Yale Confirms High-Grade Copper at La Verde Grande Mine
By Leonard M. Melman
Few nations can match Mexico when it comes to combining an array of immense geologic assets with a positive attitude toward the mining industry and one Canadian junior mining corporation, Vancouver-based Yale Resources Ltd. (TSX.V: YLL), has positioned itself to take advantage of this favourable situation.
Yale has assembled an interest in four Mexican projects including La Verde Project and Carol Property in Sonora State; Urique Property in Chihuahua State and Zacatecas Venture in Zacatecas State. They have also assembled a management team fully able to work with the Mexican government as the company President, Ian Foreman, P. Geo, has worked on several projects in Spanish-speaking nations and is fluent in that language while the corporate manager of Mexican operations is a Mexican national located in Vancouver.
The company’s primary focus at this time is the development of resources at the 100% owned La Verde Property. Two crews remain at work in the field at La Verde until Christmas 2007 and the company has established aggressive geophysical and geochemical programs for the coming year in order to identify targets for future drill programs.
La Verde Project, located some 45 km northwest of the city of Hermosillo (population est. 550,000), lies within 2 km of both paved roads and the electrical grid. A good network of access roads can be found throughout the property and adequate supplies, labor and expertise are available in Hermosillo and nearby communities.
The Project area has had a lengthy history of mining activity, dating back into the early 1900s when Hermosillo Copper Company began exploration and production activities and those activities left behind a substantial array of drifts and adits throughout the property which now provide access for current exploration. Some limited mining activity took place at the La Verde Grande Mine in the 1960s with ore shipped for custom milling in Hermosillo. This was followed by exploration efforts by both Exall Mining and Scorpio Mining from 1990 to 2002.
As a result of these activities, a historic resource estimate (non-compliant with present NI 43-101 requirements) was developed which showed 459,551 tonnes grading 2.29% copper (Cu), 98.54 grams per tonne (g/t) silver (Ag) and 0.38 g/t gold (Au). This estimate was based on a limited area covering 18 meters width, 34 meters depth and a strike length of only 110 meters.
Mineralization at La Verde Grande consists of a series of structurally controlled skarn bodies and veins and host rocks are a thick sequence of metamorphosed limestones that are locally intruded by granite and monzonite porphyries, dykes and mineralized aplite dykes. It is also important to note that the La Verde Grande area is located near the southern end of a newly recognized copper-molybdenum porphyry district.
La Verde contains several prospects within the Property, but Yale’s focus is in the area of the La Verde Grande Mine and the El Picacho prospect some 900 meters to the northeast. Historic reports at El Picacho indicate 4.5 meters width over 15 meters averaging 3% copper. El Picacho is also on strike with the La Verde Grande Mine ore bodies.
Recent press releases based on the 2007 sampling program indicated that “…the extent of the La Verde Grande deposit is significantly greater than previously understood. Company geologists have identified additional skarn mineralization.” President Foreman added, “The discovery of this mineralization is significant as it demonstrates that the La Verde Grande deposit is potentially much larger than previously thought.”
According to the most recent release, the company has taken 181 samples from approximately 500 meters of old workings to date and the weighted average of those samples is 1.54% Cu. That grade represents approximately 30 pounds of Cu per tonne which would be valued at just under US$100 per tonne at current prices, with significant additional credits for silver, zinc and gold.
Yale’s program for 2007 has now defined skarn mineralization over a strike length of 250 meters - more than doubling the length upon which previous ore estimates were based - and their work has shown that mineralization is open in all directions.
In addition to La Verde, development is also proceeding at the Urique Project, located in the prolific Sierra Madre Gold Belt of northern Mexico, a region in which numerous gold deposits exceeding one million ounces have been discovered. Urique covers or surrounds ten separate mineralized areas with a history of past mining activity and Yale intends to advance the Urique Project in parallel with La Verde.
The remaining projects, Carol and Zacatecas, offer significant future potential, but the ability to quickly expand reserves and resources - and shareholder value - appears highest at La Verde and Urique for the present.
According to President Foreman, the most exciting development is that the company knows that a genuine potential exists to expand reserves and resources at a time when metals prices are at historic high levels. He also noted that the company has sufficient cash reserves to complete the first phase of exploration at La Verde and plans to raise additional funding to finance future drill programs.
This article is intended for information purposes only, and is not a recommendation to buy or sell the equities of any company mentioned herein. It is based on sources believed to be reliable, but no warranty as to accuracy is expressed or implied. The opinions expressed in the article are those of the author except where statements are attributed to individuals other than the author, in which case the opinions are those of the individual to whom they are attributed.
