La Tortuga Copper Gold Silver Drill Project in Mexico
December 1, 2008 – 3:14 pm | by Banjardaily
Soltoro Ltd has commenced a 2,000 metre diamond drill program at the La Tortuga copper gold silver project in Jalisco state, Mexico. La Tortuga is being investigated for a porphyry copper gold deposit. To date Induced Polarization (I.P.) surveys have been conducted on 3 different zones on the property covering a total 123 kilometres; The Papagayo ridge area, Lauralito area and the Las Garochas area. Drilling is being carried out in the historic Las Garochas mine area. At Las Garochas follow-up mapping and sampling along with three 2-km long lines of pole-dipole I.P. were completed in the second and third quarter of 2008. Las Garrochas was last mined at the turn of the 19th century for gold and silver. Geological mapping identified additional intrusive phases as well as several I.P. chargeability anomalies. Drilling will test a significant chargeability anomaly located on the third I.P. line north-east of the Las Garochas mine and also to test below the historic Las Garochas mine at depth. Drilling commenced on November 17, 2008.
La Tortuga is currently under option to SMM Exploration Corporation, a subsidiary of Sumitomo Metal Mining Co., Ltd, (”Sumitomo”) one of Japan’s leading copper mining and manufacturing companies. Soltoro will act as the operator of the project until Sumitomo has earned a 51% interest. Under the terms of the letter of intent, Sumitomo may earn a 51% interest in the property by contributing US$4,000,000 in expenditures. Sumitomo may earn a further 19% interest for a total of 70% by making additional expenditures of US$16,000,000 or by delivering a bankable feasibility study. In February of 2008 Sumitomo entered the second earn-in period of the joint venture and approved a budget of US$750,000 for the next phase of the exploration program.
In November of 2007 reconnaissance mapping and sampling of the Lauralito Area, on the south-east extension of the La Tortuga claim identified a 10 square kilometre copper-gold zone with porphyry potential. A 1.2 metre chip sample taken from Labor del Cerro returned 12.6 gpt gold, 1.32 % copper and 18.4 gpt silver. These prospects occur over 4.5 kilometres and straddle a large magnetic high associated with outcropping granodiorite and diorite intrusions. In April of 2008 an I.P. survey was conducted over an area covering 32.5 line-kilometres in the Lauralito zone. A number of weak chargeability anomalies were returned however none were of sufficient size to justify drilling. Field mapping has been undertaken in the historic Macuchi mine area with a total of 64 samples collected and recently sent for assay. Soltoro and Sumitomo have not made any decision to drill in this area.
Soltoro is a junior exploration company active in Mexico. The Company is exploring for bulk tonnage gold, silver and copper deposits in Mexico and has two significant joint-ventures partners on two of its projects. Soltoro has 20,215,000 shares outstanding and trades on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol SOL.
This document contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities regulations. All statements other than statements of historical fact here-in, including, without limitation, statements regarding exploration results and plans and other future plans and objectives, are forward-looking statements that involve various risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and future events and actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from our expectations are disclosed in the Company’s documents filed from time to time via SEDAR with the Canadian regulatory agencies to whose policies we are bound. - - (Marketwatch)