Soltoro, the bulk-tonnage focused precious mineral developer that has put together an impressive land package in Mexico’s Jalisco State (mostly through boots-on-the-ground staking) consisting of some 136k acres in seven, district-scale positions (the majority of which are associated with their 100%-owned El Rayo silver project), was pleased to announce an additional payment today from Gold Reserve Inc. of $100k, as part of the option agreement whereby Gold Reserve may acquire an undivided 51% interest in the some 28.6k-acre La Tortuga copper/gold property in Jalisco.
Under terms of the agreement, Gold Reserve is required to invest $3M in the property over 3 years and make a cumulative $650k in option payments to Soltoro, which would ultimately result in a formal JV, with Gold Reserve able to exercise the option for another 9% (via a $2M payment).
La Tortuga is a highly prospective site with diverse copper and gold mineralization stretching out over a 30.4 sq mile area, upon which the company has conducted extensive induced polarization work (some 94 line-miles between 2006-2008), in addition to seven diamond drill holes to validate identified chargeability anomalies in the historically worked areas along the Papagayo ridge.
The primary area of interest was host back during the turn of the previous century to the Las Garrochas (gold/silver) and Macuchi (mostly copper) mine operations but didn’t seen any substantial investigative work again until the 90’s when surface trenching, geochemical/geophysical surveying, and a reverse circulation program were engaged. The obviously present, apparently abundant gold/copper mineralization evinced through extant exploration/analysis across the property offers a solid target for development.
Extensive mapping/sampling work done in 2009 in the Macuchi area validated the presence of two distinct hematite breccia zones with considerable secondary copper targets in the fractures, indicating high probability of an iron-oxide-copper-gold (IOCG) system, like that of a diatreme complex (basically a breccia filled volcanic pipe). Some 3,300 feet of diamond drilling fleshed out the breccias and largely confirms the IOCG portrait, with some 50 line-miles of subsequent ground magnetic analysis helping to color in the relational connections between magnetic rocks and mineralized structures (which yield a clearer mineralization model for the potential IOCG system). Gold Reserve is clearly interested in carving off a sizeable chunk of the potential here and investors will be looking for further updates as the dealings progress.
The company’s recent diamond drilling program at their main El Rayo site has been very promising as well and the company recently provided (Jan 31. 2012) an updated NI 43-101 resource estimate on the property, with the majority of work targeting the prominent Las Bolas deposit (hematite-quartz vein breccia). A number of areas of anomalous concentrations of silver, gold, copper, lead, and zinc on the El Rayo property gives Soltoro an excellent primary position to support the sort of JV/option growth announced today and the company has a number of other exciting option opportunities and generative prospects to work with as well.
For more information on Soltoro Ltd., please visit the company’s website at: www.SolToro.com
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