Located within Patagonia’s highly prospective Deseado Massif mining district, the La Valenciana block borders Newmont’s (formerly Goldcorpo) Las Mellizas Project (Goldcorp), Pan American Silver’s Joaquin Project and the Company’s La Josefina Project.
Highlights
- 296 square-kilometer property consisting of 11 manifestations of discovery (“MD’s”)
- JV between Cerro Cazador S.A., wholly owned Argentinian subsidiary of Patagonia Gold, and Fomicruz
- Historic drilling included 42 holes totalling 3,000 meters of HQ core drilling on four La Valenciana targets: Veta Principal; Stockwork La Valenciana; Veta Rosario and Stockwork La Florentina
- 2,500 surface samples collected, ranging from below detection and up to 40 g/t gold and 4,600 g/t silver.
Geology and MineraliZation
Geology of La Valenciana Project, within the Deseado Massif, is characterized by abundant middle-to late-Jurassic Age volcanic and volcaniclastic rock units.
The units are dominated by rhyolitic to rhyodacitic ignimbrite flows and lava domes together with subordinate agglomerates, volcanic breccias and tuffs with minor basalts, andesites and volcanic agglomerates intercalated upward with mafic tuffs, conglomerates and sediments. Faults active during the period of intense Jurassic extension and volcanism generally trend NNW-SSE and form a series of grabens, and horst blocks.
Since Jurassic time, the rocks have been cut by normal faults of several different orientations but have undergone only a moderate amount of compression. In general, the Jurassic rocks remain relatively undeformed and remain flat to gently dipping, except locally where close to faults, volcanic domes or similar features. Thin Quaternary Age basalt flows conceal about half of the Jurassic Age rocks on the La Valenciana project.
The type of mineralization and alteration styles present across the project area are classified as sulfidation type epithermal deposits.
Gold and silver occur in vein systems, localized in structures, often a meter or more wide and hundreds of meters long. They are comprised of quartz veins, stockworks and breccias, rich in adularia with some calcite, that carry gold, silver, electrum and some sulfides, primarily pyrite with small amounts of base metal sulfides.
FUTURE EXPLORATION AND DEVELOPMENT
The Company intends to build a mineable resource with advanced exploration at both La Josefina and La Valenciana. Continued exploration to assist in defining a potential mineral resource hosted on highly prospective epithermal gold and silver vein systems.