Mar 4 2011
Terreno Resources Corp. (TSX VENTURE:TNO) has provided an update on exploration activities in Argentina.
Terreno has three advanced exploration projects located in Argentina; "La Poposa" a high sulphidation gold copper project located in San Juan province, "Socompa" a porphyry copper gold project located in Salta, and "Trigal" a high sulphidation gold silver project located adjacent to Golden Mineral's El Quevar project also in Salta Province.
La Poposa is a high sulphidation gold system located in the Pre-cordillera of Argentina in San Juan province. The project is located in the same belt as the Valadero and El Indio gold mines, and is located approximately 50 km to the south-south-east of Malbex Resources' Del Carmen project. La Poposa was explored in the 1990's by a number of companies looking for a large disseminated gold system. Extensive low grade gold was discovered in a massive silica altered rhyolite. Drilling by previous groups was limited and very shallow in nature. The size of the alteration system is very large (approximately 6 km by 3 km) and Terreno's geologists feel the project has not been adequately explored and has potential for both structurally controlled mineralisation at relatively shallow depths and a porphyry style copper gold system at greater depth.
Work by Terreno Resources at La Poposa commenced in Q4 2010 and has consisted of geological mapping, trenching with continuous rock chip sampling and CSAMT geophysics. In addition, a 7-line, Titan 24 DCIP and MT survey is planned for April 2011. The geological mapping has led to a new interpretation on the geology which highlights the potential for high grade feeder systems, hosted by andesitic volcanics, occurring beneath a higher level low grade massive silica altered rhyolite cap. Initial trenching has identified areas with low grade gold over up to 50 meters which could occur above such feeder systems.
"Terreno is very encouraged by what we have discovered at La Poposa," stated Peter Mullens, VP Exploration. "A new interpretation on the geology indicates that the massive silicified altered rhyolite could be a barren silica cap to higher grade structurally controlled mineralisation. The best target is located within andesitic volcanics located at a depth of about 100 meters below the massive silica cap. This is a similar geological setting to a number of low sulphidation epithermal systems located in South America such as Cerro Negro in Argentina and potentially Fruta Del Mar located in Ecuador. In both of these cases, massive silica flooding occurs above the high grade structural feeders which occur in massive andesites. Andesite is a very good host rock for epithermal mineralisation as it is both a brittle structural trap and a chemical trap due to the mafic nature of the rock. The massive silica flooding occurring above the high grade feeder zones is barren in both examples."
Mr. Mullens continued, "In addition to this structurally controlled target, Terreno is exploring for a deeper porphyry style target which could be the source for the high sulphidation alteration system. With the results from our geophysics programs we expect to generate several targets which we plan to start drilling in late Q3 2011, weather permitting."
Work is also continuing at the Socompa and Trigal projects, both located in Salta province. This work consists of geological mapping, sampling and road construction. CSAMT geophysics is planned for September 2011 following the South American winter. Drilling is planned for December 2011 until March 2012. Both projects are located very favourably within existing mineralised belts in the Andean Cordillera and contain extensive porphyry and epithermal style alteration.
The Qualified Person for Terreno's projects is Mr. Peter Mullens, who is a member of the Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. Mr. Mullens has reviewed and approved the technical content of this release.
Chemical analysis was completed by ALS Chemex Laboratories using Au-ICP22 for gold and ME-MS41 for other elements.