CUYA
Los Menucos, Rio Negro, Argentina
Location
The Project is located 55 km SW of Los Menucos town, Rio Negro Province, Argentina; and near of important gold projects such as “Cerro Abanico” and “Cerro La Mina” (Southern Cooper).
A high exploration potential project with 400.000 oz of inferred Gold resources in “Cerro Cuya” prospect and several evidences of alteration and mineralization along a 20.000 ha. concession; in relation with the main structural corridors in the Los Menucos Gold district.
Los Menucos district
The main projects
The main projects and the large alteration halos associated with the Au and Ag mineralization (Red polygons). The light blue squares represent the Low Sulphidation systems and the yellow squares the High Sulphidation ones.
Cerro Cuya is the main target with low sulphidation style mineralization. Distributed along the property there are several Aster alteration zones of pervasive silica, some ones associated with kaolinite-alunite alteration.
These projects where explored for several Junior and Major Companies (eg. RTZ, Barrick), drilling in total 50.000m.
Cuya Project Exploration Potential
The exploration potential in Cuya Project is given mainly by the “Cerro Cuya” low grade Gold resource, but also there are several evidences of hydrothermal alteration and mineralization along the concession.
The effort of the previous companies that works in Cuya (Arminex, Rio Tinto, Patagonia Gold) where focused to test the “Cerro Cuya” mineralization with almost not prospecting works.
In other way the “Valcheta Exploraciones” claim it is bigger than the previous companies ones, including other hydrothermal alteration zones.
Aster Alteration Targets
Details
The red pixels corresponds to silica alteration, which is predominant in Cerro Cuya.
The magenta pixels are silica kaolinite-alunite alteration, predominant in two zones north of Cerro Cuya. These zones area pervasively silicified hills.
All the non altered zones in the map are covered by Upper Cretaceous Marine sediments and basalts, which cover the Triassic-Jurassic rocks. These marine sediments conform terraces in the Eastern part, in which a conglomerate layer contains silica clasts, that several are banded low sulphidation style veins.
Cerro Cuya
The CUYA Project lies in the NW portion of the Somuncura Massif, a plateau of Proterozoic basement overlain by Permian-Triassic and lower Jurassic extrusive and intrusive units and basalt cover.
At the Main Target, “Cerro Cuya” a 1.5Km diameter alteration zone is in a the NW regional structure and a minor SE structure intersection) . This silicified zone form a dome shape feature with many texture quartz vein and vein breccias of low sulphidation style, hosted in tuffs, rhyolitic flows and related with hydrothermal explosion breccias. The are relicts of hot spring silica deposits (sinters) on surface.
The mineralization in “Cerro Cuya” target has a subhorizontal shape, from the surface to around 120m depth. The NW regional structure is almost completely cover by a Tertiary marine transgression sediments and remains untested. These sediments have a conglomerate with banded quartz vein clasts over the NW structure.
Previous exploration works has been completed by APAC, RTZ and Patagonia Gold from 1999 to 2003, including float sampling, trenches, ground magnetics, gradient array IP, Drilling (core and RC) and metallurgy. The Project was stand by from 2003 to present.
Cerro Cuya
Estimated Mineral Resources
Calculated estimated Mineral Resource of 400.000oz Au, based on historical trenches and drill holes. Comprising a mineralized block with > 0,25 g/t Au cut off and 0.33 g/t Au average grade.
Represented in grey the mineral shell defined by geology and in blue the drill hole constrained mineral shell
Highlights
The structures that controlled the emplacement of the main projects in the Los Menucos district are continuing into Cuya project, they seem to control the alteration and mineralization observed in surface and drillholes and those inferred by indirect methods. The main structures around the Cerro Cuya prospect are covered and have been never drilled.
Cuya project consists of a 20.000 ha concession with a high potential to discover an economic Au deposit of Low (LS) and/or High (HS) sulphidation style. There are LS style mineralization at Cerro Cuya prospect and a possible HS style system, evidenced in DPDP sections in covered areas.
The Cerro Cuya historic IP survey shows an open coincident chargeability and resistivity anomaly open to the NW in the covered area, outside of the drilled area and coincident with a resistivity E-W? structure in the DPDP 9200 line. The feeders interpreted to be the source of the sub horizontal alteration and mineralization in Cerro Cuya was not discovered with the drill-holes made to date.
Mineralization at Cerro Cuya occurs in a silicified hill in a 1100 x 500m area that emerges from a flat topographic zone, corresponding with a Upper Cretaceous marine transgression that covers most of the area around the hill. It shows a typical LS mineralization style, with colloform/crustiform banded veins, bladed textures, hydrothermal breccias and phreatic breccias emplaced in strongly silicified tuffs and sinter deposits. The veins shows several mineralization pulses with up to 9.4g/t Au.
The estimated Resource calculated in “Cerro Cuya” corresponds to a low grade gold mineralization but with several advantages that allow a low cost mining operation. The mineral could be leached with a very good recovery, as suggested by metallurgical test performed on sample taken at a depth of 108 m, with electrum mineralization and a 96% recovery in the first 6 hours.
Mineralization begins at surface level and is evenly distributed in depth on a smooth hill amenable to develop a mine by open-pit at near zero stripping ratio.
The project has very good infrastructure with a railway in operation, pavement roads and power lines that are located 17 km to the SE. The road and railway connects with San Antonio Oeste port at 300km. For the exploration purposes, Los Menucos town is located 55 km to the East and have all the basic services needed (gas station, hotel, restaurants, grocery stores, etc). In Los Menucos lives several Field Assistants with a large experience in mining exploration that can be hired during the exploration works.
Los Menucos was a very active district on the 90’s were exploration companies drilled around 43.000 meters, but with almost no activity since 2003 (only 7.000 meters drilled from 2003). Actually “Cerro Abanico” and “Cerro La Mina” projects (Southern Cooper), present active exploration.
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