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The Picota Property, held 100% by Candente (subject to a 0.75% NSR to Cominco) covers 3,200 hectares. The property is situated within the "Yanacocha External Caldera System", which hosts several economic deposits within 50 kilometres of Yanacocha, in the Western Andes of Peru. Mineralization on the Picota property is hosted by rocks belonging to the Calipuy Formation, which also host the Yanacocha and Pierina gold deposits. Yanacocha is one of the largest heap leachable gold mines in the world with production costs of $88 per ounce and reserves of 35 million ounces of gold. The average grade of the Yanacocha deposits varies from 0.8 to 2.8 gpt and the cutoff grade is 0.35 gpt.
Accessible by road, the Picota Property is bound by two other discoveries currently under exploration by Yanacocha's owner, Buenaventura. The La Zanja property, which borders Picota to the west, is another epithermal deposit amenable to open pit mining and heap leaching. The gold resource at La Zanja is expected to reach one million ounces this year. Resources at Tantahuatay, whose western border lies two kilometres east of Picota, are estimated at 25 million tonnes grading 0.80 grams per tonne gold (heap leachable) and 350 million tonnes grading 0.8% copper and 0.3 grams per tonne gold.
Mineralization in the main (Madeleine-Consuelo) zone has now been traced over an area in excess of 1.1 by 1.25 square kilometres, however, two new recently discovered zones now indicate a minimum 2.8 kilometre length to the mineralizing system.
The first mineralization style recognized at Picota comprises structurally controlled siliceous zones with gold values of 1 to 3 grams per tonne (gpt). A second style of mineralization recently discovered contains gold values of 0.5 to 1.0 gpt in pervasive grey silica zones often with high silver values (80 to 129 gpt). Highly anomalous levels of silver (129 g/t), arsenic (1,295 ppm), antimony (440 ppm), mercury (64,200 ppb), barium (5,490 ppm), lead (3,380 ppm), and in places copper (503 ppm), found associated with the gold are also typical of an epithermal precious metal system.
The host rocks on Picota are andesitic to rhyolitic tuffs, volcaniclastic breccias and quartz-feldspar porphyry belonging to the Calipuy Formation, which also host the Yanacocha and Pierina gold deposits. Alteration of the host rocks includes silicification, brecciation, veins, stockwork, hematitic quartz, limonite and extensive argillic alteration.
Stream sediment sampling by Cominco also identified a porphyry copper-gold signature occurring in a zoned pattern such that a lead and zinc zone halos a copper-molybdenum centre. The copper-molybdenum zone alone covers an area extending 1.5 kilometres by 0.8 kilometres.
Exploration in 2001 will continue using the same low cost traditional exploration methods (prospecting, geochemical sampling and geological mapping) with the intention of advancing this property to the drilling stage.
Maps
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PO Property Compilation Map |
Photos
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Picota (Po) Property - Facing North |
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Madeleine Qtz Ridge |
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Picota 1 Mad Tr Crew |
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Picota 2 Mad Tr Crew |
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