Altazor
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Property Type
HSE Gold Project
Size
33,000 ha
Status
Available for Partnership
Exploration Stage
Pre-drilling
Drilling permitting completed, community consultation ongoingLocation
- Northern Chile
- Mio-Pliocene age mineral belt between Salares Norte and Choquelimpie projects
- High altitudes of 4,000 to 5,200 meters ASL
- 55 km from the town of Socaire
- Near a well-maintained gravel road connecting northern Chile and Argentina and a 20 km south of 345 kV powerlines
Altazor is an HSE gold property that occupies 33,000 hectares of the Mio-Pliocene age mineral belt in northern Chile.
Mirasol believes the Chilean and Argentine sections of the Mio-Pliocene age mineral belt is highly prospective for world-class Au+Ag deposits as exemplified by the multi million-ounce discoveries by Gold Fields at Salares Norte and by Barrick Gold at Alturas.
Exploration to date under a previous partnership has defined two quality drill target areas on the property, which remain untested.
Altazor is a high sulfidation epithermal (HSE) Au project covering 33,000 ha and located in an underexplored section of the Mio-Pliocene age mineral belt. Altazor has favourable infrastructure situated just 20 km south of 345 kV powerlines that follow International Highway Route 23, a paved road connecting northern Chile and Argentina. The project is located at altitudes of between 4,000 and 5,200m, but has good “drive-up” access via an open valley and a network of easily passable gravel tracks.
Mirasol’s initial reconnaissance sampling, completed in 2017 and prior to the Agreement with Newcrest, covered approximately 50% of the project area. A total of 216 stream sediment, 395 soil and 933 rock chip samples were collected and returned significantly anomalous Au, Ag, Cu, Pb, Zn and epithermal path finder elements, from sampling in the vicinity of mapped breccia bodies (news release October 11, 2017). These results showed geology, alteration patterns and Au ppb-level anomalous assays in soil and rock chip samples comparable to those reported from surface sampling at Gold Fields’ Au-Ag HSE Salares Norte development stage project (Reserves: 3.5 Moz Au and 39 Moz Ag[1]), which has a geological setting similar to Altazor in the Mio-Pliocene mineral belt of Chile.
In late 2018, Mirasol reported the results from the 2017/18 exploration program completed under an exploration agreement with Newcrest Mining, which included Corescan alteration analysis of soils, radiometric age dating, 1,035 line-km ground magnetic geophysical survey, geological mapping, geochemical rock chip sampling over an area of 128 km2, a 2,030 sample, low detection limit soil grid covering 85.6 km2 and a 66.9 line-km Controlled Source Audio-Magnetotellurics (“CSAMT”) resistivity geophysical survey (news release November 12, 2018). The analysis of the combined data sets revealed that Altazor is a district-scale, zoned alteration system preserved at a level that could conceal HSE Au deposits beneath “barren” steam heated cap rocks and post mineral cover. This program successfully identified multiple compelling large-scale drill targets in three principal prospects that have alteration, geochemical and geophysical characteristics in common with the predrill target signatures of the Salares Norte and Alturas Au HSE discoveries.
In mid-2018, Newcrest took over as operator of the project and completed over the following field season additional rock chip and alteration sampling as well as detailed geologic mapping. Following this work, Newcrest defined four key Au targets to be tested with a 2,000m maiden drill program.
After the termination of the option agreement with Newcrest, Mirasol has been actively engaging with the community in the vicinity of Altazor to secure an exploration agreement for a drilling program. The concerns of the community are being addressed to achieve a mutually beneficial agreement.
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