Northfield options gold property in Ecuador

If all goes as planned, Northfield Minerals (TSE) will acquire its second gold property in Ecuador.

The company has signed an agreement to gain a 65% interest in the Nambija Uno mining concession, which comprises 1,550 acres in the Zamora-Chinchipa province.

Visible gold was discovered in the region in 1982, which later spawned a gold rush. The Nambija Uno surrounds the 170-acre Condominio concessions, where the gold rush occurred. Since 1982, the concessions, which are being worked by a mining co-operative, have yielded more than 2.2 million oz.

According to William Pearson, Northfield’s project manager, the area is underlain by a roof pendant within the Zamora batholith. The pendant was highly altered, turning the large, limestone inclusion into skarn.

Previous work by Goldfields of South Africa and Northfield’s joint-venture partner, Compania Minera Gribipe, outlined four major targets. The most advanced of these is the Diamante, in the northeastern sector of the concession. Surface mapping, trenching, sampling and other geochemical surveys have outlined a gold-bearing skarn more than half a mile long, 650 ft. wide and 200-230 ft. thick. Based on this work, Gribipe estimates the target contains a potential resource of more than 4 million oz.

“Mineralization in the skarn typically runs up to 0.05 oz. per ton,” Pearson says. “However, there are also breccia zones and fault zones within the skarn, which have spectacular grades running up to 2-3 oz. per ton.” To earn the 65% interest, Northfield must pay US$6.5 million to Gribipe and the mining co-operative over five and a half years. It must also issue to Gribipe 1 million Northfield common shares and options to buy another 1 million shares. Half the shares and options are due on the closing of the deal; the other half are due on completion of a bankable feasibility study.

The Northfield subsidiary plans to carry out additional sampling to determine the full extent of the Diamante target before drilling gets under way.