overview | geology | past work

The Fuego Property, located in Oaxaca State, was recognised during a helicopter reconnaissance program for copper porphyry systems in Mexico. Visible gold was recognised in several hand specimens collected on the property, which led Almaden to acquire a 100% interest by staking in 2003.

The Fuego property has excellent infrastructure, is road accessible and located in Oaxaca State, roughly 140 kilometers southeast of Oaxaca City. and represents an entirely unexplored epithermal vein system. Geologic mapping, geochemical rock and soil sampling and geophysical surveys are been conducted to define the extent of the vein system and the distribution of gold and silver.

 

low-sulphidation epithermal gold system

The property covers an area of low-sulphidation epithermal veining exhibiting classic vein textures typical of 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.

Some very limited superficial historic workings exist on one of several banded veins identified within a more than 20 meter wide zone of veining and silicification in volcanic rocks. Banded quartz-adularia veins within the vein system generally dip shallowly and are up to 5 meters wide.

In 2004, an exploration 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.

	Sample 3124 - banded-quartz vein with dark sulphide and electrum rich bands. (19.3 g/t Au, 764 g/t Ag)
	A float boulder of Banded-quartz vein.
	A float boulder of lattice-textured calcite replaced by quartz - indicative of boiling and the chemical environment for gold deposition.

 

Diamond drill results from Horseshoe Gold's 2005-2006 Program include 6.13m of 1g/t gold (HOLE 2), 0.39m of 4.26g/t gold and 100g/t silver (HOLE 3), and 1.10m of 1.65g/t gold and 103g/t silver (HOLE 8). Almaden believes that the drilling intersected the vein at very shallow levels and that the results are encouraging for high grade gold and silver at greater depths.

Hole #	From (m)	To (m)	Interval (m)	Gold (g/t)	Silver (g/t)
Hole 1	6.50	10.00	3.50	0.32	60.0
Including	6.00	6.50	0.50	0.70	180.0
Hole 2	128.07	132.20	6.13	1.00	22.0
Hole 3	74.26	74.65	0.39	4.26	100.0
Hole 4	138.00	141.06	3.06	0.55	9.4
Hole 5	75.04	77.70	2.66	1.10	68.5
Hole 6	77.70	79.46	1.76	0.20	29.3
Hole 7	63.09	63.76	0.67	0.31	27.7
Hole 8	63.00	64.87	1.87	1.23	67.1
Including	63.00	64.10	1.10	1.65	103.0
Hole 10	86.30	88.00	1.70	0.24	6.8
Hole 11	89.60	95.00	5.40	0.44	33.8
including	91.00	92.00	1.00	1.38	98.2
Hole 14	97.50	97.80	0.30	0.10	142.0
Hole 14	99.00	100.00	1.00	0.91	84.3
Hole 14	104.98	105.68	2.30	0.54	34.5
Hole 15	115.93	118.05	2.12	0.61	59.4
including	116.60	117.22	0.62	1.06	63.7

 

April 2006: Drilling program concludes at the Fuego Property. Encourgaing results from all 286 soil samples taken have been received, including 20 samples which returned over 50 parts per billion (ppb) gold, 20 samples which returned over 100 ppb (0.1 g/t) gold and five samples over 200 ppb (0.2 g/t) gold with a high of 1450 ppb (1.45 g/t) gold. A follow up drilling program is planned from July 2006. [more +]

January 2006 : Horseshoe has planned a 2006 diamond drill program that will consist of a minimum of 2,500 meters.

November 2005 : A drill program begins which will consist of a minimum of 2,000 meters designed to test along the strike and dip of a quartz vein system identified and staked by Almaden in 2003. [more +]

October 2004 : A surface geological mapping and rock and soil sampling program has been completed as well as a small IP (Induced Polarization) program.

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.

Additional geologic mapping, sampling, and IP surveys are planned to better define these results. [more +]

February 2004 : Fuego Project Optioned to Horseshoe Gold Mining Inc. [more +]

May 2003 : Almaden acquires three new gold projects in Mexico.