Oct 11 2012
Santo Mining Corporation, is pleased to announce that it is acquiring 100% of the Francesca gold exploration claim just west of Moncion in the Dominican Republic. This is the Company's fifth claim that it has acquired and consists of 2,120 hectacres of explorable lands.
For many years Moncion was a bustling mining town where many locals worked in the local mining co-operative. According to a report conducted by the Dominican Mining Office titled, "Analisis y Ordenacion de la Mineria Artesanal," the cooperative had extracted black sand to the south of Moncion with a gold assay of 101 g/m gold. Santo Mining's exploration team is anxious to launch a preliminary geochemical survey and will begin by investigating areas around any artisanal gold works together with collecting sediment samples from mountain streams to rapidly identify potential gold anomalies.
After La Rosario (first company to mine Pueblo Viejo) exhausted its oxide gold deposits they looked for new frontiers and sent an exploration team to the Moncion area. However in that era the price of gold did not justify the transportation cost to their plant in Maimón. Now, with gold prices hitting new highs and access improvements, the concept of transporting raw material to a central concentrating plant is now looking much brighter.
Francesca shares the mineral rich "Hispaniola Gold Copper Arc" formation with Barrick Gold's "Pueblo Viejo" mine with 25 million ounces of Gold, Perilya Gold's "Cerro de Maimón," Goldquest's recent impressive "Romero" discovery, and Falcondo Xstrata's massive nickel complex.
Following a recent site visit with a Santo Mining geologist, President Al French states, "We are highly optimistic about this latest addition to Santo Mining's growing arsenal of precious and base metal claims, all our claims are hand-picked for their strategic position in the heart of the mineral rich Hispaniola Gold-Copper Belt. Furthermore, we will continue to seek out additional claim acquisitions to add to our portfolio thus allowing us to pursue near-term gold production opportunities most aggressively."