Location: Concepcion del Oro, Zacatecas, Mexico.
Land Package: 45,215 Ha
Status: Exploration in progress, early stage.
There are 5 mining concessions 100% owned by Timmins Goldcorp Mexico (see Figure 1), all within the region of Mazapil-Concepcion del Oro. This region is located at north of the state of Zacatecas, and it has emerged over the last few year as one of the most active mining exploration and development regions in Mexico and all Latin America. The area has long been known for the polymetallics mantos, chimneys and skarns, but historically only relatively small high grade copper, gold, zinc and lead zones have been exploited. There was recognition from the early days of Concepcion del Oro district of the potential for higher tonnage bodies of copper-gold bearing skarn. However, that potential was not realized until the mid 1990's when Tayahua, in the process of mining deeper and further to the south on mantos, encountered copper-gold mineralized skarn some 700 meters below outcropping lead-silver-zinc chimneys at Salaverna (part of the Providencia mine), Tayahua is presently under the control of the Frisco Group. It has an estimated resource in order of the 100 million tons with a grade above 1% copper and 0.30 g/t gold.
The closest town to the claims is Concepcion del Oro, and it is accessed from the city of Zacatecas by paved road approximately 250 kilometers away or from the city of Saltillo at the north 130 kilometers away. Monterrey is located 60 kilometers to the northeast of Saltillo and both cities are serviced by domestic and international flights.
Land Situation: Until companies begin trimming back positions the entry points for companies wishing explore in the region will be limited. The current options are possible JV with companies having land positions or acquire small claims located in the heart of the old mining districts. Timmins with more than 45,000 hectares already has a significant position.
The bulk of the 45,000 hectares within the Tim concessions is alluvium covered (Figure 3) which after Peñasquito and Camino Rojo could be considered part of the exploration model. Limited work has been done on the outcrops which appear to be dominated by carbonate stratigraphy. The areas of outcrop are shown as the hachured areas on Figure 2.
No significant intrusive bodies are thought to outcrop in the ranges covered by the Tim claims although the northeastern edge of Tim 4 is close to a gold bearing granodiorite sill or stock of the Melchor Ocampo District. In addition, a weak mag high in the Tecolote area of Tim 2 is most likely related to an intrusive body of some sort.
Tim 1 Claim: The Tim 1 claim extends the furthest south of the 3 claims located west of Concepcion del Oro. Work completed to date at Tim has been limited to a sampling program on one of the 2 small marble quarries present near the south end of the claim (inset to Figure 3). Sampling iron stained recrystallized limestone fault breccia (Figure 4) in the northern of the 2 quarries has returned one sample with 658 g/t silver.
The fault and the surrounding iron rich recrystallization halo is up to 30 metres thick and, on the basis of a second quarry located on trend to the SE, is at least 800 metres long. There is no associated silicification with the structure which may explain the lack of a gold anomaly. The only target here at present is the structure itself which hopefully changes at depth into a true gold-silver bearing epithermal vein. Additional mapping and sampling is needed to be traced, followed by drilling. The intent would be to cut it at least 200 meters below surface in hopes of seeing a change in character from marble to silica.
Tim 2 Claim: Most of the Tim 2 claim is covered by alluvium and part of a weak magnetic high near the village of Tecolote (Figure 2). The Tecolote area is also an area with outcrop on Tim 2 (Figure 3) along with another area of outcrop in the southern part of Tim 2. The road cut at Tecolote exposed thrust faulted carbonate stratigraphy (inset to Figure 3) with weak iron staining.
The objectives on Tim 2 are the areas of outcrops and in particular around the village of Tecolote and the magnetic anomaly located near the village. The target is Carlin style mineralization in the carbonates or stockwork mineralization in the Caracol to confirm the presence of silicification or a low grade anomaly. Results of a preliminary sampling returned 0.23 g/t gold and 347 g/t silver for one samples from the calcite-quartz veinlets hosted in the limestone outcropping at side of the road.
Tim 4 Claim: The northernmost claim, Tim 4 (Figure 3), straddles the Sierra Zuloaga a few kilometers to the west of the Melchor Ocampo district. The E-W trending sierra itself has been well prospected near old producing mines leaving the pediment on either side to evaluate. Timmins has a good start on this through reconnaissance, mapping and an orientation sampling carried out by geologists. Timmins has identified a large area of carbonate-iron oxide veining in Caracol sandstones and siltstones extending from the foot of the sierra south to the edge of outcrop. The alteration and veining seen could be distal effects from granitic bodies to the northeast in the Melchor Ocampo District.
The objective is to demonstrate the presence of a gold mineralized zone by way of soil and rock chip sampling. Timmins has commenced a systematic sampling program for MMI in the southeast portion of the Tim 4 which could be a justification for geophysics and an initial drill program once a geochemical anomaly is identified.
A structural interpretation is in process using a resolution image of the Quick Bird Satellite covering the four concessions located at the main portion of the region of the Mazapil-Concepcion del Oro district. Detailed mapping will not be necessary and the main focus will be to locate major structures and evidenceof alteration-mineralization.
Timmins is seeking to add to its the land position in the region through options or well locate claims in adjacent to the magnetic anomalies and in particular in areas where is outcropping the Caracol Formation, these options would be expected to come with known gold mineralization and bulk tonnage targets.
Location: Concepcion del Oro, Zacatecas, Mexico.
Land Package: 5,603 Ha
Status: Exploration in progress, early stage.
The property is situated 16 kilometers to the northeast of the Camino Rojo Gold Deposit and 45 km SE of the Peñasquito mine, both belonging to Gold Corp (Figure 1). The area covers 5,603 hectares and can be accessed by paved road from both the city of Zacatecas and 220 kilometers to the southwest and from the city of Saltillo capital city of the state of Coahuila, 150 kilometers to the northeast. Both cities are serviced by domestic and international flights as the city of Monterrey is only 60 kilometer to the northeast of Saltillo.
The property consists of three mining concessions, San Onesimo 4.603 Ha, San Fernando 500 Ha and Zindy 500 Ha summarizing 5,603 Ha. In the middle of the property there is a highway that connects the city of Zacatecas with the city of Concepcion del Oro.
The San Onesimo property is underlain mostly by alluvial and coluvial soils and scarce outcrops of calcareous and clastic sedimentary rocks of the Mexican Geosyncline deposited during the period Jurassic-Cretaceous and affected by multiple intrusions which include felsic sub-volcanic porphyritic rocks, during the late Cretaceous and early Cenozoic.
In general the area has been covered by regional surveys of the Mexican government which include geology mapping and air-magnetics and radiometric survey. The geology mapping is at scale 1:50,000 and the magnetic, radiometric and stream geochemical surveys at scale 1:250,000.
The mining activity in the region dates back to the 16th century with production of copper, gold, silver, lead, zinc, cadmium and mercury from ore deposits related to the emplacement of granodioritic stocks into the Mesozoic sedimentary rocks. The most famous mines in the region are the Aranzazu mine former Macocozac of Aura Minerals Inc, Nochebuena belonging to the Familia Gutierrez of Saltillo, Providencia-Salaverna of Frisco Group and the Melchor Ocampo mining district in exploration by several mining companies. The Peñasquito mine is regarded as one of the largest mineral resources and production deposits worldwide, as well as the discovery of the Camino Rojo Gold deposit, both belonging to Gold Corp.
Timmins interest in the property originated after the results of a regional prospecting campaign on the notrthern part of the state of Zacatecas which led to the stake of more than 45,000 Ha of mining concessions and the signing of an exploration contract for the San Onesimo property. Prior to signing a definitive option agreement and letter of intent, Timmins performed geology mapping and geochemical soil, stream sediments and chips sampling. The results are the definition of geochemical anomalies that, together with the regional geology and structural interpretation define conditions of favorability for gold and polymetallic mineralization as of the Camino Rojo type in at least three targets within the property, in the northern portion La Noria, to the SE El Valle and to the west the SanFer target.
The San Onesimo property is surrounded by large concessions of the Fresnillo Group and Gold Corp at the south and southwest, to the East, North and NE for concessions of Gammon today AuRico Gold and Galore Resources. According the results of the initial geochemical, the most important target justifying additional exploration is the La Noria target, it is an anomalous gold, lead and zinc trend surrounding distally a series of outcrops of a quartz-diorite stock affecting a setting of low grade metamorphosed rocks (hornfels) apparently related with sedimentary clastic rocks of the Caracol formation. These outcrops are in the claim to the NE which belongs to Aurico Gold (See the Figure 1) and presently is being explored as the Mezquite Project, inclusive with drilling. The stock reflects in the regional air-magnetic survey as a soft magnetic high which gradient is dipping to the San Onesimo property.
Currently Timmins conducts systematic soil sampling to apply the MMI method. Upon completion of the field works and the interpretation of the data, Timmins will perform a series of terrestrial magnetics and IP surveys in order to define an initial drilling program.
The terms of the contract include a period of exploration of 4 year and a total payment of US $2 million as follows: An initial payment of US $20,000 at the signing of the contract in December of 2010, a complementary payment of US $50,000 by January 31th, 2011, two payments of US $100,000 each in January of 2012 and January of 2013; a payment of US $500,000 in January of 2014 and the balance of US $1,230,000 later than January 31st of 2015. The terms include an NSR with a top of US $1.5 million to be paid in case that the option will be exercised because the exploration was successful and resulted in an operative mining project, in which case Timmins has the right to buy back this NSR at its convenience paying the same US $ 1.5 million to the owners.
During 2011 Timmins completed preliminary exploration on the La Noria and El Valle targets, consisting of MMI soil sampling followed by magnetic and IP surveys to define drill targets.
The signing of this property and the definition of at least three specific exploration targets in the concessions owned by Timmins in the vicinity of the Peñasquito mine has encouraged to the exploration staff to be very optimistic about the possible discovery of a new mineral deposit which extend the operation of Timmins to this region.