Nov 20 2012
Camino Minerals Corporation ("Camino" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that drilling is underway at the El Secreto Gold, Silver and Copper Project ("El Secreto" or the "Project"), located in Sinaloa State, Mexico. The 2,000 metre reverse circulation drill program commenced over the weekend and is expected to take up to four weeks to complete. This is the first ever drill program to be carried out at El Secreto.
Drilling initially will focus on two target areas: the El Secreto Zone and the Carrizal Area. The El Secreto Zone, located in the northeastern part of the property, was delineated by a soil geochemical survey, which outlined a 1.5 km by 2 km area of anomalous gold and silver values. Rock samples collected from the El Secreto Zone have returned values as high as 13.3 g/t gold and 187 g/t silver. The Carrizal Area, located 6-km to the west of the El Secreto Zone, contains a number of mineralized veins. Rock samples collected from the Carrizal Area have returned values as high as 8.8 g/t gold, 316.0 g/t silver and 5.1% copper. Northeast-trending epithermal veins that cross cut granodioritic intrusions are present at both the El Secreto Zone and the Carrizal Area. The veins vary from one to five metres in thickness and from several hundred metres to more than one kilometre in length.
El Secreto is situated along the western edge of the Sierra Madre Occidental in a structural setting similar to Primero Mining Corporation's San Dimas Mine, located 40-km to the east. San Dimas produced 102,000 gold equivalent ounces in 2011. Primero recently announced plans (see Primero's news release dated October 15, 2012) to increase mine throughput from the current 1,925 tonnes per day to 2,500 tonnes per day by the end of the first quarter of 2014. This expansion will allow for an average production target of 160,000 gold equivalent ounces per year over the next five years. The San Dimas district, which has been mined since 1757, contains a series of epithermal gold-silver veins. Historical production from the San Dimas district is estimated at 11 million ounces of gold and 582 million ounces of silver.
"The structural setting, proximity to San Dimas and exploration results received to-date have only reinforced our belief that El Secreto is highly prospective for the discovery of epithermal vein systems," said Gordon Davis, Camino's Chairman and CEO. "We look forward to reporting the results of the drill program in the new year."
About the El Secreto Gold, Silver and Copper Project
Recently consolidated by Arcelia Gold Corp. ("Arcelia"), a private BC company, through staking and the acquisition of privately held claims, El Secreto consists of three mineral concessions encompassing over 12,000 hectares (49 square miles). The Project is located approximately 100 km northeast of Mazatlan, Sinaloa State, and is accessible by paved and gravel roads. The geology and mineralization obtained to date suggests that El Secreto is highly prospective for the discovery of epithermal gold-silver vein systems. The Project has never been subject to modern exploration techniques or drilling. Camino has an option to earn up to an 80-per-cent interest in El Secreto from Arcelia.