PRETORIA, South Africa (ResourceInvestor.com) -- SAMEX Mining Corp [TSX-V:SXG; OTCBB:SMXMF] is gearing up to launch a drilling programme at its INCA property in the Andean mountains of northern Chile. The prospect, next door to Codelco’s Inca de Oro project, is one of several that have management optimistic about the possibility of discovering a large copper porphyry deposit.
The results of a wide-area IP survey conducted earlier this year, surface mapping, examination of historical assay results and mining records, and geologic modelling for five target areas lead management to believe that INCA may hold as much as 1 billion tonnes of copper ore grading between 0.65 to 1.0%, along with economically recoverable yields of molybdenum, gold and silver.
“The area containing these targets is the typical size for centers of porphyry copper systems of the early to mid-Tertiary igneous belt of the northern part of Chile....The Inca Project is positioned at the south end of this geologic belt and within a well-defined structural corridor of numerous centers of mineralization including the large El Salvador (Codelco) porphyry copper deposit (970 million metric tonnes - 0.68% copper, 0.022% molybdenum, 0.10 g/t gold), the Inca de Oro gold-copper vein swarm, [and] the Tres Puntas and Chimbero silver mining district,” SAMEX management stated in their latest financial report.
Location, Location, Location
Samex Mining since the company’s founding in 1993 has been exploring for gold, silver, copper and zinc in the Andes cordillera across an area spanning northern Chile and extending into western Bolivia, one that has yielded some of the world’s richest ore deposits.
Having gone public in 1995, management has recently focused on and is actively working four prospects in the region: the Chile Generative, INCA and Los Zorros projects in Chile and the Eskapa and Wara Wara project in Bolivia.
SAMEX’s wholly-owned INCA prospect, adjacent to Codelco’s Inca de Oro project, consists of more than 5,000 hectares of mineral concessions acquired by a combination of staking, government auction purchases, and negotiating three separate agreements for options to purchase 100% interest in mineral concessions. Management is progressing in its efforts to define the property’s copper, molybdenum, gold and silver reserves.
The property’s exploration and mining history extends back more than 50 years, which has provided management with historical survey and drilling data, access to shafts and open cut mines, geologic maps and drill cores that have helped narrow down and focus its exploration efforts and develop a geologic model of the area, which it believes is home to a large copper porphyry system.
A 1991 IP survey conducted by another explorer indicated a large anomaly centered above primary copper-sulphide mineralised veins that had been mined via shafts to depths of around 300 metres, as well as a second anomaly in the area of small, open cut mine workings at higher elevations.
“Based on the above historical information and its own exploration efforts, SAMEX concluded the anomalies might be associated with larger quantities of deeper seated disseminated and veinlet primary copper-suphide mineralization,” management announced last December.
The INCA Project
Aiming to electrically map its target zones, SAMEX geologists in February completed a 30.6 kilometre geophysical IP survey of the prospect. The latest IP survey results showed a strong correlation with the known occurrence of primary copper-sulphide mineralisation, according to the company.
“The survey clearly outlines the larger copper mineralized centers at Manto Cuba-San Pedro, Delirio-Tucumana and Providencia and indicates that extensions of these zones continue laterally and to depth, significantly expanding original targets and identifying new targets concealed beneath cap-rock and gravel cover,” management stated in a media release.
SAMEX, as a result, has increased the size of the target area and the company’s confidence in the porphyry copper model it is developing for the property. Integrating the IP data with surface trace mapping of the mineralized/altered zones leads SAMEX to believe that tonnage volumes associated with target zone dimensions may range from 860 million to more than 1 billion tonnes. Anticipated grades of primary copper-sulphide mineralisation, if they prove to be in historic ranges, should be in .65% to 1.0% Cu range, along with associated recovery of gold and molybdenum.
These indicative target size estimates may be increased as they are based on thickness and depth ranges of 200 to 250 metres. The company’s IP pseudo-sections indicate that mineralized zones likely extend in places to 500 metres and are open at depth, according to management.
Financing & Exploration Plans
Management believes it has sufficient funding to carry out its full slate of exploration plans for this year thanks to a first quarter private placement that raised gross proceeds of more than US$4.59 million.
Each unit consists of one share of common stock (US$0.80 per) and one-half of a share purchase warrant. Each full warrant entitles the holder to purchase an additional common share at $1.00 per share at any time during its two year term, which expires March 16, 2009. A total 5,742,500 common shares and 2,871,250 warrants were issued.
The company’s cash balance as of March 31 this year totalled US$5,355,360 compared to $1,816,633 on March 31, 2006. Management plans to put these funds to work conducting further exploration at the INCA and Los Zorros and Eskapa properties. “Drilling at the INCA project will likely involve the larger portion of our anticipated exploration expenditures for 2007,” management stated in its Q1 2007 financial report. The company is also considering conducting a second phase drilling programme at Los Zorros.
SAMEX in April resumed activities at its Eskapa precious metals prospect in Bolivia. This includes refurbishing and expanding an exploration camp, repairing and enhancing access roads, and preparing drill pads for the next phase of drill testing. Management is also negotiating other possible mineral property acquisitions in Chile.
