Soltera Mining Corp
Soltera is considering the possibility of small-scale gold production from surface material at El Torno. The last such operation ceased in 2007 due to illness on the part of the titleholder, and the main pieces of processing equipment, together with workers accommodations are still in place. The data on gold grade and tonnage produced by this exploitation work would be incorporated into the main exploration programme.
The previous production was from surface weathered material that covers an area of one third of a square kilometre located about 2 km east of the main gold-bearing vein. The surface weathering is 2 to 3 m deep and can be dug by back-hoe. It consists of weathered sedimentary rocks (sandstone and shale) with pieces of quartz from the small gold-bearing veins that cut the rock strata.
The back-hoed material was put through a 3 cm mesh screen and the fines loaded into a 15 tonne truck for transportation 4 km to a trommel with 40 m3/hour capacity. The trommel used water from a dam in a nearby stream and the overall effect was to wash out the clays, discard pebble sized materials and direct sand-sized particles through a sluice to a settling tank from which gold was recovered. The recorded gold recovery was somewhat less than 0.5 g/t, but Soltera’s Management think that at least 50% was lost during the processing and that a head grade of around 1 g/t is realistic.
Soltera’s Management estimate that it would be possible to produce up to 2,000 ounces of gold per year very quickly with the existing equipment and to double this with additional equipment. There is no firm idea of the tonnage and grade potential, but there certainly appear to be very substantial tonnages of surface material suitable for processing.
This small-scale production would provide valuable data on the main targets which are potentially large open pit areas indicated by strong geochemical anomalies. For example, the previous workings are marked by a low-level geochemical anomaly that suggests relatively weak mineralization, whereas 2km to the south there is a wider and much more prospective area with a strong geochemical anomaly that has not yet been tested. We would test this and other prospective areas by small-scale mining of surface material in addition to surface sampling and drilling.
Soltera Management estimates that the production operation would cost a maximum US$400,000 to start up and the value of gold recovered in the first year could be around US$1.4M. Discussions are in progress about renting the existing processing equipment.
Soltera is currently in the process of raising funding to carry out these programmes.
About El Torno
El Torno is located in the Andean Cordillera near the international border with Bolivia and is within a major mineralized belt that extends several hundred kilometers through Argentina into Bolivia. The project covers an area of 78 km2 that contains a very large gold-bearing quartz vein system that extends intermittently north-south for 14 km with veins up to 20 metres wide.
The central parts of the system have been worked since the Incas, resulting in approximately 1000 metres of underground galleries. More recent work by Peñoles and Puma Minerals estimated that a 1.3 km length of the vein could have the potential for over 500,000 ounces of gold to a depth of 100 metres or 2 million ounces to a depth of 400 metres at an assumed grade of 10 g/t gold (non-NI 43-101 compliant).
The full report on the El Torno Exploration with maps is available from Soltera’s website: www.solteramining.com.
Contact:
Fabio Montanari
Soltera Mining Corp.
+1-303-800-5752
fmontanari.soltera@
www.solteramining.com
Safe Harbor Statement: Certain statements contained herein are "forward-looking"
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