The Midas Letter - for those who have not seen itCreso Exploration's IPO and Drilling Success
By Claire O'Connor and James West
MidasLetter.com
Friday, June 25, 2010
Fresh from the completion of their qualifying transaction and $4.6 million brokered financing on June 1st 2010, Creso Exploration Inc. (TSX.V: CXT), formerly Willowstar Capital Inc, is already making waves in mining friendly Ontario. The company's mineral rich Minto project, located half way between Timmins and Sudbury, is only 30 kilometers south-west of NorthGate Mineral Corp's (TSX.V: NXG) Young-Davidson gold deposit. The results from Creso's 2009 diamond drilling program are in, and they're good.
Creso currently owns a very large land position of approximately 280 square kilometers in the Shining Tree Area of the Larder Mining Division in Ontario. Made up of a mix of wholly owned properties as well as claims with agreements to earn-in or to joint-venture, the Minto Project, along with the Duggan, Tyranite claim groups constitute Creso's Shining Tree Project
The Minto Project
The Minto showing consists of a pod of carbonate sulphide breccias containing an estimated tonnage of 225,000 tonnes grading 0.2 ounces per tonne of gold to a vertical depth of 225 meters, as determined and reported in 1984 by Duncan Gold Resources, (White 2007). Gold is related to pyrite and quartz veining trending north south and northeast southwest.
However, despite these promising figures, the area is largely under explored. Creso Chairman Pierre Gauthier explains why that is.
"The area that we're in was off limits for a long time because it was restricted under the Temagami Land Caution until 1996. Basically, exploration on the land was forbidden until 1996. In 1996 the ruling was lifted and there was a massive staking rush where thousands of people went in and claimed land all over the place. The area became fragmented in terms of ownership and with the price of gold coming down in 1997, it never really received the type of exploration that it deserved. We feel privileged to be here now. In the last 6 months we've had the opportunity to acquire quite a lot of land in the area – we went from having a land position of 10 km² to 280 km² – and you can see from our gold discoveries that we were right. The area is vastly under explored."
Drill Results
In 2009 Creso completed 560 meters of NQ diamond drilling in 2 holes. A press release issued June 9th 2010 announced the best of these results.
1) 18.2 g/t Au over 65.7 meters from 49.3m to 115m, (7.9 g/t Au if cut at 31.1 g/t) including:
33.2 g/t Au over 25.7 meters from 49.3m to 75m, (10.4 g/t Au if cut at 31.1 g/t) and
2) 4.61 g/t Au over 79.6 meters from 132.4m to 212m, (3.35 g/t Au if cut at 31.1 g/t); including:
20.7 g/t Au over 10.0 meters from 202m to 212m, (11.5 g/t Au if cut at 31.1 g/t).
According to the Press Release:
"In both zones, sampling is continuous with sample widths varying from 0.41m to 1.28m (averaging 1.0m) and grades varying from 487.9 g/t over 0.42m to 0.03 g/t over 0.73m. From surface geology the upper zone presents a true width of 30 meters. The bottom zone is new and no true width has been determined yet. According to JVX Ltd, the down-hole geophysical interpretation completed on the Minto property, indicates that the mineralized body extends in a north-west/south-east direction at a depth of 50 to 170 meters and is open at depth. The Corporation will drill a step-out hole for the purpose of further defining the location of the body using more down-hole geophysics. Hole #1, located 30m north of Hole #2 gave a value of 10.4 g/t over 0.5 meter from 31.6m to 32.1m, but failed to intersect the target zone."
Tyranite and Duggan
The Tyranite Mine and Duggan Zone are located only 2 and 1 kilometers away from the Minto Project, respectively, and Creso is harboring hopes that these claims will be as fruitful as their gold riddled sister project.
The strike length at the Tyranite Mine has been identified as more than 1 kilometer. A shaft down to 1000 feet and more than 4500 feet of drifts on five levels explore the mine workings. Between 1939 and 1942, 210,300 tonnes grading 0.147 ounces per tonne of gold were produced at the mine, while an inferred historical resource of 472,000 tonnes grading 6.9 grams per tonne gold is estimated to exist in the underground workings (White 2007).
The Duggan Zone shows strong geological similarities and characteristics to the Tyranite Mine. Located 1 kilometer to the west, it boasts the same north-south trend located on the edge of a major intrusion. In its 2007 drilling campaign, Creso discovered a mineralized zone with sample grades in excess of 1 gram per tonne gold over an average width of 80 meters, and a strike length of 450 meters which appears to be open to the north at a depth of more than 200 meters.
To assess the potential of Tyranite, Duggan and Minto, Creso plans to launch a $300,000 geophysical survey as early as June 21st 2010. The survey will cover the three aforementioned zones on a 30-metre spacing in order to define geological structures and mineralized zones. Upon completion of the geophysical survey, the company has planned a 5000 meter drill program on the Minto, Tyranite and Duggan properties.
Location, Location, Location
Regarding location, Creso couldn't be more fortuitously neighbored. The Shining Tree camp is only 100 kilometers south of Timmins, which has produced 66 million ounces of gold. It's located just 30 kilometers South-West of NorthGate Mineral Corp. which is spending $250 million to put its 3 million ounce gold deposit into production and is located 100 kilometers west of Kirkland Lake Gold Inc. (TSX-V: KGI), a property that has produced 44 million ounces of gold historically, and to which Creso compares itself geologically.
"From a geological perspective there are a lot of reasons to believe that this could be the next Kirkland Lake, in terms of potential." comments Gauthier, "There is so much potential in this area, we're very happy to be here, in both the area and the country. Regarding mining, Canada is so stable compared to a lot of other places in the world, places that we've been in."
Guatemala
One of the countries Gauthier is referring to is Guatemala, where the company has stakes in 4 copper properties. The success of the Shining Tree Project has overshadowed any potential success in Guatemala Ontario is demanding all of Creso's attention right now, and the company is happy to give it just that.
Creso's Crown
The word "Creso" comes from the expression "as rich as Croesus". The expression comes from the legendary wealth of the King Croesus who reigned from 560 to 546 BC over Lydia in western Asia Minor. Gold from the mines and the sands of the Pactolus River filled his coffers to overflowing.
Creso Exploration Inc. names itself so because it wants what Croesus had; gold. High grade gold. That's what brought Creso to the Shining Tree area and it looks like it won't be leaving without it.
With an impressive stake in some of the most coveted mining ground in Canada, staggering drill results and plans already in the pipelines to accelerate exploration, Creso Exploration Inc. could get its hands on Croesus' crown yet.