97 Drill Program Up-Date-El Torno has been a producing gold mine for centuries. It was originally worked by the Incas, then the Spaniards, and this resulted in over 1,000 metres of underground galleries.
-More modern exploration, including geophysics and drilling, has been carried out since 1997 with an estimated expenditure around $1.35 million.
In 1997 Puma Minerals Corp. (“Puma”) carried out geological mapping and drilled
sixteen holes totaling 2,015 metres using reverse circulation air hammer to a maximum
depth of 180 metres (Figure 3). The drilling, over a 1 kilometre length of the vein, gave
impressive results. Gold values for the main vein were between 5 g/t and 37 g/t gold
and stockwork samples showed up to 23 g/t gold accompanied by silver in a 1:1 ratio
(Table 1). It is interesting to note that samples of country rock intersected by the drill
holes commonly show 1-2 g/t gold. The drill assay values could well be low, because
reverse circulation air blast percussion drilling can easily lose gold.