Brazilian Gold Corporation has announced that it has recently completed the acquisition of Regent Brazil Holdings Limited, which holds title through option agreements to four projects in the Tapajós Mineral Province in Pará state and two projects in Mato Grosso state of northern Brazil.
Combined with the Company's existing portfolio, Brazilian Gold now has nine highly prospective gold projects that they plan to aggressively explore in 2011.
The TMP experienced the largest, modern day gold rush in the last decades of the 20th century where unofficial gold production totaling 30 million ounces was recovered by garimpeiros (artisanal miners) largely from alluvial deposits. Brazilian Gold, along with several other mining companies, are now starting to evaluate this under explored region for the bed rock sources of these extensive alluvial deposits.
Highlights
- Portfolio includes nine grass-roots to development stage projects for a total area of approximately 176,164 hectares.
- Projects are road accessible providing for lower cost exploration and development.
- Four projects were previously drilled and evaluated at a time of a significantly lower gold price.
- Strong Brazilian technical team.
- Company is financed to complete 2011 exploration programs.
- Targeting near surface, large tonnage, bulk mineable gold deposits.
- Simultaneous exploration programs on a number of projects will provide better opportunity for success.
- Currently reviewing additional opportunities in the TMP.
Project Summaries
São Jorge (option to earn 100%)
A Phase One (5,000 m) drill program starting the third week of November is targeting the down dip potential of the São Jorge deposit.
The deposit hosts an updated NI43-101 indicated resource of 343,000 ounces (8.3Mt grading 1.3 g/t gold) and an inferred resource of 458,000 ounces (12.6 Mt grading 1.1 g/t gold) using a 0.5 gram/tonne cut-off that was recently completed by Coffey Mining (Sept. 14, 2010). Geophysical and geochemical surveys will be completed in conjunction with the Phase One drill program to identify along strike extensions to the deposit and new areas of mineralization on this largely unexplored property. Logistics on this project are excellent with only 8 kilometres of gravel road to the recently paved Federal Highway PA163 and electrical power to property.
Contingent on Phase One drill results, a Phase Two (3,000 m) drill program will be completed in 2011 with the objective of completing an updated resource estimate and Preliminary Economic Assessment by the end of 2011.
Boa Vista (1st option to earn 51%)
A Phase One (1,000 m) drill program announced in June of this year had limited production as a result of equipment and operator problems. Due to the difficulty in securing drill rigs in Brazil, a new drill company was only recently signed and is scheduled to start the second week of November.
Preliminary exploration work over the last year has identified a gold in soil and rock anomaly that is over 5 kilometres long. The anomaly is coincident with a number of garimpos (artisanal workings) and induced polarization targets. An excavator is currently completing a number of trenches across the anomaly to expose saprolite below the lateritic weathering to better understand the underlying geology and for sampling. Coarse visible gold has been identified in rock samples from some intervals in these trenches.
A Phase Two (3,000 m) drill program, contingent on results, will start once the Phase One program is complete. The project has excellent potential to host both porphyry and epithermal styles of gold mineralization.
Surubim (previously called Tucunaré, option to earn 100%)
The Company plans to complete an induced polarization (IP) survey over the property in Q1-2011, which will be followed up by a Phase One (2,500 m) drill program. The objective of the program will be to complete a NI43-101 resource estimate by the end of 2011.
The project was the focus of exploration programs from 2005 to 2008 that included soil geochemistry, geophysics and diamond drilling (4,621 m in 36 holes). Gold mineralization is associated with structurally controlled quartz stockwork zones hosted in silica-sericite-chlorite altered granitic rocks; the stockwork zones strike east-west and have a steep dip. Some of these stockworks zones are open along strike and down dip, and a number of the regional chargeability and geochemical targets remain untested and require follow-up drilling.
Rio Novo (option to earn 100%)
Line cutting is currently in progress for an IP survey to start the third week of November. A Phase One (2,500 m) drill program will start in Q1-2011 and will test previously sampled stockwork mineralization and targets identified from the IP survey.
The project is located on the eastern bank of the Rio Novo, where extensive alluvial deposits were worked in the past. The quartz-sulphide stockwork mineralization hosted in altered granitic rocks was previously exposed in the bottom of a garimpeiro pit; the pit has subsequently been filled with alluvial rejects. The stockwork zone is greater than 50 metres thick and grab samples of the quartz-sulphide veins are reported to have returned several grams/tonne gold. Given the thickness and tenure of the stockwork mineralization, the Company is extremely excited about this untested target.
Pista Manual (previously called Anta, option to earn 100%)
Soil geochemistry, trenching and drilling has identified a number of targets for follow up exploration work. Line cutting is currently in progress for a soil sampling and IP program to be completed by the end of November. Contingent on these surveys, a Phase One (1,000 m) drill program will be completed in Q1-2011.
Piranhas (option to earn 100%)
Piranhas is a grass-roots project with evidence of garimpeiro workings throughout the property. Reconnaissance mapping and geochemical sampling will be completed in 2011 to determine the potential of this project.
Ouro Mil (option to earn 70%)
An IP survey is scheduled to start the third week of November and a Phase One (1,000 m) drill program, contingent on results, is planned for Q1-2011.
Previous mapping, soil geochemistry and airborne geophysical survey have identified a Mobile Metal Ion (MMI) gold in soil anomaly that is coincident with a magnetic high and a coarse grained granitic stock. The gold MMI anomaly is approximately 1.4 kilometres long by 1 kilometre wide and is elongated in a west to northwest direction and is surrounded by base metal and uranium MMI anomalies. Line cutting, stream sediment and soil sampling is currently in progress.
Batistão (option to earn 100%)
Previous work by a major Australian mining company in the early 1990's outlined a large gold in soil anomaly (>1,200 m long by up to 200 m wide) that was tested at shallow depths by a reverse circulation (RC) drill program (1,287 m in 24 holes). The holes intersected quartz-sulphide stockwork mineralization hosted in altered granitic rocks. Many of the short holes (average length of 54 m) ended in mineralization, however given the gold price at the time, the grades of one gram were not considered economic and they dropped the property. Brazilian Gold's exploration program will consist of additional infill soil geochemistry, geophysics and diamond drilling. The property has excellent potential to host porphyry style gold mineralization in a near surface, bulk mineable deposit.
Colider (option to earn 100%)
Previous work by a major Australian and Chilean mining company identified a number of gold-copper-molybdenum in soil anomalies partially tested by a RC drill program (1,847 m in 29 holes). Brazilian Gold's exploration program will consist of data compilation and verification, geochemistry and geophysics. Targets generated from this work will be drilled in the later part of 2011.
Garnet Dawson, M.Sc., P.Geo. (British Columbia), Vice President, Exploration for the Company and a Qualified Person, as defined by National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed and approved the technical disclosure contained in this News Release.
Source: Brazilian Gold Corporation