Newstrike Comes Full Circle With Ana Paula
Calichebahda.com
Newstrike Comes Full Circle With Ana Paula
One thing that I found interesting as I waited for the start of the 2010 Newstrike AGM was that the directors in the room were well acquainted with the ground in Guerrero State, Mexico. They all had history with the Guerrero Gold Belt. The current directors and management are responsible for the discovery of over eight million of the 15 million ounces contained in the entire gold belt!
“Our management team is very familiar with Ana Paula’s geological setting and we look forward to advancing the work conducted by Goldcorp to date.” Richard Whittall
Richard O’C. Whittall – Director, President and CEO
Mr. Whittall is a seasoned investment banker based in Vancouver, British Columbia. His background includes serving as a past director of Miranda Mining Corp, the first junior company to promote and develop the Guerrero Gold belt, from 1995 until its sale to Wheaton River Minerals (Goldcorp) in 2003. Mr. Whittall has participated in a diverse range of corporate activities, including mergers and acquisitions and corporate financings. Most recently Mr. Whittall co-founded Aurea Mining Inc, acting as its president and CEO until its merger in 2008 with Newstrike Capital, part of The Lundin Group. He currently serves as a director of several public and private companies, and holds degrees from the University of British Columbia and University of Cambridge.
Gillian Kearvell – Vice President Exploration
Ms. Kearvell is a geologist (BSc) with 25 year’s exploration experience working with both junior and senior companies throughout North America, including 16 years in Mexico. Ms. Kearvell was most recently Vice President of Corporate Development for Newstrike’s predecessor company, Aurea Mining. Previous to that, in several increasing management roles for Teck Exploration, she co-discovered the San Nicolas VMS deposit in Zacatecas and led Teck’s exploration team responsible for the El Limon gold discovery. Ms. Kearvell is President of Minera GMK, a Mexican based exploration company.
Dr. David E. Euresti-Reyna – President – Minera Aurea S.A. de C.V.
Dr. Euresti has over 41 years experience in State and Privately-owned Mexican mining companies, such as Cananea, Autlán, Real de Angeles, Real del Monte (Managing Director), Macocozac, Química Fluor, Zincamex, and Lampazos among others. Dr Euresti has a Ph.D. in Mineral Economics from Penn State University, and has a Metallurgic and Mining Engineering degree from the University of Guanajuato, Mexico. Most recently, Dr. Euresti served as COO of Aurea Mining Inc and is currently the President of Newstrike Capitals 100% Mexican subsidiary, Minera Aurea. Dr. Euresti is an original founder of the Guerrero Gold belt, credited with the Nukay, Filos and Limon discoveries.
Salvador Miranda – Chief Financial Officer
Mr. Miranda is President of InterAmerica Consulting & Development Inc., a private business consulting company he founded in 1995 to develop business ventures between Canada and Mexico. Mr. Miranda’s functions include all financial, administrative and accounting aspects, including preparation and supervision of filings. He has also served as director, officer or consultant for several companies listed on the TSX Venture Exchange since 1997, and brings extensive public market experience to the Company. A civil engineer by training, Mr. Miranda holds a Master’s degree in Project Management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The Ana Paula deposit has passed through at least 3 companies before it landed with Newstrike. Miranda Mining was sold to Wheaton River, which was then taken over by Goldcorp. Current directors were involved with all of those past companies. Newstrike purchased the property from Goldcorp in Q1 of 2010. At each stage the project was advanced.
Commencing in 2004, Goldcorp conducted exploration programs on Ana Paula including geophysics, mapping and geochemistry. These efforts resulted in the discovery of a 1 kilometer -by 2 kilometer – wide area of gold mineralization at surface, located in a geological setting typical of other known GGB deposits.
A portion of this large mineralized area was drill tested in 2005 with a 3,689 meter, 11-hole diamond drill program that has confirmed the gold mineralization potential of the area.
Hole AP 05-05 ran 412.25 meters of .504 g/ton.
For comparison the average grade at the producing Goldcorp Los Filos mine is .68 g/ton
Upon receiving title to the property, Newstrike began the process of gaining surface access rights to Ana Paula for a period of 10 years. Successful negotiations were completed with the local community in October 2010. This was an important step in advancing Ana Paula towards feasibility and development.
Upon gaining surface access, Newstrike began a phase 1 drill program. The scope of the drill program provides for a minimum 5,000 meters within a mineralized area previously drill tested by Goldcorp. This initial drill program is the first step in testing the 2km- by 1km-wide area that remains open along a northeasterly strike and at depth. The program is designed to delineate and extend the known mineralization, as recommended in the NI-43-101 technical report dated June 26th, 2010 by Mr. Robert Lunceford, CPG, MSc.
On January 18th 2011 the assays were released from the first 8 holes of the phase 1 program. They were spectacular!
AP-10-19: 214.00 meters of 3.00 g/t Au and 5.5 g/t Ag, including;
0.80 meters of 31.20 g/t Au and 42.2 g/t Ag;
0.50 meters of 439.00 g/t Au and 126.00 g/t Ag, and
1.09 meters of 105.00 g/t Au and 6.6 g/t Ag.
AP-10-13: 24.03 meters of 2.14 g/t Au and 2.7 g/t Ag;
AP-10-16: 23.13 meters of 4.06 g/t Au and 6.1 g/t Ag, including;
1.00 meters of 77.35 g/t Au and 14.2 g/t Ag.
AP-10-17: 20.17 meters of 1.53 g/t Au and 4.3 g/t Ag.
Of particular interest was hole AP-10-19, the 8th hole of the new program. The hole numbers were continued from the original Goldcorp holes, AP 05-01 through 11 were drilled in 2005 and AP 10-12 through 19 are included in the new program.
AP -10-19 is a step-out hole from the 05-05 hole, meaning it was outside the previously known mineralized boundary, extending the known size of the deposit. 10-19 measured 214 meters of 3 grams gold. That is nearly 4.5 times the average grade of the Los Filos mine!
Of the results, Mr Whittall says “Our initial results are indicative of another significant gold discovery in the Guerrero Gold Belt. Ana Paula is already an exploration success with tremendous expansion potential. I look forward to continued excellent results as we progress with our drilling program”
All key objectives for the program have been achieved, including:
A comprehensive audit program, including a twin of Goldcorp Inc’s drillhole AP-05-06 by AP-10-12, has demonstrated the reliability of the previous assay database.
A simplified exploration model has been drill tested that demonstrates a high degree of predictably both on strike and down dip. This model will be used for planning resource drilling and will be continuously refined as drilling progresses.
Step out drilling has extended known mineralization from a 400 by 600 meter area to a 500 by 1000 meter area of mineralization that remains open in all directions and at depth.
A second drill rig mobilized in December is completing a series of infill drill holes (50-100 meter) that is demonstrating continuity of the gold mineralization both along strike and down dip.
Results demonstrate an important potential to host multiple gold bearing intercepts over wide mineralized intervals that show good continuity both across and down section, with excellent predictability from a planning perspective. This, along with improving grade and thickness to the west and southwest, speaks to the large volume potential developing at Ana Paula.
Newstrike has all of the things I look for in an investment. It has a strong board with years of experience, a top notch technical team, and a great project with proven exploration success!
The mineralization is contained in a north south trend and is open in all directions and to depth! The potential to add ounces fast is evident and the history of the GGB suggests that there are several more deposits to be found on Newstrike’s vast landholdings in the area (88,952 Hectares)
“A strong magnetic trend from Ana
Paula to Apetlanca with similar GGB
intrusions and anomalous gold at
surface is included in our exploration
plans”
One last fact, each of the deposits currently defined in the GGB contain in excess of 3 million ounces of gold!
We are overweight NES and looking to outperform.
The information provided in this letter is my personal opinion and should not be construed as investment advice. Personal decisions to buy or sell shares or any other financial instrument are exactly that, personal. Please consult an investment and/or tax advisor prior to making any investment decisions, and as always do your own Due Diligence.
