MINAS YANAYCO PROPERTY
The 500-hectare Minas Yanayco property is located in the Ancash Department near the small town of Pueblo Libre. The property is accessed via roughly 292 kilometres of mostly asphalt roads from the Aguila Norte plant and encompasses epithermal, oxide gold-silver mineralization hosted in fractured, brecciated, and faulted quartzites of the Chimu Formation. Historical mine workings are localized in a highly brecciated fault zone parallel to the hinge of an overturned, tightly folded syncline where at least two periods of exploitation have occurred including small, artisanal style tunnels and a large mechanically exploited stope measuring roughly 3,450 square metres entering the hill for 170 metres with widths of up to 30 metres. Production from the Yanayco Mine occurred in the late 70’s and early 80’s and oxide gold material were treated at site. There still exists some of the platforms for the equipment.
Oxide gold-silver mineralization hosted in fractured, brecciated quartzites of the Cretaceous age Chimu Formation is an attractive exploration gold exploration in Northern Peru. Numerous large-scale mines such as Pan American’s La Arena Mine and Barrick Laguna Mine gold reserves were hosted in these quartzites. Gold mineralization in the Chimu quartzites are localized in strongly brecciated rocks where the gold is deposited on the fractured surfaces of the breccias by hydrothermal activity. As result, when rocks are oxidized, the gold becomes free and can be easily leached with minimal crushing.
Sampling in the old workings has returned up to 7.33 g Au/MT and 1,058 g Ag/MT in individual samples with sample lengths of 0.6 meters and 0.4 metres, respectively. In total, 36 random samples were taken underground and averaged 0.73 g Au/T and 66.9 g Ag/T. It is apparent that the Au-Ag grade depends on the brecciation intensity and is adjacent to a large NE trending reverse thrust fault. Structural analysis is showing that large, brecciated zones are associated with conjugate set of shears and faults.
The old mine dumps returned anomalous results from grab samples with individual samples assaying up to 4 g Au/T and 431 g Ag/T. In total, 14 samples were collected from the old mine dumps and averaged 0.81 g Au/T and 151 g Ag/T. These samples are random grab samples outside the workings and are not necessarily representative of the mineralization hosted on the property. The Company intends to conduct mapping to understand the structural controls on the gold-silver mineralization.
The old mine dumps returned anomalous results from grab samples with individual samples assaying up to 4 g Au/T and 431 g Ag/T. In total, 14 samples were collected from the old mine dumps and averaged 0.81 g Au/T and 151 g Ag/T. These samples are random grab samples outside the workings and are not necessarily representative of the mineralization hosted on the property. The Company intends to conduct mapping to further understand the structural controls on the gold-silver mineralization.
Yanayco Mine Entrance
Old Workings – leaching ponds
