HERENCIA RESOURCES PLC

AIM Code HER www.herenciaresources.com

Company Facts

Mineral Securities ownership interest: 279.4 million shares

Mineral Securities ownership interest: 46%

Place of operation: Chile

 

Project Facts

  • Herencia is a public company registered in England and Wales and listed on the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange ("AIM").
  • Herencia is advancing the Paguanta Project located in northern Chile.
  • Diamond drilling at the Paguanta Project in 2006 and 2007 has identified an Inferred Mineral Resource.

More Information

Chile is one of the world’s major mineral provinces and has vast metallic and mineral reserves and the world’s largest copper producer, accounting for 37 percent of annual production

Herencia has earned a 70% interest in the Paguanta Project.

Paguanta Project

The Paguanta Project is located in the northern part of the main Chilean porphyry copper belt, approximately 120km east of the coastal port of Iquique.   With a population of 140,000 Iquique offers extensive services and necessary infrastructure for the mining industry. 

The Paguanta Project area consists of 12 mining licenses covering an area of 39 sq kilometres.  The area is on the northern part of the main Chilean porphyry copper belt, which houses both the world's largest open-cut copper mines.

Within the Paguanta project area the main 'Patricia' zone comprises a zinc-silver-lean mineralised system part of a mine that was last active in the 19th Century.

The first ever diamond drill program undertaken at Paguanta was completed in December 2006.  Of the 10 holes drilled into the Patricia zone, eight intersected mineralisation, four of which returned high Zn-Ag-Pb grades.  The highest individual grades were 15.75% Zn, 447pm Ag and 5.58% lean (separate 1m samples).  Surface rock chip sampling has extended the zone of anomalous mineralisation to the east with best results of 1515 and 1075 g/t Ag.  Surface silver (>225ppm Ag) mineralisation has now been encountered in veins over a strike length of 1.2km and remains open to the east toward Refugio.

Maiden Resource

Herencia announced a maiden Inferred Mineral Resource of 2.51mt @ 4.1% Zn, 77g/t Ag, 1.3% Pb (at a cutoff of 2% Zn) in October 2007.  This mineral resource estimate complies with recommendations in the Australian Code for Reporting of Mineral Resources and ore Reserves (2004) by the Joint Ore Reserves Committee (JORC) of the AusIMM.

Mineralisation

The Patricia Zone is a zone of zinc, silver, lead and gold mineralization.  Petrographic study of outcrop and diamond drill samples identified low sulphidation style mineralization with economic mineralisation dominated by sphalerite (zinc), galena (lead), and argnetine (silver). Low levels of gold are associated with arsenopyrite. There is evidence of an earlier gold bearing potassic alteration phase, associated with older, deeper felsic intrusions.

One kilometre north of Patricia, the Rosa Zone is an area of intensely leached, argillic alteration over 3 sq kilometres, prospective for porphyry copper-gold mineralisation in supergene blankets or stocks. Various styles of acid intrusive have been mapped, together with potassic alteration; including the presence of biotite and magnetite. Geochemical values are subdued as expected, however low levels of copper and gold are co-incident with the higher intensity alteration zones. There remain few untested argillic anomolies of this scale in this important copper producing region.

Previous Work

The Patricia mine was abandoned in the late 19th century and the area was not subjected to further evaluation outside of regional reconnaissance. Herencia are the first modern explorers at Paguanta.

Herencia's Exploration Program

  • A 1,187 metre diamond drilling program was undertaken during the fourth quarter 2006. 80% of holes intersected mineralisation and high grade Zn-Ag-Pb assay results were returned from the four of the 10 holes drilled, at depths ranging from 56 to 144m depth.
  • The drill program identified three high-grade sub-parallel veins, containing silver-lead-zinc mineralisation, which remains open in all directions.
  • In 2007, detailed geological mapping, surface geochemical sampling and an electromagnetic geophysical survey (EM) have enabled mapping of the Patricia vein system.
  • The main cathedral vein has been mapped out and is mineralised over a strike length of approximately 1 kilometre and remains open to the east.  
  • At the completion of a second drilling campaign in 2007, mineralisation was intersected in 40 out of the 50 holes drilled and high grade intersections were achieved in all three main veins.   This lead to the calculation of the Companies maiden inferred mineral resource.
  • Work continues in 2008 with 10,000m of RC and diamond drilling planned for commencement in Q1 as a precursor to a scoping study due for completion in 3Q2008.

For more information on Herencia click here herenciaresources.com, or phone +61 (0) 8 9325 8888.


Print