Intrepid drills El Zapote

Denver — Flush with cash for the Aldea El Zapote silver project in El Salvador, Intrepid Minerals (IAU-V) is moving ahead with drilling.

The Toronto-based company received $530,000 in funding from Apex Silver Mines, which is earning a 60% interest in the 50-sq.-km property.

The funds consist of US$380,000 for the drilling program, plus a $150,000 private placement of 558,000 shares at $26.8 per share. The placement has yet to be approved by the Canadian Venture Exchange.

The drilling will target the bonanza-grade breccias of the Cerro Colorado 3 target, along with the San Casimiro and Santa Carolina zones. Sampling at Santa Carolina outlined a broad geochemical anomaly that appears to represent a manto system formed at the contact between Cretaceous limestones and Tertiary intrusives.

A 2,000-metre program of core drilling is expected to begin before the end of the month.

Meanwhile, in eastern Ontario, Intrepid is exploring a platinum-palladium deposit with Wallbridge Mining (WM-T). And in a joint venture with Billiton, the company is evaluating the copper-gold-uranium potential of the Lake Superior region of the same province.

Following completion of the private placement, Intrepid will have 15.3 million shares outstanding.