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Mine Low, Sell High
Silver Pursuit Finances With Mexican Waste Rock
~ By Ted Niles - November 2 2011
Mexico’s northernmost “Silver City”—Alamos in Sonora State—was found- On October 21 Silver Pursuit announced surface-sampling results from the
ed in 1681 and built with the mineral wealth from the mines surrounding it. historic mine dumps at La Quintera. Thirty-eight samples were taken at the
Silver Pursuit Resources Ltd’s TSXV:SPF La Quintera project comprises a Promontorio waste dump showing an average grade of 171.9 g/t silver and
sizeable portion of those mines. “In 1683, they discovered epithermal-type 0.33 g/t gold. Thirty-six samples were taken at the Quintera waste dump
vein mineralizations at [the mining camps] La Aduana and Mina Nuevas,” averaging 325.5 g/t silver and 0.22 g/t gold. Surface and underground
President and CEO Adrian Robertson relates. “And they worked along that samples of the ore body itself yielded March 25 assays including
trend. I think there’s over a dozen different discrete mine workings along
that trend that are within our claim boundary.” 1,160 grams per tonne silver over 2.5 metres
550 g/t over 4.5 metres
476 g/t over 4 metres
398 g/t over 6 metres
382 g/t over 4 metres
326 g/t over 3 metres
282 g/t over 3 metres
192 g/t over 10 metres
162 g/t over 23 metres
With permits expected by November, and roughly $800,000 cash on hand,
Robertson anticipates a busy winter season. In addition to further sam-
pling and a 3,000- to 4,000-metre drill campaign, Silver Pursuit intends to
develop a resource estimate on the waste dumps and tailings. Robertson
believes that the latter should be completed by 2Q 2012 and that drill
results should begin to appear by 1Q.
Located seven kilometres west of Alamos in the foothills of the Sierra While La Quintera itself doesn’t have much by way of infrastructure, Rob-
Madre Occidental Range, the 4,673-hectare La Quintera project is close ertson emphasizes that this isn’t a significant issue. “Everything’s nearby.
to current producers. Pan American Silver Corp’s TSX:PAA Alamo Dorado Alamos is a centre with labour and power, and there’s adequate water to do
Mine is 40 kilometres to the southwest, and it mined 6.72 million ounces a core-drilling program. It’s not like we’re in the middle of the Gobi desert.”
of silver in 2010. Fifteen kilometres north of the project is Frontera Copper
Corporation’s TSX:FCC.NT.B Piedras Verdes mine, with annual copper He continues, “Even at $30—which is 25% off of where silver was sitting
production of approximately 70 million pounds. for quite a while—it’s a very profitable operation to go into these Mexican
mines and mine this silver. Do it for $5 an ounce and sell it for $30.”
Quintera and Promintorio, the two largest past-producing mines on the
La Quintera project, have total historical silver production estimated at 40 Refreshingly, Robertson does not consider Silver Pursuit undervalued at
million ounces. “They’ve been mining on and off since 1683,” Robertson its current share price. He argues that a junior’s value is a function of drill
says, “but they’ve never gone in with modern geological modeling, modern results and, to the extent that La Quintera is very early stage, the market
mining methods or mineral processing methods. As a result they were isn’t likely to respond. “Once we actually start putting the money to work and
stockpiling, as waste rock, material that runs five and 10 ounces per ton of doing some drilling on this property, I think you’ll see considerable apprecia-
silver. The tailings are running three ounces. So there’s value that’s already tion in the share price.” He adds, “I don’t like dilution; I don’t want to print a
been mined. A lot of it has already been milled, and it’s just sitting there. Not lot of stock. I want to do this in a sustainable way, and I think we have the
to mention that most of the ore body is probably intact because they weren’t infrastructure and the personnel to move this thing pretty far down the field.”
able to get very deep due to ventilation and de-watering issues.”
Silver Pursuit has 34.5 million shares trading at $0.14 for a market cap of
“
While the company could go the traditional route of raising money to drill off $4.82 million. The company’s other two properties—La Luz and La Tuna—
a resource, Robertson explains that the mine dumps provide Silver Pursuit are also located in Sonora State.
with a unique advantage towards financing exploration at La Quintera.
“Thirty-dollar silver is very rich,” he says. “Based on market volatility, I’m very
interested in pursuing any opportunity to use those ounces that we have
sitting there in the tailings and the waste dumps to help fund exploration. I’m
Once we actually start putting the money
interested in doing a bit of mineral processing. Not on a large scale; I think to work and doing some drilling on this
if you have 500 tonnes a day you could certainly finance a lot of activity property I think you’ll see considerable ap-
based on the grades we have.” Robertson further notes the potential syner- preciation in the share price
gy with neighbour Pan American, whose Alamo Dorado mine is anticipated
to run out of ore in 2013. – Adrian Robertson
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