Current Exploration Programs
Developing San Miguel
Before 2005, most of the work in the Guazapares Mining District was designed to exploit small deposits of easily beneficiated ores, with silver being the primary production from the area. During this time, very little effort was devoted to understanding the relationships and controls of precious metals throughout the district. Paramount began its first drilling program in 2006, testing 6 targets in the district and culminating in June, 2008 with approximately 50,000 meters of drilling and the publication of a NI 43-101 compliant resource report. In addition to completing this initial resource estimation, several hypotheses sprang from that program that predicted better gold grades with depth, disseminated precious metal bodies at structural intersections and the existence of primary lithological controls on precious metal occurrences. These insights strongly suggested that the best was yet to come.
In April 2009, Paramount developed a long-term strategy to advance the San Miguel project. Near-term targets were selected where existing resources could be increased, medium-term targets were chosen with the potential to develop into new deposits on the margin of the Guazapares Mining Camp within the next two years and longer-term targets were identified on the outer limits of the concessions. Beginning in July 2009, a new drilling program began to test the ideas developed in the first campaigns, refine existing resources and discover new mineral resources. This current program is focused on gold-rich target zones and includes drill testing:
- Near-term targets at the San Miguel, San Antonio, San Luis and La Veronica veins to validate the concept of vertical zonation of silver and gold mineralization.
- Near-term targets at Monte Cristo and San Francisco zones to evaluate bulk-tonnage resource potential.
- Medium-term tests of vein systems in Veta Azula, La California and Don Ese.
Regional Geology
In the Sierra Madre Mountains, the volcanic stratigraphy consists of two major units, a lower chiefly andesite package and an upper ignimbrite package dominated by rhyolite. Throughout the mountain range, at the transition between these two major compositional breaks in the volcanic stratigraphy, epithermal gold and silver deposits have been found. The Guazapares Mining District is an example of a low-sulfidation type epithermal camp at this stratigraphic break. It displays clear zoning of gold and silver mineralization within well developed areas of rock preparation.
The principal controls on the location of gold and silver concentrations in Guazapares are the fractured and broken rocks along north-northwest trending faults. These faults are host to the precious metal veins, with localized areas of brecciation and fault intersections providing the right environment for broader zones of bulk minable mineralization.