Montero Mining and Exploration Ltd (TSX-V:MON) announced the start of a new fieldwork program at its Avispa copper-molybdenum project in Chile.
The fieldwork will follow up from a successful reconnaissance exploration program that revealed extensive surface areas of tertiary evaporites with intercalated sediments and gravels overlaying older volcanic and intrusive rocks that could potentially host the target copper-molybdenum deposits, according to Montero.
Montero’s Phase One program will include detailed mapping at a scale of 1:10,000 to further outline the location of exposed volcanic and intrusive rocks on the property and help the company to understand the depth of the gravels at Avispa. A rock chip and soil sampling program will be undertaken on selected lithologies to help define geochemical signatures of any potential buried mineralization, the company said.
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Montero said it plans to use the data obtained during the Phase One program to develop drill targets for future programs.
Avispa is located around 40 kilometres (km) north of BHP’s Spence copper-molybdenum mine and KGHM’s Sierra Gorda copper-molybdenum mine in Chile, and 50km west of Codelco’s massive Chuquicamata porphyry copper mine.
“Montero’s 17,000-hectare landholding is clearly in the proximity and in the same geological setting as world-class operating copper-molybdenum mines,” CEO Tony Harwood said in a statement.
“Our reconnaissance exploration has revealed positive detail on the geology, structure, geochemistry and the location of previous drilling sites. The Phase One field exploration program, now underway, will set out to discover mineralized copper-molybdenum deposits with smaller exploration footprints than that targeted by major mining groups.”
Toronto-based Montero is focused on exploring for gold, silver, and base metals in the highly prospective southern Andes area.
Contact Angela at angela@proactiveinvestors.com
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