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Beyond Eldorado
Oro Uses Sound to Find Mexico Gold
~ By Greg Klein - August 2, 2011
Whether it was supposed to be a land, a lake, the mother of all motherlodes, comments. “That’s pretty good grade. It will definitely add to the model. It just
a city or even a person covered in glittering raiment, the El Dorado myth has confirms that there’s more down there at depth, and that will just keep adding
fascinated us since the time of the Conquistadors. Now, in the Mexican state to what we’ve found already.”
of Sinaloa, junior explorer Oro Mining plans to go into production where giant
Eldorado Gold Corp pulled out. The property’s resource estimate shows 3.87 million tonnes grading 1.51 g/t
at a 0.3 g/t cut-off for 187,000 gold ounces indicated and 2.54 million tonnes
“We’re on to a discovery at the Trinidad Property,” says Oro President Darren grading 1.45 g/t at a 0.3 g/t cut-off for 118,000 gold ounces inferred. The es-
Bahrey. “We’re drilling the Taunus Deposit, which was previously mined by El- timate was released January 6, prior to this year’s 5,000-metre sonic-drilling
dorado in the late 1990s. After they left, the ground became available, and we campaign.
staked this abandoned open-pit mine. Essentially, Eldorado was just scratch-
ing the surface. They mined around 90,000 ounces, something like that. It was According to Bahrey, Oro’s plan is firm: “Let’s go mining.” For that purpose, the
based on just vertical RC drilling, relatively shallow. We came in around 2006 company brought in new blood. John Brownlie, former CEO of Capital Gold
or 2007 and staked it. We realized that there’s more there, especially when Corp and a mine builder with “a track record to make things happen pretty
we made a major discovery below the zone they called the Eldorado Zone, fast and at low cost” became Oro CEO and COO in October. In April, Capital
the zone that they mined.” Gold’s General Manager of Mexico Operations Marco Antonio Galindo be-
came Oro’s VP of Operations. They joined a team that includes Oro Executive
VP Frank Powell, formerly Africa exploration manager for Placer Dome, and
Bahrey, Oro’s founder and a geologist with 20 years’ experience in Mexico
and Central America.
“This is a group that’s been involved in major discoveries, like over 10-million-
ounce discoveries during the Placer Dome days in the 1990s,” Bahrey says.
“They’ve taken projects from discovery stage all the way to prefeasibility.
Now that we’ve attracted John and Marco, we’re a complete package. We’ve
scheduled 2012 for a PEA and 2013 for breaking ground.” The company cur-
rently projects a mine producing 40,000 to 60,000 gold ounces a year.
Trinidad is one of several Oro projects. “We have an extensive portfolio in
Mexico, close to 3,000 square kilometres. So I guess we can be considered a
land baron out there,” Bahrey quips.
Oro’s discovery didn’t come easily. It was, as Bahrey states, “one of the more In Zacatecas State, Oro’s 2,750-hectare El Compas Project has a January
complicated deposits I’ve come across. And this one’s not just complicated 2011 resource estimate of 524,000 tonnes grading 4.38 g/t gold and 65.5 g/t
geologically, but technically as well—try to drill this thing.” A few years of silver containing 74,000 gold ounces and 1.1 million silver ounces indicated,
reverse-circulation and diamond drilling brought up broken, clay-rich material. and 419,000 tonnes grading 3.98 g/t gold and 47.5 g/t silver containing
“The gold is free and fine, so it’s washing away,” he recalls. 54,000 gold ounces and 641,000 silver ounces inferred. Back in Sinaloa
State, the 8,100-hectare Cimarron Project has an inferred estimate of 3.7 mil-
So Oro turned to a new technique—sonic drilling. (For a demo video, click lion tonnes grading 0.65 g/t gold for 77,000 gold ounces.
here and scroll to the bottom of the page.) “We’re one of the first companies
to use this as an exploration tool,” Bahrey says. “It’s just based on vibration; At press time Oro had 120.6 million shares outstanding at $0.315 per share
you’re not using any fluids. You’re vibrating the tube down and pulling up the for a market cap of $38 million. As of June, the company had $7 million cash
material. This is the tool to use on this deposit because you’re not losing any on hand. Institutions hold about 50% of shares and insiders 8%.
of the gold.”
“
Despite Oro’s modest share price, Bahrey remains confident. “I still think
For example, one set of assay results released May 5 show that sonic drilling we’re one of the best-kept secrets in the market,” he says. “The market doesn’t
in the Eldorado Zone found an average grade of 2.6 grams per tonne gold know us yet. That will soon change.”
over 12.7 metres, compared to nearby, previously drilled RC holes averaging
1.1 g/t over 13.5 metres.
I still think we’re one of the best-kept
July 21 assays included 4.07 g/t over 32 metres, 8.07 g/t over 12.7 metres, secrets in the market. The market
3.37 g/t over 25.6 metres and 0.83 g/t over 72.4 metres. May 18 results
included 2.24 g/t over 54.3 metres (including 5.04 over 20.9 metres), while doesn’t know us yet. That will soon
May 5 highlights included 2 g/t over 166.6 metres (including 7.7 g/t over 24.6
metres), 4.6 g/t over 29 metres, 3.7 g/t over 20 metres and 2.5 g/t over 28 change
metres. – Darren Bahrey
“Our most recent results are good news—32 metres of 4.07 g/t,” Bahrey
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