Alta Vista Ventures (CVE:AVV) said Wednesday that its partner on its Carol project in Mexico, Tosca Mining, has entered into a contract with Layne De Mexico to undertake a drill program on the property.
Site preparation is now underway, with drilling expected to begin by the end of April, Alta Vista said. The initial campaign, which will be the first ever drill program on the property, will consist of 5 to 7 holes, totaling 500 to 700 metres.
The work will be designed to investigate the continuity and extent of near-surface skarn mineralization, as well as possible porphyry-style mineralization at depth.
The program will focus on the Balde Sur area, the company said, where previous work by Alta Vista found widespread polymetallic skarn-style mineralization, outlined in two zones. Recent chip samples from trenches in these areas returned 8 metres of 1.06% copper, 22.5 grams per tonne (g/t) silver, 11.87% zinc and 0.26 g/t gold, as well as 11 metres of 0.38% copper, 22.4 g/t silver, 0.48% zinc and 0.08 g/t gold.
The property is located about 4 km from the Piedras Verdes porphyry deposit, Mexico's third largest copper producer at more than 70 million pounds per year.
Alta Vista, in common with other explorers, identifies and acquires properties that it feels exhibit high potential, and then compiles data and performs first pass confirmatory exploration, advancing its assets – ideally to drill-ready stage. From here, it deviates from the common path of junior explorers by bringing in a partner that earns an interest in the project by providing funding for further exploration.