Malbex Resources Inc announced the acquisition of 2 prospective copper and gold porphyry projects in Argentina. The Quebrada Seca and Chalchalero exploration projects are copper-gold porphyry targets which can be explored year round, particularly in the Andean winter months when the Company's flagship Del Carmen gold and silver project is inactive.
The Quebrada Seca copper and gold project lies in Catamarca province about 75 kilometers to the southwest along the same regional scale structure as Xstrata Copper's Bajo de la Alumbrera copper and gold mine and Agua Rica copper and gold development project. The Chalchalero copper and gold project is in western La Rioja Province near the San Juan provincial boundary approximately 290 kilometers north of Malbex's office in San Juan.
1. Quebrada Seca - Quebrada Seca is a copper and gold porphyry target located approximately 75 kilometers southwest of and along the regional structure that hosts the Bajo de la Alumbrera copper and gold mine and the nearby Agua Rica copper and gold development project. Previous detailed mapping, sampling and prospecting by Teck in 2008 identified a possible copper-gold mineralized porphyry system concealed by vegetation. Their geologists strongly recommended further work on the project. However, Teck subsequently withdrew from Argentina before any further work could be completed and the project was returned to the owner.
2. Chalchalero - Sampling and mapping at the Chalchalero copper, gold and molybdenum porphyry target by Malbex geologists has identified silver and base metal rich quartz vein systems that flank an altered dacite porphyry. Previous work on the project consisted primarily of reconnaissance mapping and rock sampling, including several small scale artisanal mines of silver and lead rich quartz barite veins. Malbex collected 102 rock samples from the vein occurrences, within and flanking the dacite porphyry that include 32 samples with greater than 0.1% copper. Other anomalous results include up to 2 gram per tonne gold, 295 gram per tonne silver, 12.05% lead, 2.41% zinc and 97 ppm molybdenum. Devonian clastic sedimentary sequences host the silver-base metal-rich veins that are peripheral to dacitic and rhyolitic intrusions. These include sandstone with quartz iron oxide stockworks and up to 1.76% copper. No drilling has ever been carried out on the project.
Mr Tim Warman president and CEO of Malbex Resources said that "Our team of experienced Argentinean geologists has been reviewing projects across Argentina for the past 16 months and we are pleased that their work is now bearing fruit. The Del Carmen project remains our key project, but with only a seven month exploration season in the Andes, it is critical to Malbex's future success to deliver a continuous stream of exploration results on a year-round basis. We intend to begin working on these projects and our new gold project in Peru shortly after the Del Carmen project winds down for the winter in late April."
Source - Malbex Resources
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