Mantaro unveils Bolivia gold estimate, shares advance
Mantaro Precious Metals Corp. [MNTR-TSXV, MSLVF-OTCQB, 9TZ-FSE] shares rallied in active trading Friday after the company released a resource estimate for its Golden Hill Property in Bolivia.
Mantaro is a company that was previously set up to acquire and develop high-grade silver properties in Peru and Bolivia. The shares began trading in June, 2021. Prior to going public, the company held a 100% interest in five silver-focused Peruvian properties, including the flagship Santas Gloria and San Jose projects as well as the La Purisima, Cerro Luque and Huaranay. Four of the five properties are located on the Miocene-Pliocene epithermal gold-silver, and base metal belt.
The portfolio was assembled by Mantaro Executive Chairman and chief geologist Chris Wilson, who went looking for high grade properties that could be acquired outright, and which have not already been drill tested. Wilson was formerly an exploration manager with Robert Friedland’s Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. [IVN-TSX, IVPAF-OTC].
He assembled the portfolio with help from two other well known geologists Quinton Hennigh and Craig Angus, the founder of Nevsun Resources Ltd., a company that was swallowed by Zijin Mining Group Co. of China in a $1.86 billion takeover deal in December, 2019.
“Mantaro holds an option to acquire up to an 80% interest in the advanced Golden Hill orogenic gold property, which is located in the underexplored Precambrian Shield, Bolivia. Mantaro acquired the option in August, 2021. Golden Hill is a fully permitted 5,976-hectare mining concession. Gold mineralization is of an orogenic or greenstone-hosted type, controlled by a regional structure that hosts at least six other gold deposits along a 25-kilometre strike length. All have been mined via open pit methods at shallow levels.
On Friday, the company said Golden Hill contains an inferred resource of 857,000 tonnes of grade 4.4 g/t gold or 121,000 ounces at a 1.5 g/t cut-off. The estimate is based on 14 diamond drill holes covering 2,405 metres. The estimate covers a strike length of only 400 metres from surface to a vertical depth generally less than 90 metres – a small portion of the exploration footprint of Golden Hill.
The company said it can see significant exploration potential at depth and across over 6.0 kilometres of untested vein swarms at Golden Hill.
“Since optioning Golden Hill in August, 2021, our technical team completed a very successful diamond drill program, received excellent recovery results from metallurgical testwork and carried out a petrographic study confirming high-grade primary gold deposition that is not a result of supergene enrichment,’’ said Mantaro CEO Darren Hazelwood.
“The mineral resource estimate is open in all directions and represents an important first benchmark that allows Mantaro shareholders and other stakeholders to realize the current production potential and exceptional exploration upside at Golden Hill.’’
Mantaro shares advanced on the news, rising 12.5% or $0.005 to $0.045 on volume of 407,500. The shares are currently trading in a 52-week range of 16 cents and $0.03.