- Candente Gold will be entitled to receive 70% of any potential profits that may be derived from mining and processing of ore from the Cocula Gold Project.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Sept. 10, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Candente Gold Corp. (TSXV:CDG) (“Candente Gold” and/or the “Company”) is pleased to announce the signing of a Letter of Intent (“Agreement”) to enter into a profit sharing agreement on the Cocula Gold Project (“Cocula”) in Jalisco State, Mexico whereby Candente Gold will be entitled to receive 70% of any potential profits that may be derived from mining and processing of the deposit. The addition of Cocula to our asset base represents another critical step in the Company’s growth strategy for Western Mexico. In addition to untested exploration potential, the Project contains gold mineralization at surface, hosted in quartz veins, stockwork zones and oxidized, mineralized breccias.
Timmins Gold Corp. explored the Cocula property between 2007 and 2011 through a series of comprehensive exploration programs which included geological mapping, geochemical sampling, trenching and 1,974 meters (“m”) of Reverse Circulation (“RC”) drilling. Significant results included 54m grading 4.97 grams per tonne (“g/t”) gold in a trench across the center of the mineralized area. An RC hole drilled beneath this trench encountered 37.5m grading 1.3 g/t gold including 7.5m grading 5.8 g/t from surface to a 7.5 m depth. Near and at-surface, mineralization delineated by drilling and trenching has been traced for at least 800m along strike within a NW-SE trending fault zone.
To the Company’s knowledge, a NI 43-101 compliant mineral resource estimate has not been completed for the Cocula property however Timmins Gold Corp. conducted various in-house resource estimates. A qualified person has not done sufficient work to classify the historical estimates as current mineral resources and therefor the Company is not treating the historical estimates as current mineral resources. Historical reviews of the potential tonnes and the potential grades quoted below are conceptual in nature.
In December of 2008, consultant (Pedro Teran) contracted by Timmins Gold Corp., estimated an internal resource estimate for the portion of the deposit delineated by their RC drilling and trenching results, including assays from 1,552 surface samples. The geologist applied a geological model appropriate to the observed mineralization to build a MineSight block model and derived an estimate of 5,796,023 tonnes grading 0.58 g/t gold containing 108,081 ounces (“oz”) gold (the cutoff grade was not defined and CIM categories are not clear).
The Company has reviewed the above as well all reports and data available and considers there is potential for conceptual exploration targets including a lower grade bulk tonnage, potentially leachable deposit as well as a higher grade/lower tonnage core of the deposit. Based on all of the existing exploration data and previous resource estimates to date the Company believes the Conceptual Exploration Targets have potential for: 500,000 to 6,000,000 tonnes grading from 0.5 g/t Au to 2.75 g/t Au containing between 50,000 and 110,000 oz Au with secondary credits from silver, lead, zinc and copper. The above is based on exploration to date by Timmins and other and does not include additional exploration potential. The potential quantity and grade described above is conceptual in nature, that there has been insufficient exploration to define a mineral resource and it is uncertain if further exploration will result in the target being delineated as a mineral resource.
The Agreement provides for the following payments to be made by Candente Gold to the owners (the Lopez family) of the Cocula Gold Project:
1. $10,000 upon signing of the Letter of Intent;
2. $20,000 upon signing of a Definitive Agreement (“DA”) and completion of due diligence within 60 days;
3. $210,000 in staged payments to be made every 6 months over a 36 month period starting 6 months after signing the DA.
4. Upon commencement of production, the owner of the Property will receive a minimum consideration of $25,000 per quarter deductible from mining profits for each quarter.
It will be Candente Gold Corp.’s responsibility to put the Property into production and the Lopez Family will retain 25% of the profits derived from mining, processing and product sales. The Company has also agreed to pay 5% of profits to Mingeo International as a finder’s fee such that the Company will have the rights to retain 70% of all profits. Mingeo is a non-arms length party.
In addition, the Company welcomes Mr. Barney Lee to the team overseeing operations in Western Mexico. Barney has over 30 years of experience working in operations in Mexico with numerous companies including the El Sauzal Mine for Glamis Gold and Goldcorp; as Director for Premium Exploration operations in Nayarit and Jalisco and on the Cocula Property for Timmins Gold. Most recently Mr. Lee has been working on the Los Cardones Project for the Invecture Group and on the Guadalupe de los Reyes Project for Prime Mining. He has also worked for Barrick Gold, Kennecott and Excellon Resources. Additionally, Mr. Lee is skilled in dealing with Mexican land tenure, fiscal and accounting matters. His role going forward will be to manage operations in Western Mexico.
The Project area is located within the Ameca Mining District of Jalisco State which is home to Agnico Eagle’s El Barqueño Project and Endeavor Silver’s Terronera Project. It is hosted in a Mesozoic age volcano-sedimentary package of the Guerrero Terrane intruded by dioritic and granitic stocks. Mineralization is hosted in multi-lithic breccia within a NW-SE trending fault zone that has been traced for at least 800m in strike length. The fault zone coincides with the contact of andesites from the volcano-sedimentary package and a granodioritic stock. A younger sequence of Tertiary age andesites and basalts locally covers portions of the host units.
About Candente Gold
Candente Gold has launched a comprehensive growth strategy to build a cash flowing business platform and gain access to properties with near surface exploration potential while maintaining El Oro as its flagship asset and an integral part of the overall growth strategy. The acquisition of the SDA Plant and the El Dorado historic mines signifies an important first step.
The financial benefits from Western Mexico operations and the addition of specialized personnel will translate across platforms to strengthen our efforts to explore and potentially mine. The Company is currently evaluating properties that are complimentary to the SDA plant and El Dorado Property.
El Oro is a district scale gold project encompassing a well-known prolific high-grade gold dominant gold-silver epithermal vein system in Mexico. The project covers 20 veins with past production and more than 57 veins in total, from which approximately 6.4 million ounces of gold and 74 million ounces of silver were reported to have been produced from just two of these veins (Ref. Mexico Geological Service Bulletin No. 37, Mining of the El Oro and Tlapujahua Districts. 1920, T. Flores*)
Modern understanding of epithermal vein systems indicates that several of the El Oro district’s veins hold excellent discovery potential, particularly below and adjacent to the historic workings of the San Rafael Vein, which was mined to an average depth of only 200 metres.
Joanne C. Freeze, P.Geo., President, CEO and Director and Matthew Melnyk, CPG., Director Operations are Qualified Persons as defined by National Instrument 43-101 for the projects discussed above. Ms. Freeze and Mr. Melnyk have reviewed and approved the contents of this release.
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
On behalf of the Board of Candente Gold Corp.
“Joanne Freeze” P.Geo.
President, CEO and Director
For further information please contact:
Joanne Freeze President & CEO
Tel:+1(604)689-1957
[email protected]