Almaden Minerals Ltd. (TSX:AMM)(NYSE Amex:AAU) has reported that Windstorm Resources Inc. (TSX VENTURE:WSR) has commenced a minimum 3,000 m core drilling program on Almaden's wholly owned Caldera gold project located in Puebla State, Mexico.
Windstorm has the right to earn up to a 60% interest in the Caldera project from Almaden by issuing 1,000,000 shares and completing $5,000,000 in exploration work over six years. Of the work requirement, $150,000 is a firm commitment to be spent in the first year of the agreement. The Caldera property is located 10 km from Almaden's new Ixtaca Zone discovery on its Tuligtic property. Caldera also has similarities to Almaden's Caballo Blanco property, located 150 km to the east and under option to Goldgroup Mining Inc., where a 30,000 m drill program is currently underway.
The road accessible Caldera project was discovered by Almaden in 2008 and lies at the eastern end of the Trans Mexican Volcanic Belt. The property covers an 8km by 2km zone of intense acid sulphate alteration, including zones of massive to vuggy silica, quartz-alunite and kaolinite that are interpreted to represent the very top levels of a well-preserved high-sulphidation epithermal precious metal system. Exploration completed to date, including geological mapping, rock chip sampling, soil geochemical sampling and Induced Polarization ("IP") geophysical surveys, have defined drill targets. The target at Caldera is a bulk tonnage gold deposit where mineralization is anticipated to most likely occur in association with zones of silica enrichment, which are electrically resistive, and disseminated sulphide mineralization, which typically produces an IP chargeability anomaly. Anomalously enriched values of gold and related pathfinder elements (arsenic – As, bismuth – Bi and antimony – Sb) detected in surface rock and soil samples may be a reflection of more concentrated precious metals mineralization at depth. Windstorm has announced that three high priority target areas have been selected for testing in their initial drill program.
Morgan Poliquin, Ph.D., P.Eng., a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, and the President and CEO of Almaden, has reviewed the technical information contained in this release.
Source: Almaden Minerals Ltd.