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Projects
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Don Beno Project - Copiapo Chile
Summary
The Don Beno property group lies 100 kilometers south of Copiapo The properties are accessed by traveling south on the Pan American for approximately 80 kilometers, then traversing eastward for 20 kilometers along improved and maintained secondary roads. Travel time from Copiapo is about 1 hour and 15 minutes. Copiapo is the capital of Chile's 3rd Region, with a population of 150,000 people, and an operating base for many of the larger regional mining projects of such companies as Anglo American, Phelps Dodge, Barrick Gold, Codelco Chile, and so on. Copiapo is served by as many as 8 daily flights from two airlines, including 4 flights a day to Santiago, and 2 flights per day to the north to both Antofagasta, and Iquique, which are Chile's largest mining centers.
Properties
Zoro has acquired a 100% interest in approximately 14,830 hectares of exploration property which covers the Don Beno property.
Geology
Don Beno Property markers
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Don Beno - Escondida Prooperty Location |
The mineral properties cover a good portion of the basin of a former caldera formation which subsequently subsided. A resurgence occurred near the center of the caldera splitting the basin into an eastern and western portion of roughly equal area. The caldera lies near the center of a 100 kilometer long fault system trending NNE and along which thick beds of limestone have surfaced through block faulting. The limestone formations are generally sequenced as horizontal beds each of which are several tens of meters in thickness. Some of the exposed formations are several hundred meters thick. The northern boundary of the limestone formation is best expressed near Pabellon, an area with which David is very familiar, where the limestone forms a sequence several kilometers long and several hundred meters thick. The southern boundary is some 35 kilometers north of Vallenar, along the Pan American highway, where the limestone beds up-thrust several hundred meters at the El Toro formation. Width of the limestone varies, with some exposures showing 10 kilometers or more in width.
Along this NNE trending system, the limestone has been cut in many areas by localized volcanics. Many of the areas on the western edge of the system have been heavily mineralized forming economic deposits of iron, copper, and silver. Beginning at the northern portion of the trend, we find the iron-copper skarn deposit at Candelaria (Phelps Dodge). Working south, there are other skarn and copper deposits near the Los Bronces area. Then the high grade silver pluton which cuts the formation at Chanarcillo, the 3rd richest silver lode mine in history lies just 15 kilometers north of Don Beno. The Bandurrias formation 8 kilometers to the north contains rich lodes of copper and silver.
The iron ore deposits at Cerro Colorado and Algarrobo are found at the southern end of the limestone trend. The limestone replacement silver mine La Jaula mine is found at Cerro El Toro. Ten kilometers to the southeast of Don Beno is found the Corral copper prospect, with which David is also familiar, which is a northeast trending syncline several kilometers long, interspersed with bedded limestone, andesite, and sedimentary beds.
To the east of Don Beno is found the Los Zorros property group currently held by SAMEX. It is our understanding that SAMEX was originally interested in a small oxide copper play, optioned by Phelps Dodge, San Pedro, which is found a few kilometers off to the northwest. San Pedro is possibly a few million tons (2 to 4) of 0.4% copper oxide, and is a small hill formation and was supposedly sheared off and carried away from the main mineralized body. SAMEX exploration in the area was targeted to finding the roots of the San Pedro system. While exploring in the Los Zorros area, contiguous to us, they began to find anomalous copper and gold surface values. The focus of the exploration then changed to delineating a much more attractive target.. Surface sampling and trenching has been carried out at Los Zorros over a two year period, and has exposed potential high grade mineralized zones, the most prominent of which follow the regional NNE trend. Some of the delineated areas appear to be up to two kilometers in length.
Potential Ore Target
Don Beno is a grassroots exploration target. On first blush, the target would appear more meritorious than Los Zorros. The localized mineralization at Los Zorros is most probably related to the caldera action at Don Beno. The eastern half of the floor of the Don Beno caldera has the clearest indication of potential mineralized targets. The main target consist of an alternating sequence of dacitic and calcitic dikes, apparently near vertical, striking NNE over a distance greater than 2 kilometers. The sequence of alternating dikes also appears to be from 1.5 to 2 kilometers in width. Local drainage runoff to the SW has cut the sequence into a series of low scarps, exposed to depths of 30 to 50 meters.
The calcitic dikes appear to be re-mobilized from primary limestone, which undoubtedly underlies the entire formation as a basement unit. From the limited workings, economic gold values would appear to be more closely related to the calcitic dikes, most likely related to iron mineralization of hydrothermal origin. Copper oxide was found in the fissures and fractures in a couple of dacitic dikes exposed by local mine workings.
The potential target zone of the eastern portion of Don Beno is 2,000 meters long by 2,000 meters wide, and should be at least 200 meters deep. Much of the area appears to be mineralized and can easily be trenched and sampled near surface to delineate potential drill targets.
The western portion of Don Beno contains a large number of calcitic dikes which have been hydro-thermally altered and on the surface carry low gold values. Most of the important formations appear to trend NNE, as do the calcitic dikes of interest. This area needs mapping and sampling in order to more clearly delineate the potential target zone, but speculatively it appears to be similar in size to the eastern zone. It is also neighbor to the exploration going on at Los Zorros. The southwestern portion of the property claims encompasses an area of localized mudstones, of unknown depth. This may be a potential area of dissemination and a drill target. A low hill formation trending NNE over a short distance appears to be the boundary of the mudstones, and consists of fine, somewhat altered (?) sandstone. A copper vein in the bottom portion of the hill, trending NNE has been mined along strike for a distance of some 30 meters. Parallel structures up the hill would appear to be calcitic dikes.
The Don Beno properties offer a number of easily accessible targets and can be cheaply mapped, sampled, and trenched to expose viable drill targets.
 Don Beno Aerial View
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