Mariana Resources (LON:MARL), the South America - focused gold miner, announced that its 2011 drill campaign for the promising Los Amigos joint venture in Argentina is underway.
Previous work at Los Amigos, which is 49 percent owned by Mariana, has been promising, with indications the prospect could hold economic potential at depth.
Follow up work to date has identified 19 new targets for further exploration. The Bajo section of Los Amigos, located in the western part of the joint venture area had already been designated a ‘high priority new target area’.
Today, Mariana revealed a diamond drill programme of 2,000m in 13 holes is underway to provide an initial test of the Bajo vein system. Assay results are expected midway through the third quarter of 2011.
Los Amigos, a joint venture with 51% owner, Hochschild Mining, is located in the western sector of the highly prospective Deseado Massif gold-silver province of Santa Cruz, southern Argentina.
The company’s other prospects in Deseado Massif gold-silver province include the 100% owned Las Calandrias project and 70% owned Sierra Blanca silver-gold prospect.
In April 2011 the company announced positive high grade silver and gold results from the first six holes of its 4,000m 2011 drilling programme at for the Sierra Blanca project.
Elsewhere in South America, the company is active in Chile where it has a joint venture with US based international mining and natural resources company Cliffs Natural Resources. The two companies are exploring for iron oxide-copper-gold deposits in north-central Chile along the highly prospective Atacama fault zone.
Mariana Resources shares opened this morning on 24.38p.