolidated
district. The trends traverse the Marcelina Silica Cap, or outcrop
through post mineral gravel and basalt cover that surrounds the
Silica Cap.
Interpretation of mapped volcanic and sedimentary stratigraphy,
Au+Ag and multielement geochemistry and alteration mineralogy shows
that different levels of the epithermal system outcrop across the
district, exposing what are interpreted to be different levels of
the mineralized column of an LSE Au+Ag system. These patterns can
be summarized as follows (Figure 2):
Marcelina Silica Cap:
The geologic and geomorphic setting of the Marcelina Silica Cap
and related silica structures and veins is analogous to the Cerro
Negro Silica Cap, where Goldcorp is mining plus million ounce Au+Ag
resources at Bajo Negro and Vein Zone deposits, at the Cerro Negro
Mine located 100 km to the north of the Sascha – Marcelina project
(Figure 2).
The Marcelina Silica Cap is a three sq. km area of Argillic
(kaolinite with minor dickite ± alunite) alteration with extensive
areas of low temperature silica breccia structures and replacement
of the host volcanics. The silicification is interpreted to have
been deposited at the top of a hydrothermal system (paleowater
table "silica blanket") at the time of formation, suggesting that
the complete epithermal mineral system maybe preserved at depth in
this area.
The Silica Cap is cross-cut by large NW and NE oriented silica
structures and structural breccias (Pellegrini Trends 1 and 2),
interpreted to represent feeder structures for the silicification.
Rock chip sampling of the structures and breccias returned weakly
anomalous Au, averaging 60 ppb and assaying up to 180 ppb Au and up
to 11.2 ppm Ag with elevated As, Sb and Hg. The assay
results, in conjunction with the interpreted geological setting,
suggest the Pellegrini Trends may represent the upper level of
mineralized vein zones, with the potential for high grade Au+Ag
mineralization at depth, and therefore are considered conceptual
exploration targets for future drill testing (Figure 3).
An extensive post mineral gravel "apron" surrounds the immediate
area of the Marcelina Silica Cap, concealing extensions of the
alteration system, strike projections of the Au+Ag the
silica-breccia structures, and potentially additional mineralized
veins. Systematic mapping and geochemical sampling of the
Pellegrini Trends with ground magnetic and electrical geophysics
surveys of the Marcelina Silica Cap and the gravel cover will be
used to identify and refine conceptual targets for later drill
testing.
Estancia, Sascha Sur and Igloo
trends: These prospect areas are characterized by multi-kilometre
long trends of intermittently outcropping sheeted epithermal
veinlet zones up to 20 m wide and
locally developed breccia pipes, with multiphase hydrothermal
brecciation (Figure 4). The host volcanics are altered to an
intermediate argillic assemblage of illite-smectite clays. Initial
rock chip sampling of these trends averages approximately 150 ppb
Au with peak assays up to 1.62 g/t Au and up to 158 g/t Ag.
The alteration assemblage, assay results and silica textures
seen at these prospects, are consistent with the interpretation
that these trends may represent the top of the mineralized interval
in an LSE system. The anomalous Au+Ag assays potentially represent
geochemical leakage from concealed higher-grade precious metal
mineralization at shallow (100 – 200m) depths.
The host rocks at the current outcrop level of the Estancia,
Sascha Sur and Igloo trends, are ash
and crystal tuffs of the upper middle Jurassic Matilda formation.
These volcanics are poor host rocks for large fissure vein
formation. However, Mirasol's stratigraphic mapping at the
Marcelina project shows that more permissive host rocks for fissure
vein formation, including welded ignimbrite flows of the middle
Jurassic Chon Aike formation, are present in the stratigraphy
underlying these prospects. Mirasol will use a combination of
detailed geological – structural mapping, selective geochemical
sampling, alteration vectoring studies and electrical geophysics to
refine targets for drill testing.
The Estancia, Sascha Sur and
Igloo trends represent priority drill targets for potential
high-grade Au+Ag mineralization and will be the initial focus of
surface exploration.
Sascha Main: Previous surface mapping and rock chip sampling
(see Sascha Gold-Silver Project 43-101 Technical Report, 2004 and
news release February 21, 2006) of
the Sascha Main prospect identified outcrop expressions of a series
of mineralized "shoots" hosting high grade Au+Ag mineralization.
Rock chip assays of this material ranged up to 160 g/t Au, and 780
g/t Ag, with precious metal mineralization reporting to chalcedony
– adularia colloform banded pulses hosting fine bands of sulfides
and native Au ("ginguro" phases).
Previous JV partner drilling at the Sascha vein zone (see news
release September 5, 2007) included
19 diamond drill holes that partially tested the vein zone to
a maximum depth of 200 m. Drilling
intersected narrow zones of Au+Ag mineralization including a best
interval of 1.55 m at 8.92 g/t Au and
27.7 g/t Ag (Hole DDS-02) but did not intersect the ginguro phases
with native Au evident at surface. Mirasol's remodeling of the
Sascha Main exploration data suggests that the drilling may not
have tested the targets optimally, possibly missing the "tops" of
plunging high grade shoots that could potentially to extend to
depth. These "shoot tops" are priority targets for drill testing at
the Sascha Main prospect.
Stephen Nano, President and CEO
of Mirasol, has approved the technical content of this news
release. Mr Nano is a Charter Professional geologist and Fellow of
the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (CP and
FAusIMM) and is a Qualified Person under NI 43 -101.
Additional
Explanatory Notes:
* AuEq60 is the sum of the value of gold and silver in a given
interval represented as a gold equivalent g/t value calculated via
the formula: Au assay in g/t + (silver assay in g/t
÷ 60)
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Quality
Assurance/Quality Control of the Sascha exploration
program:
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All exploration on
the project was supervised by Mirasol CEO Stephen C. Nano, who is
the Qualified Person under NI 43-101.
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Mirasol applies
industry standard exploration sampling methodologies and
techniques. All geochemical soil, stream, rock and drill samples
are collected under the supervision of the company's geologists in
accordance with industry practice. Geochemical assays are obtained
and reported under a quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC)
program. Samples are dispatched to an ISO 9001:2008 accredited
laboratory in Argentina for analysis. Assay results from surface
rock, channel, trench, and drill core samples may be higher, lower
or similar to results obtained from surface samples due to
surficial oxidation and enrichment processes or due to natural
geological grade variations in the primary
mineralization.
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Forward Looking
Statements: The information in this news release contains forward
looking statements that are subject to a number of known and
unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause
actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in our
forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause such
differences include: changes in world commodity markets, equity
markets, costs and supply of materials relevant to the mining
industry, change in government and changes to regulations affecting
the mining industry. Forward-looking statements in this release
include statements regarding future exploration programs, operation
plans, geological interpretations, mineral tenure issues and
mineral recovery processes. Although we believe the expectations
reflected in our forward-looking statements are reasonable, results
may vary, and we cannot guarantee future results, levels of
activity, performance or achievements. Mirasol disclaims any
obligations to update or revise any forward-looking statements
whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise,
except as may be required by applicable law.
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Neither the TSX
Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term
is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts
responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of
this release.
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SOURCE Mirasol Resources Ltd.