Aura Silver to Commence Drilling at the Higo Blanco Prospect and Expands Program to Include Drill Targets Adjacent to San Jose M
December 20 2010 - 6:30AM
Marketwired Canada
Aura Silver Resources Inc. (TSX VENTURE:AUU) ("Aura Silver" or the "Company") is
pleased to report that after an extensive review of its geochemical and
geophysical data, the next phase of drilling will commence at the Company's
Taviche property in Oaxaca, Mexico on January 10, 2011. The Company will be
targeting the Higo Blanco prospect with approximately 12 to 15 drill holes, some
of which will focus on deeper structures: to discover the source of current high
grade silver mineralization as well as to determine the extent to which gold
grades increase with depth along the Mezcal vein. The drill program will extend
from the Piedra del Sapo zone in the northwest to the Mezcal vein and Cerro La
Mina zone to the southeast within the East Taviche concession.
In addition, given recent community approval, we will be targeting a number of
highly prospective zones, in particular the La Noria prospect on the Company's
property within the West Taviche concession which surrounds the San Jose mine,
owned by Fortuna Silver Mines Inc. (TSX:FVI)
(http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/aura_figure_1.pdf).
Further, the Company reports a continued increase in its joint ownership in the
Taviche joint venture.
Robert Boaz, President and CEO of Aura Silver, recently visited La Noria and
states, "We are excited to commence drilling at La Noria following our positive
results in 2007. The development of the San Jose mine by Fortuna is clearly
visible from La Noria. The broad community support for this development has
given us a new found confidence for resuming our exploration in this area. We
are also excited to expand the size of our silver and gold discoveries at Higo
Blanco in the East Taviche concession".
La Noria Comes to the Forefront
Exploration will resume at the Company's highly prospective La Noria prospect
located two kilometers west of Fortuna's San Jose mine and within the West
Taviche concession (http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/aura_figure_2.pdf). The
San Jose mine is currently under development and Fortuna has estimated an
indicated resource of 37,596,000 ounces (150 g/t cutoff) at 435 g/t equivalent
ounces of silver.
The La Noria prospect is permitted for drilling and garners strong support from
the hosting community. It is comprised of two north-south trending veins,
between 250 and 400 meters apart, connected by several northwest trending "en
echelon" style extensional veins (see Figure 2). The West Noria vein has been
mapped over a distance of about 600 meters and disappears below overburden both
to the north and south. Samples from dumps contain up to 17.1 g/t gold and 751
g/t silver. Rock chip samples along strike of the main vein and adjacent "en
echelon" veins gave values from 0.015 to 1.52 g/t gold and 1.4 to 100 g/t
silver.
The East Noria vein has been traced for over 1 kilometer and dips steeply to the
east; it is dominated by vein breccia and silicification up to 20 meters wide.
In the southernmost 300 meters of the vein, rock chip samples contain up to 4
g/t gold and 210 g/t silver. The main veins widen where they are joined by the
"en echelon" veins. Drilling in 2007 across the East Noria vein (3 holes
totaling 722.4 meters) identified a significant mineralized and altered package
that ranges in width from 15.5 meters in the northern hole (LN04-07) to 126
meters in the south (LN06-07). All intervals are defined by strong
quartz-adularia-pyrite and quartz-illite-pyrite alteration with widespread
intervals of moderate to strong, multistage quartz-sulphide-adularia veinlets as
well as hydrothermal vein breccias up to 8 meters wide. The geologic environment
seems to be that of a north-trending shear zone defined by multiple, steeply,
east-dipping faults. Gold and locally, silver values are anomalous across all
three zones and range up to 1.32 g/t gold and 77 g/t silver.
The style of mineralization observed in the East Noria drill holes is dominated
by broad zones of multi-staged quartz-sulphide-adularia stockwork and, more
locally, hydrothermal breccias. A similar style of broad, diffuse packages of
quartz stockwork has been identified at the San Jose mine but contains discrete
quartz-sulphide-(adularia)-carbonate veins up to several meters wide. Careful
analysis of our data indicates that similar gold-silver vein deposits may be
present along the La Noria vein system but possibly at greater depths than
observed at the San Jose mine's Trinidad and Bonanza deposits. This may be the
result of a normal fault between the two vein systems with the La Noria side
being displaced downward.
In addition, Aura Silver speculates that the San Jose resource extends both
north and south beyond Fortuna's concession boundaries and onto the Company's
West Taviche concession. Figure 3
(http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/aura_figure_3.pdf), a generalized
longitudinal section (position located on figure 2), illustrates the potential
for the development of an additional resource north of the San Jose mine on Aura
Silver property once community approval is obtained. Also, as part of examining
these extensions the Company will begin geologic mapping, sampling and later in
2011, drilling of the Donaji prospect, located along the southern extension of
Fortuna's Bonanza and Trinidad veins.
Update on Taviche Joint Venture Earn-in
Aura Silver is also pleased to report that it has made the second to last option
payment of US$200,000 to Plata Panamericana SA de CV, a wholly-owned subsidiary
of Pan American Silver Corp (TSX: PAA / NASDAQ:PAAS) as required by the Option
Agreement ("Agreement") dated June 8, 2009. Required minimum exploration
expenditures under the Agreement of US$4 million have been achieved with
expenditures to date totaling approximately US$4.3 million. A final option
payment of US$250,000, due on or before September 1, 2011, remains as the final
financial obligation to complete the joint venture earn-in.
Company expenditures to date represent an approximate 42.3% total interest in
the Taviche project. Ongoing expenditures for the Taviche project continue to be
solely funded by Aura Silver and will increase the Company's interest in the
Taviche project toward the completion of final earn-in.
Dr. James M. Franklin, P. Geo. is Aura Silver's qualified person (as defined by
National Instrument 43-101) and has reviewed and approved the scientific and
technical information in this press release.
About Aura Silver
Aura Silver is a TSX Venture listed company engaged in the acquisition,
exploration and development of precious metal prospects in Canada (100% owned
Greyhound project) and in Oaxaca, Mexico. Aura Silver has 77,512,290 common
shares outstanding.
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This press release may contain forward looking statements that are made as of
the date hereof and are based on current expectations, forecasts and assumptions
which involve risks and uncertainties associated with our business including the
uncertainty as to whether further exploration will result in the target(s) being
delineated as a mineral resource, capital expenditures, operating costs, mineral
resources, recovery rates, grades and prices, estimated goals, expansion and
growth of the business and operations, the private placement financing
activities of the Company, plans and references to the Company's future
successes with its business and the economic environment in which the business
operates. All such statements are made pursuant to the 'safe harbour' provisions
of, and are intended to be forward-looking statements under, applicable Canadian
securities legislation. Any statements contained herein that are statements of
historical facts may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. By their
nature, forward-looking statements require us to make assumptions and are
subject to inherent risks and uncertainties. We caution readers of this news
release not to place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements as a
number of factors could cause actual results or conditions to differ materially
from current expectations. Please refer to the risks set forth in the Company's
most recent annual MD&A and the Company's continuous disclosure documents that
can be found on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Aura Silver does not intend, and
disclaims any obligation, except as required by law, to update or revise any
forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events
or otherwise.
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