The rainy season in Mexico is now virtually over and several
significant work programs are planned on Almaden Minerals Ltd.'s
(Almaden) Mexican projects over the ensuing field season. Almaden
currently has thirteen active joint venture projects including
nine in which a partner is earning an interest in an Almaden
property through spending, and a regional exploration joint venture
with BHP Billiton World Exploration Inc. (BHPB) to explore for
copper-gold deposits in Mexico.
Fuego Au-Ag Project, Mexico
The Fuego Project is optioned to Horseshoe Gold Mining Inc. (Horseshoe)
who can earn a 60% interest in the property by spending US$3
Million exploring the Fuego project and issuing 1,000,000 shares
of Horseshoe to Almaden. Upon earning a 60% interest in the property,
Horseshoe would have 120 days to acquire Almaden's remaining
40% interest in the property in return for a 40% interest in
the issued capital of Horseshoe, to be issued by Horseshoe to
Almaden at that time. The Fuego project is road accessible and
located in Oaxaca State, roughly 140 kilometers southeast of
Oaxaca City. The property covers an area of low-sulphidation
epithermal veining exhibiting classic vein textures commensurate
with a highly preserved dynamic mineralising environment. The
textures include colloform banded fine grained quartz which has
replaced non-crystalline amorphous silica, quartz which has replaced
lattice-textured calcite and sulphide-rich bands containing electrum
and exhibiting graded bedding. These textures are interpreted
to represent a high level of exposure within the mineralised
portion of a large epithermal vein system.
Horseshoe has informed Almaden that it has
completed a surface geologic mapping and rock and soil sampling
program on the Fuego property. This program outlined the main
vein zone which has been traced in outcrop roughly 850 meters
along strike. Along this exposed strike length vein widths vary
from 3 to 10 meters wide. Several parallel veins were identified
in outcrop as well. Sampling of the main vein returned values
from 0.04 to 13.6 g/t Au and silver values from 1.6 to 643 g/t.
Where exposure allowed, continuous chip sampling was carried
out on the main vein. The results included a 4 meter exposure
averaging 4.52 g/t Au and 86 g/t Ag with individual samples up
to 10.6 g/t Au and 162 g/t Ag. This sampling was carried out
on a different vein exposure than where a 3 meter sample taken
by Almaden across the vein returned 7.8 g/t Au and 191 g/t Ag.
Soil sampling highlighted the main vein zone with elevated Au,
Ag, Sb and As values in samples collected. Additional zones of
elevated Au, Ag, Sb and As in soil samples spatially unrelated
to the main vein zone suggest that unexposed parallel structures
may exist. A small Induced Polarization (IP) geophysical survey
was carried out to test the effectiveness of this methodology
in identifying vein structures that are not exposed. This work
identified the known veins as resistivity and chargeability highs.
Additional resistivity and chargeability highs were identified
in this work which suggests that further veins may exist. Additional
geologic mapping, sampling and IP surveys are planned to better
define these results.. Horseshoe has informed Almaden that permits
are presently being acquired for a planned diamond drill program
to commence as soon as possible. Samples were analysed by ALS
Chemex Labs of North Vancouver. Almaden samples were taken under
the direction of qualified person Mr. H. L. King, P.Geo. Work
by Horseshoe was carried out under the supervision of qualified
person Mr. William Wengzynowski, P.Eng. [Go
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Caballo Blanco, Au-Ag-Cu Project, Mexico
The Caballo Blanco project is optioned to Comaplex Minerals Ltd.
(Comaplex) who can earn a 60% interest in the project by spending
US$2 Million over four years. Comaplex have completed a large
field program over both the Highway and Northern zones of the
property, the centres of which are located roughly 7 kilometers
apart. These zones consist of acid-sulphate alteration including
quartz alunite and residual or vuggy silica alteration zones
and are interpreted to represent a large high sulphidation gold-silver
system. The work by Comaplex has defined several prominent drill
targets. A drill program that was to have commenced earlier in
the year has been delayed due to additional permitting requirements,
shortage of drilling equipment, difficulties in road building
and the summer rainy season. Almaden anticipates that drilling
will commence in October of 2004. Mr. A. Armitage, Ph.D., P.Geo.
of Comaplex is the qualified person on the project. [Go
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Galeana Au-Ag Project, Mexico
The Galeana gold-silver property in Chihuahua State, Mexico is
optioned to Grid Capital Corp. (Grid) who can earn a 60% interest
by spending US$2 Million and issuing 400,000 shares to Almaden.
The Galeana property hosts three major vein systems, the San
Miguel-Ahumada-Estrella de Oro, the Falda Norte and the San Geronimo.
All have had limited historic production prior to the Mexican
revolution when all mining activity ceased. In 2003 and 2004,
Grid completed rock sampling, soil geochemistry and IP geophysical
programs which have defined significant drill targets on the
vein systems. Drilling was delayed in the spring of 2004 due
to difficult road building conditions, drill availability and
the onset of the rainy season. Grid has reported that road building
is complete and the main targets will be drilled in October,
2004. Mr. H.L. King, P.Geo. of Grid is the qualified person on
the project. [Go +]
El Pulpo Cu-Au-Ag Project, Mexico
The El Pulpo property is located north-east of Mazatlan and covers
an area of approximately 200 square kilometres. Almaden has optioned
this property to Ross River Minerals Ltd. (Ross River) who can
earn a 60% interest by spending US$3 Million and issuing 425,000
shares to Almaden. Almaden and Ross River have identified high
grade porphyry related gold, silver and copper mineralisation
over a surface area in excess of 12 square kilometres. The property
hosts at least two copper-gold porphyry targets and three high
grade gold vein targets. Ross River has informed Almaden that
it has completed a large program of geologic mapping, rock and
soil sampling and IP and magnetics geophysics on the El Pulpo
project. Ross River completed in June a 20 hole drill program
totalling 1561.2 meters that tested the Papaya, Pitayo and Trucha
vein targets only. The results were made public by Ross River
in their news release dated August 9, 2004. The best result from
this program was a vein intersection on the Trucha vein system
of 1.02 meters that averaged 3.73 g/t Au, 157 g/t Ag and 0.94%
Cu. Almaden is awaiting a report from Ross River of the work
completed to date on the project. Ross River in its news release
dated August 20, 2004 has reported that it has identified four
areas of porphyry copper mineralization that appear to surround
a "molybdenum rich core". Almaden believes the copper-gold
mineralization on the El Pulpo property, defined by Ross River
as porphyry style mineralization is representative of a large
magmatic hydrothermal system that warrants further work. Ross
River has informed Almaden that it plans a large field program
in the autumn of 2004 which will focus on the porphyry copper
targets that the past field work has identified. Mr. J. R. Reeves
P.Geo. of Ross River is the qualified person on the project.
Ross River has informed Almaden that samples were analysed at
Acme Analytical of Vancouver. [Go
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Bufa Au-Ag Project, Mexico
The Bufa project is optioned to Grid which can earn a 60% interest
by spending US$2 Million on the property and issuing 500,000
shares of Grid to Almaden. The property surrounds the town and
mining camp of Guadalupe y Calvo in Chihuahua State, Mexico.
Gold was discovered at Guadalupe y Calvo in 1835 and subsequent
production was sufficiently large that a mint was built in 1844.
Buchanan (1981) estimated historic production at 2 Million ounces
of gold and 28 Million ounces of silver at average grades of
37 g/t gold and 870 g/t silver. The small historic central portion
of the Guadalupe camp is held by an unrelated third party, Mexgold
Resources Inc. A major vein structure, has been traced from the
Guadalupe camp over a 1.4 kilometer distance onto the Bufa property.
Grid has reported that the vein system consists of a series of
NW-SE striking, banded and brecciated, low sulphidation epithermal
quartz veins that vary in strike length from 200 to 700 meters
with an aggregate length of all veins mapped of 3.9 kilometers.
Over 1.6 kilometers of this vein strike length, widths vary from
1 to 7.8 meters in true thickness. To date 47 chip samples have
been collected from 33 locations along this section of the vein
system. At 30 of these locations, sample results ranged from
0.1 to 13.95 g/t gold over widths of 0.3 to 5.8 meters. Grid
has reported that it has recently acquired historic reports that
indicate there was limited historic mining of high-grade gold
and silver on the Bufa claims. Grid has also informed Almaden
that a drill program is planned for October of, 2004 to test
the known mineralization and areas of historic mining. Mr. H.L.
King. P.Geo. of Grid is the qualified person on the project.
Samples were analysed at ALS Chemex Labs of North Vancouver. [Go +]
San Carlos Cu-Au-Ag Project, Mexico
The San Carlos Project is located in northeast Mexico and has
been optioned to Hawkeye Gold and Diamond Inc. (Hawkeye) on terms
whereby Hawkeye can earn a total of 60% of the San Carlos project
by issuing a total of 800,000 shares to Almaden and incurring
exploration expenditures of US$4 Million over seven years. Hawkeye
is committed to spending US$350,000 in the first year and is
planning a work program on the property to commence in the autumn
of 2004. Almaden carried out a geologic review of the work completed
to date, which included a field visit to the property by an independent
geologist. This review highlighted past work on the project,
which defined a gold target in an area of the property not tested
by drilling, with marked high gold in soil samples. In this area
soil samples returned gold values up to 1000 ppb within a broad
geochemical anomaly with values ranging from 100 ppb to 1935
ppb gold, and averaging 372 ppb gold over an area of approximately
300 metres by 1000 metres. This soil anomaly appears to represent
a new discovery which covers the contact between intrusive rocks
and limestone. This sampling was carried out under the direction
of Mr. Ron Nichols, P.Geo. Samples were analysed at Acme Analytical
Laboratories and ALS Chemex Labs. Hawkeye's has commenced a large
field program of soil sampling, geologic mapping and rock sampling
and induced polarization and magnetics geophysics. Mr. William
Wengzynowski, P.Eng., is the qualified person on the project. [Go +]
BHP Billiton Regional Joint Venture, Mexico
Almaden and BHPB have completed a regional exploration program
designed to identify new copper-gold deposits in Mexico. At present
BHPB is reviewing the results of the exploration program and
can elect to acquire a 51% interest in any of the properties
identified by Almaden, by spending US$1 Million in work on each
such property. After BHPB has completed this expenditure each
property would enter a joint-venture phase of exploration during
which both Almaden and BHPB would contribute US$750,000 for a
total of US$1.5 Million. If one party fails to contribute to
this phase, it would be diluted to a 2% net smelter return royalty.
After this joint-venture stage is complete and if both parties
have maintained their interests by funding, BHPB can then elect
to earn an additional 19% interest, for a total of 70% in each
project, by completing a feasibility study for each project.
A final 10% interest can be earned if BHPB funds the property
into production.
Mexican Regional Program Planned
Almaden is currently planning a regional exploration helicopter
and truck based exploration program to focus on identifying new
Au, Ag, and Cu systems in several areas of Mexico. This work
will commence in the coming months.
