Mr. Juan Vegarra reports
VENA REGAINS CONTROL OF THE 18,900 HECTARE AMANTINA PROPERTY ADJACENT TO THE ESQUILACHE SILVER PROJECT IN PERU
Vena Resources Inc. has regained control of its
100-per-cent-owned, 18,900-hectare Amantina property in Peru, contiguous to the
company's strategic Esquilache silver project. Since January, 2010, the
Amantina property has been operated by a wholly owned subsidiary of
Gold Fields Ltd. under a joint venture agreement;
however, Gold Fields has agreed to waive its right to vest a 51-per-cent interest in the joint venture in exchange for a 2-per-cent net smelter return.
In excess of $2.45-million has been spent on the Amantina property by
Gold Fields during the three years in which it has been operating the
joint venture. This will allow Vena to focus on advancing the promising
Virgin de Chapi prospect located near the southern rim of the San
Antonio de Esquilache caldera, approximately three kilometres from the
former mill site.
The work by Gold Fields and earlier exploration by Vena led to the
discovery of eight mineralized areas on the property, ranging from high-sulphidation gold systems to low-sulphidation polymetallic veins and
breccias. During the course of the program, Gold Fields collected 1,456
rock samples, 1,131 soil samples and had 2,488 samples analyzed by
Terraspec to detect alteration minerals. Gold Fields concentrated on
the Chapi Chiara high-sulphidation system, where seven diamond drill
holes totalled 1,985.7 metres, with targeting partially based on the
results of a geophysical program that included 78.4 kilometres of
magnetometer surveying, 61 kilometres of gradient array and four
kilometres of sectional induced polarization and resistivity. The drilling intersected
extensive silica-clay alteration with uneconomic gold values. The two
targets that are of primary interest to Vena are the low-sulphidation
Virgin de Chapi and Amantina prospects.
Virgin de Chapi is the southern extension of multiple south-20-degree-west-trending
mineralized structures, which had been mapped at Cerros Mamacocha and
Mercedes on the Esquilache property. Extensive veining and stockworks
with anomalous surface values in silver, lead and zinc occur
within argillically and phyllically altered dacitic tuffs and andesitic
volcanics between two faults approximately 500 metres apart. The zone
can be followed along strike for approximately 1,200 metres to the
south and is then lost under the ridge that defines the southern rim of
the caldera. Additional geochemically anomalous samples farther to the
south indicate that the zone may be nearly three kilometres long. Five hundred sixty rock samples have been collected during the Vena and Gold
Fields programs. Many of the samples are two-metre chip-channel
samples transverse to structures, with the highest individual sample
assaying 177 grams per tonne silver. Much of the anomalous zone is covered by thin
cover, and sampling was restricted to outcrop and a few hand trenches.
David Bent, vice-president of exploration for Vena, stated: "Regaining
control of the Amantina project is a major step forward for the
Esquilache project. The Virgin de Chapi prospect occurs approximately
200 metres higher than the top of the veins at Cerro Mamacocha and it
is most likely that the entire vertical extent of the mineralized
structures has been preserved. The location of the prospect means that
any resources discovered at Virgin de Chapi would have an immediate
positive impact on the economics of building a mill at Esquilache. A
program of extensive trenching followed by a 1,800-metre drill program
to test the structures at depth is planned."
The Amantina prospect is located approximately 12 kilometres east of
Esquilache and is centred on a diatreme-phreatic breccia zone with
surrounding argillic-silicic alteration. Mineralization is principally silver, lead, copper and zinc, with the better values occurring
in northwest-southeast-trending opaline quartz structures. The prospect was surveyed
by IP resistivity, and a strong chargeability anomaly with dimensions of
800 metres by 400 metres was identified in the central area immediately
west of the breccia pipe. The anomaly is mostly covered by alluvium, but
there are sparse outcrops of dacite tuff containing oxidized stockwork
veinlets, which are geochemically anomalous in copper and zinc. Trenching of
the anomaly will provide targeting information for an initial drill
program.
This news release has been reviewed and approved by David Bent, PGeo, Vena's vice-president of exploration and a qualified person as
defined by National Instrument 43-101. Vena's exploration and development programs are
being supervised by Mr. Bent.
We seek Safe Harbor.
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