Southern Exposure:
In This Issue
New Kid in Town
It's been just about a year since some very experienced 'old hats'
in the copper industry went public with Coro Mining, looking to take
a tried and true formula to new heights in a new setting. We're on
our way to London to see just how far this 'new kid on the block' has come.
The Aussie Posse
Australia has long been a very major mining and exploration country
and things continue to look up. It's just one of those places that
never fails to impress. And things just keep getting better for the
companies — homegrown and otherwise — that keep digging it up Down Under.
Wrapping it Up!
China's never ending machine is at it again, driving up the price of yet another commodity.
Aluminium is currently the third best performing industrial metal on the
planet and estimates have Chinese demand alone increasing by unimagined
lengths this year.
Going Platinum
The CPM Group joins us this issue to talk about both new and active investors and how they continue
to pour their dollars into the precious metals markets. The underlying
fundamentals for platinum remain positive and the outlook for the metal is
even more so.
Southern Exposure
It may be nearing winter in the southern hemisphere but everything industry related is as hot as ever.
Powerhouses like Chile, Argentina and Peru keep turning out one list of impressive results after
another, as do many other countries in the region.
Have the Bulls Stopped Running?
Some people may think so but Peter Grandich doesn't. Typically when economies do well so do commodities,
but the opposite is frequently true too. But we're not in a typical situation, thanks to China and — to a
lesser extent — India.
Brewing in Mexico (Stewing in Mongolia)
No, it's not coffee that Kevin Barker is talking about. He's here to talk silver and nudge investors toward a sleepy Fortuna
Silver Mines in Mexico, and discuss what it will take to wake up shares for Ivanhoe Mines in Mongolia.
One of the companies that we've long kept our eye on in Argentina is Minera Andes (MAI:TSX). This company has consistently captured our attention year after year with endless good news from its projects there. Most recently we've been watching its 49-percent-owned San Jose project, where 20,274 m of drilling last year extended by 64 percent the previously existing strike. Highs from the drilling included 34.43 g/t gold and 321.0 g/t silver over 0.46 m inside 3.15 m of 10.57 g/t gold and 244.0 g/t silver on the Odin vein and 8.21 g/t gold and 1,161.0 g/t silver over 1.53 m inside 2.95 m of 5.41 g/t gold and 804.0 g/t silver on the Ayelen vein. An extension to the Frea zone returned 3.64 m of 11.57 g/t gold and 1,291.0 g/t silver.
Also in Argentina we find Castillian Resources (CT:TSX-V) and the Las Aguilas project. As part of its work towards identifying a preliminary estimate for the Las Aguilas East deposit the company drilled 31 holes on it last year, and assays for the last seven of them recently arrived. Five of the seven returned intercepts higher than 1.0 g/t platinum, with one hole returning a highlight 2.01 g/t platinum and 0.27 g/t palladium over 1.0 m inside 7.0 m of 1.11% nickel, 0.45% copper, 0.04% cobalt, 0.50 g/t platinum and 0.68 g/t palladium. Between 1970 and 1984 previous owners outlined a near-surface resource of 2.2 million tonnes of 0.52% nickel, 0.50% copper, 0.04% cobalt, though that estimate has not been supported as of yet by modern standards.
Still in Argentina we see another example of how the country got its name, as word trickled in from Exeter Resource's (XRC:TSX-V) Cerro Moro project. There the company discovered two new veins, the Gabriela and the Patricia. The first boasts a 700 m strike and has recently returned 3.0 m in 9.0 m of 286.0 g/t; the latter boasts a 600 m strike and has returned a 2.0 m intersection assaying 1,758.0 g/t. The same work that uncovered these new veins also extended the existing Silvia vein to a 200 m strike with a gold-equivalent high of 12.8 g/t over 1.74 m from a depth of 111.4 m.
Ecuador, though not always thought of first as a minerals exploration destination, holds plenty of promise as well, particularly for Aurelian Resources (ARU:TSX) and its Condor project. There the Fruta Del Norte deposit — which currently contains an inferred resource of 13.7 million ounces of gold and 22.4 million ounces of silver — has been returning some fairly decent highs this year. The latest picks from the 'fruitful' deposit included 144.05 m of 7.41 g/t gold and 12.4 g/t silver, and 168.93 m of 13.16 g/t gold and 13.0 g/t silver, among other highs. An updated resource estimate is reportedly in the works for the summer.
Finally, in Chile, Valencia Ventures (VVI:TSX-V) has caught our attention at the Cachinal project, where a newly updated mineral resource stands at 5.7 million indicated tonnes of 101.0 g/t silver, 0.13 g/t gold and 22% zinc for 18.41 million ounces of silver, and 800,000 inferred tonnes of 115.5 g/t silver, 0.12 g/t gold and 0.22% zinc for 3.02 million ounces of silver. Based on the latest results and the potential that exists at the property, it was recommended that the company conduct another 14,000 m of drilling, which it says it will start immediately.
According to the latest United Nations Economic Commission for Latin American and the Caribbean (Eclac), the entire region of Latin America received more than 20 percent of all monies spent on mineral exploration in 2006, with an aggregate value for South America of more than $33.4 billion that year. The lion's share of that value went to Chile ($33.6B), Argentina ($11.8B) and Peru ($10.9B), but countries like Uruguay, Paraguay and Bolivia saw significant increases as well. These increases are all the proof we need to say, unequivocally, that companies worldwide — and their investors — are constantly looking to South America to expand their portfolios in an area where there is still plenty underground, waiting to be uncovered.
