Well, I don’t know much, but I realize that nature formed this mineral-laden plateau over the span of many millions of years. I can keep my cool for a few more weeks while the excitement builds and the golden conclusion of this saga becomes fact.
When the initial samples at the oxidized zone at the LDM yielded (per the June 6th, 2012 Shareholder Update) assays in the range of “2.9 grams of gold per tonne to a high of 12.7 grams of gold per tonne, with copper ranging from 0.26% to 2.1% and with silver averaging 11 grams per tonne to 66 grams per tonne,“ we knew something special was being discovered. Doc and the geologically savvy confirmed that values like these might be high-end for their respective copper or gold skarns, but to be found together? That was truly remarkable and pointed to this particular skarn as a possibly one-of–a kind and very valuable occurrence. Again, the June 6th update states, “the tunnel itself is contained fully within the mineralized zone. Sampling of the progress into the mountain and towards the target diamond drill holes will continue and be reported to Management by the Geologist.”
The August 18, 2012 Shareholder Update goes on to say “Management of Compañia Minera LDM Chile reports that the development work at the Las dos Marias property near Santiago, Chile is expanding into a new phase. The discoveries made during the tunneling operations have necessitated the development of a “much larger scale” mining operation. Company Management, Mining Engineers, and Geologists are presently developing new mining plans that will be submitted to the Chilean State Mining Departments. These plans include the extraction of significant ore tonnages apart, and in addition to encountered veins at DDH-1, and anticipated at the soon to be reached DDH-2 site.” As the mining crew passed DDH-1, at 41 meters in the tunnel, loose material was found that required shoring, that is, the use of timbers to reinforce the tunnel. “A crosscut was completed across the vein 6 meters distance to the east and 4 meters distance to the west.
At the end of the east crosscut, the value was 13.69 grams gold per tonne with an average of 8+ grams gold per tonne over the entire 6 meters. At the end of the west crosscut, the value was 9 grams gold per tonne with an average of 5+ grams gold per tonne over the 4 meters.”
As Doc has said, the adit at the LDM gives us a “glimpse into the belly of the mountain." Recall that what the geologists have been able to determine so far “radically changes the potential tonnages and valuations of the Altos de Lipangue discovery zone. It is possible that this LDM Chile skarn discovery is related to several observed structures that occur across the entire Altos de Lipangue plateau.”
When I refer to “building excitement” I am talking about the discovery of what lies beneath the plateau, aside from the initial Gordon Breccia drilling some years ago, finally taking place. The drilling program that is to be inititated during September and October at the Alto, along with the tunnel and excavation at LDM, should be enough to charge the enthusiasm of everyone involved with this story through their stock purchases and due diligence.
As I said before, this was a long time in the making. Now we’re talking about a mere few weeks at the most until conclusion which, by paradox, is really just the beginning.
