Harry, glad to see such detail as you have provided in the July 2009 geologist's report.
Excerpts:
20.0 Interpretations & Conclusions:
Because of the limited area occupied by the mine workings and the extremely difficult access for drilling from the surface, the direct approach of drifting across the target zone and driving crosscuts at 25 meter intervals, followed by fan drilling from the crosscuts has been chosen. This will result in a mineral resource which is well defined in three dimensions.
From reviewing the underground exposures and sampling results as well as examining limited surface exposures, the author has inferred that the Don Roman deposit is a metasomatic, somewhat distal skarn, probably genetically related to the zoned Santo Tomas porphyry copper system located less than 5 kilometers to the east or a satellite intrusive body. The mineralization appears to be controlled by a favorable stratigraphic horizon near the base of the limestone unit. Zn-Pb-Ag mineralization occurs as irregular roughly tabular mantos and planar to chimney-like cross-cutting bodies related to small faults.
With the limited evidence at hand at this time, predicting the overall shape and size of the deposit would be very conjectural. The ore bodies in such deposits can occur as several separate bodies whose size and distribution is difficult to predict. After the underground drifting and drilling program is complete, the picture will be much more clear.
The Don Roman deposit is only one of several similar Zn-Pb-Ag occurances in the immediate area, many of which are controlled by American Metal Mining. Some of them may prove to be as good as or better than Don Roman. There are also at least two veins very close by with attractive gold values. The best known of these is Don Felipe. An access road will be constructed shortly which will allow the cutting of trenches and cutting of bulk samples.
The Sanaloya concession group is approximately 10 kilometers to the northeast from Don Roman. It has at least three very attractive prospects – the Centenario Au-Cu-Ag vein, the El Oro stratabound (?) Fe-Au-Cu prospect and the El Mono Zn-Pb-Ag vein. Restoration of access roads to these will allow mapping, trenching and sampling of these, probably including bulk samples for preliminary mill testing.
American Metal Mining has taken the somewhat unconventional approach of constructing a processing plant early in the program. However it is anticipated that the ore derived from the driving of workings to develop the Don Ramon mineralization will provide the cash flow to pay for the processing plant, the development work and the resource calculation. At the same time the several other properties can be advanced toward development and eventual production as well.
21.0 RECOMMENDATIONS
Because the resource to be defined by the underground development work at Don Roman will be vital to the success of the project, it essential to develop systematic sampling and mapping procedures and to document them well. Such a program is in place and will need to be modified somewhat as experience is gained. Establishment of a rigorous assay data quality control/quality assurance program will also be necessary.
The presence of an operating mill will also provide pressure to develop additional resources quickly. The other development projects, such as bulk sampling at San Felipe, and the work on the Sanaloya group of properties must be pushed forward rapidly to get them into the development stream as soon as possible. With luck, the Don Ramon development work will produce a resource sufficiently large to allow plenty of time for the development of the others. Meanwhile, some attention must also be devoted to other acquisitions.
... and you thought you were having a bad day!
AI
