Inca Gold
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Property Type
Multiple prospects identified to date with various mineralization styles, including:
▪ Polymetalic Intermediate Sulfidation Epithermal veins
▪ Porphyry Cu-Au
▪ Quartz-tourmaline Breccia Cu-Au
Size
16,300 ha
Status
Controlled through an option agreement with Newmont Corporation
Exploration Stage
Drill targets identified at Vania North and Vania South
Location
- Located on the Paleocene belt of Chile
- 100 kilometers north of Copiapo
- 17 kilometers east of the town of Inca de Oro
- Altitude of 2,000 to 3,000 meters ASL
- Year-round access and near infrastructure
The 16,300 ha Inca Gold project is located in Region III of Chile, approximately 100 km north of Copiapo, and within the Inca Del Oro mining district that hosts both Santiago Metals Delirio Cu/Au mine and PanAust/Codelco’s Inca de Oro Cu/Au porphyry deposit. The project has year-round road access and near infrastructure for exploration activities.
Initial exploration by Mirasol at the Inca Gold project has been focused on the Sandra prospect, where the company completed a 1,500m maiden drill program in Q2 2021. Reconnaissance exploration has been initiated on the Caldera, Vania and Rincon prospects.
Agreement with Newmont Corporation
On January 13, 2020, Mirasol announced that it signed an option agreement with subsidiaries of Newmont to acquire the Inca Gold project in Northern Chile.
Mirasol was granted the option over 5 years to earn 100% of the project, subject to a 1.5% NSR royalty, by drilling 1,000 meters over 2 years; and incurring US$3 million in exploration expenditures over 5 years. Mirasol can terminate the agreement at any time after the completion of the initial 1,000 meters drilling commitment.
Upon completion of this option, Newmont will have the right to earn back 70% of the project, in two stages, by paying in cash US$3 million to Mirasol; and delivering a NI 43-101 compliant Prefeasibility Study reflecting a resource of no less than 2 million ounces of gold-equivalent using agreed upon cut-off grades; or incurring an additional US$21 million in exploration expenditures over 6 years.
Geology Highlights of the Key Target Areas
The Inca Gold project lies within the Paleocene Belt that hosts both intermediate (El Peñon, Faride, Amancaya) and high (Guanaco) sulfidation epithermal deposits, as well as copper porphyry deposits (Spence, Sierra Gorda).
Local geology on the southern portion of the project is characterized by a thick volcanic-sedimentary sequence consisting of ignimbrites, lava flows, and volcanic breccias. The northern portion consists of an older sequence of intensely folded and faulted ignimbrites and volcanic breccias. These two geologic domains are separated by a regional NE lineament mostly covered by Atacama Gravels.
Compelling new drill targets at the Vania North and Vania South prospect.
Vania Prospect
The compelling Vania porphyry Cu-Au prospect is delineated by multi-layered exploration data collected by Newmont prior to the option agreement with Mirasol. Vania hosts a strong, central Au Deep Sensing Geochemistry score (“DSG”) anomaly with a peripheral anomalous multi-element geochemical halo, highlighted by Newmont’s proprietary in-house geochemical processing technique. This geochemical signature is coincident with a prospective structural intersection of northwest and northeast trending lineaments, and overlies a magnetic low feature interpreted as potentially representing magnetic destruction resulting from alteration and mineralization events. Mirasol’s assessment of Vania will include an expanded soil geochemical survey and a systematic induced polarization (“IP”) geophysical survey over the existing Au DSG anomaly.
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