Marifil Provides Exploration Updates and Announces Feature on BNN
BY GlobeNewswire
— 9:58 AM ET 07/03/2019
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, July 03, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Marifil Mines Limited ( MFMLF ) (“Marifil” or the “Company”) is pleased to provide the following update on its latest mineral exploration activities in the prolific gold districts of San Juan Province, Argentina. In addition to these updates, the Company also is pleased to announce that it will be featured in an upcoming BNN Bloomberg (“BNN”) segment, in which Marifil Executive Vice President and Director, Richard R. Walters, will discuss the Company as well as its flagship San Roque property, located in the mining friendly Province of Rio Negro, Argentina (“San Roque”).
Ortiquita Project Claim Application
Recently, the Company’s agents in Argentina have successfully obtained the exclusive exploration rights to 2,166 hectares (~21.7 km2) in the historically productive El Indio Gold Belt, a mineral rich region of the Andes Mountains spanning the border between Chile and Argentina that contains large gold, silver and copper mines. Specifically, the Company lodged a cateo, or mining exploration claim (“Cateo”), on land open for claims staking, located roughly 12 km north-northeast of Barrick Gold Corporation’s Veladero gold mine on the Pascua-Lama to Veladero epithermal gold deposits trend within the Province of San Juan, Argentina. This Cateo is named Ortiquita and shares a 250 square kilometer crowded field of mine claims which belong to competitors in the area. This was an opportunistic acquisition by Marifil, which through researching title records discovered an old Cateo that had expired and was now open for claim location. The large block of mine claims contains significant hydrothermal alteration as depicted by satellite imagery. Favorably altered and gold mineralized volcanic rocks have also been found in past explorations by various companies working the large claim block. However, the Company has not yet obtained or produced a technical data base for the Ortiquita Cateo, and although it is situated within a highly prospective epithermal gold zone, specific gold drilling targets remain to be identified, if any, on the Ortiquita Cateo by future geologic examinations the Company intends to accomplish.
Castaño Mine Claims Applications
Elsewhere in the Province of San Juan and located on the east front of the Andes Mountains, the Company has also applied for 3,946 hectares of contiguous mine claims (the “Castaño Mine Claims”). This parcel includes two exploration Cateos totalling 3,838 hectares, covering land that was open for staking, in addition to four existing separate, perfected mine rights (“Minas” or “Mine Rights”). These Minas amount to 108 hectares and were recently declared vacant by the San Juan Department of Mines (“SJDM”). Minas are real property that exist indefinitely until their contained minerals are proven to be exhausted. There is industry competition for some of these claims. As such, the Company’s claim applications are currently being processing by the SJDM who will determine which parties will prevail in obtaining the various claims. The Company expects to know the outcome of this process within the next two months, and although it is optimistic it will attain most, if not all, of the mine claims, there is no assurance the Company will prevail in its efforts.
In addition, Marifil has learned that a major international mining company had operated some 10 years ago in the zone of the claims the Company is now applying for. Their previous work defined a prospective gold zone about 10 kilometers long, but the company subsequently abandoned their claims when a corporate decision was made to cease business operations in Argentina. A reconnaissance field examination by Marifil’s geological staff confirmed this prospective zone to be part of a northeast trending complex of hydrothermally altered intrusives (quartz-monzonite porphyries) and associated hydrothermal breccias containing geochemically anomalous gold and copper. Proximal to the porphyry and breccia complex are several lead-zinc-silver and copper-gold veins that make up portions of the abandoned Castaños Viejo mining district, and for which Minas are included in the Company’s claims applications.
Should the Company succeed in obtaining the Cateos being applied for, and subject to availability of additional funding, the Company will set out to identify specific exploration drilling targets for large intrusive (porphyry) and volcanic breccia hosted deposits containing disseminated gold mineralization.
“While the Company’s primary focus remains on San Roque, our seasoned exploration team continues to explore for mineral rich properties within the gold districts of San Juan province, to add to Marifil’s already impressive asset portfolio,” stated Robert Abenante, President & CEO of Marifil. “As gold continues to gain momentum, our ongoing exploration efforts will continue to strengthen our position in the industry, ” added Mr. Abenante.
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