Explorator Resources Inc. (CDNX:EXO.V - News) is pleased to announce that it has received TSX Venture Exchange approval for the recently announced acquisition of the Venus-Marcelo mineral claim block (see Press Release dated May 15, 2007). The company has also received the NI43-101 Report on the property, which has been filed on SEDAR (www.sedar.com).
With the acquisition of the Venus-Marcelo concessions, Explorator now controls a single, contiguous block covering an area totaling over 1100 hectares, or 11 square kilometers, when combined with El Espino. (see Figure 1) The concessions are located near Illapel, Chile, a mining area with excellent infrastructure and extensive existing and historical small-scale gold and copper production. Venus-Marcelo hosts six small operating copper-gold mines. High grade ore mined from Venus-Marcelo is currently direct-shipped to the nearby Ventanas Smelter for processing.
"We are very pleased to complete the acquisition of the Venus-Marcelo block" noted David O'Connor, President and CEO of Explorator Resources. "Combining Venus-Marcelo with our El Espino concession creates a much larger and more exciting opportunity to explore and develop a project of scale that has extensive historical exploration data and a long history of copper and gold production."
O'Connor added that "the NI43-101 technical report is very encouraging as the sampling shows that the mineralized structures on which the small operating mines are developed contain higher grade copper and gold mineralization than we anticipated and are over substantial thicknesses, confirming our opinion of the excellent potential to outline a significant gold, copper or copper-gold deposit on the Venus-Marcelo Project. Additionally, these steeply dipping structures are interpreted as being mineralized feeders, which expand the potential of the El Espino zone controlled by Explorator for a distance of two kilometers further north on this undrilled area, adding considerably to the overall potential tonnage of copper-gold mineralization and expanding the project considerably in excess of the estimates based on drilling made for the El Espino block."
The style of mineralization at Venus-Marcelo and El Espino is characteristic of deposits found elsewhere within the Coastal Cordillera of Chile, such as Phelps Dodge's Candelaria and Anglo American's Mantos Blancos. The Venus-Marcelo block is a direct northward continuation of the El Espino mineralized system. Explorator acquired the El Espino project on January 29, 2007. Following the recent completion of a successful 10-hole, 2000m diamond drill Phase One program (see Press Releases April 30 and May 23, 2007) the company has commenced a 25,000 m Phase Two drilling program at El Espino (see Press Release June 6, 2007). The company intends to move quickly to carry out a Phase One exploration program on the Venus-Marcelo block.
The NI43-101 report on Venus-Marcelo was prepared by Mr. Douglas Currie, MAusIMM, of Gwynva Resource Management, a Qualified Person, (as defined under NI43-101). Mr. Currie has reviewed the contents of this press release and has given his consent for inclusion of extracts from his report herein.
Copper and gold mineralization in the Venus-Marcelo / El Espino district extends for almost 5 km long N/S by 1 to 2 km wide E/W in a NNW trending zone that extends across the two property boundaries. Within the Venus-Marcelo Project area, mineralization is primarily associated with narrow, high grade, quartz veins and silicified fractures related to NE trending faults and shear systems. The steeply dipping mineralized veins, locally stockworked, are interpreted to be the feeders to the stratabound mineralization. The style of mineralization is characteristic of Iron Oxide Copper Gold (IOCG) deposits found elsewhere within the Coastal Cordillera of Chile.
Although there are no production records available, the numerous small and several extensive underground workings are indicative of substantial historical copper and gold production generally from oxidized, near-surface mineralization. Production grades are estimated at 2-6% Cu and 3-6 g/t Au. Production samples taken by Mr. Currie in April 2007 from the six active tribute mines on the Venus-Marcelo concessi centsns ranged from 1.24% Cu to 3.82% Cu and are considered representative of the potential copper oxide grades which have historically prevailed on the property.
Samples collected by Mr. Currie of historical dumps and current mine stockpiles and across the visually mineralized structures returned assay results as were expected with a good correlation between visual copper estimates and actual assay grades. The copper grade of the mine dumps sampled ranges from 1.63% to 29.1% Cu; this reflects the relative grade of the veins and possibly also the degree of high-grading being practiced by the local cooperativista miners. Gold grades received ranged from background levels to 41.3g/t Au, with 25% of the samples having gold values greater than 1.0g/t Au.
Only minimal modern exploration has been performed on the Venus-Marcelo Project area and there has been no drilling. ENAMI (La Empresa Nacional de Mineria), the Chilean National Mining Company, in 1994 estimated "reserves" of 1,032,500 tonnes at an estimated grade of 2.0% Cu and 3.5 g/t Au. ENAMI also reported an additional "resource estimate" of 1.5 million tonnes at an estimated grade of 0.6% Cu at the Milagros SW zone, at the southern end of the property, with the potential for rich lenses ( greater than 2% Cu) within the zone. The calculations are based on underground mapping and channel sampling and past production data available to them at the time. ENAMI only included potential mineralized zones which were accessible from existing development and did not project mineralized zones to depth. Explorator has not done sufficient work to classify these historical estimates as current mineral resources and as such, Explorator is not treating the historical estimates as current mineral resources and cautions investors not to rely upon these historical estimates.
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