Exploration Potential

A good analogue for the Productora mineralisation is the Candelaria system of the Punta Del Cobre district, Chile. Candelaria has been described as a large mantos-style Cu-Au-Ag system associated with selective replacement of sedimentary intercalations within volcanic stratigraphy and the contact between volcanic and sedimentary units, as well as veining and brecciation in sub-vertical feeder zones and cross-faults. A magnetite and haematite association is evident with mineralisation and potassium metasomatism is well developed. Highest grades and best tonnages are located where cross-faults intersect favourable host rocks and contacts. The mineralisation process at Candelaria is believed to have involved interaction between magmatic and non-magmatic (basinal brine) fluids, with mineralisation emplaced broadly coeval with batholithic granitoid intrusions and regional uplift. Many of the key features evident at Candelaria are also evident at Productora. Some differences will likely exist, but the similarities should be used to guide ongoing work at Productora.

In July 2009 a reconnaissance sampling and mapping study over the Productora project was completed, focusing on the main mineralised corridor and a sub-parallel structure to the west. This sampling and mapping work indicated that the mineralisation at Productora is associated with permeable volcanic units and fault structures including jogs, bifurcations, intersections and damage zones. There is a distinct element association comprising copper, gold, uranium, cobalt, molybdenum, silver, vanadium, bismuth and phosphorous. Some of the copper-uranium associated elements show a zonation from north to south. Alteration is also zoned from K-feldspar-tourmaline dominated assemblages in the south, grading northwards into chlorite-K-feldspar-carbonate assemblages, indicating lower temperatures to the north. This zonation of alteration mineralogy (temperature) and mineralisation-associated elements suggests that the mineralised system plunges gently-moderately northwards.