Almaden Minerals Ltd. has announced that it has commenced a Titan 24 deep penetration geophysical survey on its 100% owned El Cobre porphyry copper-gold project in Veracruz State, Mexico.
The survey has been planned to highlight areas for deep drilling within this extensive porphyry copper-gold system. The survey is anticipated to augment existing magnetics and induced polarization (IP) geophysical anomalies that are coincident with porphyry style gold and copper mineralisation identified in past drilling and surface mapping.
Almaden intends to use the results of the Titan 24 survey to plan a diamond drilling program anticipated to commence in early 2012. Past drilling at El Cobre has defined copper-gold porphyry mineralisation over 4 kilometres of strike length. The survey will also cover the Villa Rica zone which has never been drilled. It is located west of past drilling and is the largest coincident magnetics, IP and soil geochemical feature on the project.
"We look forward to getting the results of the Titan 24 survey and anticipate using this new data to plan a drilling program at El Cobre anticipated to commence in 2012. El Cobre is one of the most important assets in our portfolio and we are excited to be advancing this project aggressively," stated Chairman, J. Duane Poliquin.
The Titan 24 Deep Earth Imaging system is the most advanced electrical earth imaging technology available. Measuring parameters of DC (resistivity), IP (chargeability) and MT (magnetotelluric resistivity), the Titan 24 measures to depths of 750 meters with IP and to depths of more than 1.5 kilometers with MT data. These depths and multi-parameter data make the system one of the best options available for obtaining subsurface information related to geologic structure and for the direct detection of mineral deposits.
About El Cobre
Almaden 100% owned El Cobre project, situated about 75 kilometers north of the port city of Veracruz, Mexico, is road accessible and at elevations of 100 to 400 meters above sea level. It is located in an area of unparalleled infrastructure, near a power plant and highway. Almaden's roughly 7,500 hectare claim block covers copper-gold porphyry mineralization known to exist over a strike length of at least four kilometers.
Drilling by Almaden and past partners along this strike length has returned significant copper and gold values including those in the table below. Many of the past drill holes on the El Cobre property are shallow and end in copper-gold mineralization. Porphyry mineralization is associated with the exposed portions of diorite stocks which have intruded intermediate volcanic rocks. Mineralogic and fluid inclusion studies show conclusively that the gold and copper-gold porphyry-style mineralization at El Cobre is not deeply eroded and great potential exists at depth. More importantly these studies indicate that the mineralization is genetically uniquely like that of some of the Maricunga district gold-copper porphyry systems in Chile.
Gold-silver vein mineralisation, typical of intermediate sulfidation systems, has also been identified within the project area. Vein float identified over a roughly 500 m by 1,000 m area may be indicative of a larger vein deposit at depth. Outcrop in the vein-float area is sparse, however sixty samples of vein float taken averaged 2.5 g/t gold and 60 g/t silver with values as high as 25 g/t gold and 267 g/t silver.
Source: www.almadenminerals.com