SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--CASABLANCA MINING (OTCQX: CUAU) announced today that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Santa Teresa Minerals, S.A., has acquired the option to purchase 80% of the Las Palmas gold mine in Chile. Santa Teresa has the right to mine the property during a one-year option period. The Company may continue to make purchase payments over a period of 30 months to acquire Las Palmas or decline to purchase the property.
The Las Palmas Property (“Property”) is located in IV Region Coquimbo, Choapa Province, Chile. The property consists of 2 non-contiguous surveyed blocks totaling 158 hectares. The first block, Keyla Uno, consists of 20 surveyed exploitation concessions. The second block, Keyla Dos, consists of 34 surveyed exploitation concessions. The current owner built an access road on the south end of the property. This access road exposed outcrops of silicified sandstones, which are strongly fractured with an abundant presence of hematite and limonite black oxides, substances commonly associated with the presence of gold. The central part of the property has an alluvial cover.
“We are very excited about the potential of the Las Palmas gold property, said Juan Carlos Camus, Casablanca’s CEO. “We will begin additional geological work immediately and deploy our people and equipment onto the property to begin mining in the next 60-90 days,” he added.
Based on the geological projections, it appears the historical India Central claim and the India North claims potentially lie within the Las Palmas property. The India vein zone approximately parallels the Chamuscada Mine (adjacent property). The Chamuscada Mine is one of the oldest mines in the district which began work over 200 years ago. It is situated on a pronounced vein that runs through the Las Palmas Property. The vein is composed of ferruginous quartz that is 1.5 meters wide and enriched with lead and visible gold. To the West the vein is formed with quartzite, also called Farrellon, and is about 10 meters wide containing an average grade of 10 g/t Au. The India Central claim zone has one vein of 47" (120 cm) width. It has been developed with four tunnels to a depth of 330' (100 m), and length of 390' (120 m). There is a shaft that is 15m deep where massive pyrite 1.2m wide was assayed at 30 g/t Au in 1897 - 1899.
A geological study performed in 1932 showed at least 20 veins on the Property, the longest of which outcrops tor 22,960' (7,000 m). Widths of these veins vary from 6" (15 cm) to 47" (120 cm) and reported assays range from trace Au to 852 g/t Au, with an average of 47 g/t Au. The Chamuscada vein is 40" (1 m) to 390" (10m) in width, with a silicified footwall whose assays reportedly average 20 g/t Au.
About Casablanca Mining, Ltd.:
Casablanca Mining (OTCQX: CUAU), through its wholly owned subsidiary Santa Teresa Minerals, S.A., engages in the acquisition, exploration, development, and operation of precious metal properties in South America. Its gold mining operations are based near Santiago, Chile. Santa Teresa Minerals currently has, directly and indirectly through various equity interests, mining rights in exploration projects, “Free Gold”, the “Casuto Project,” consisting of Los Azules 1-3, Tauro 1-6, Los Chipi 1-22 and the “New Gold Project,” consisting of Los Pinos 1-30 and Teresita 1-20. These projects include more than 80 different mining and mineral exploration properties. The Company owns an option to acquire 80% of the Las Palmas gold mine, consisting of Keyla Uno 1-20 and Keyla Dos 1-34. The Company also has a 50/50 revenue-share at the now operational “San Jose Las Dichas” alluvial gold mine.
CAUTIONARY STATEMENT:
Investors are cautioned that the potential quantities indicated above, which the Company has not been able to verify, are not necessarily indicative of the mineralization on the Las Palmas Property, nor does it comply with the current NI 43-101 standard. It has been provided only for illustration purposes. At this time, there is insufficient public information to verify the information.
FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENT:
This press release contains forward-looking statements, including expected industry patterns and other financial and business results and estimates that involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to differ materially from results or estimates expressed or implied by this press release. Such risk factors include, among others: whether Casablanca Mining can successfully execute its operating plan, including mining and exploration projects; results of exploration, project development and capital costs of mineral properties; volatility of market prices for gold, copper and copper sulfate; Casablanca Mining’s ability to integrate acquired companies and technology; Casablanca Mining’s ability to retain key employees; general market conditions; and other factors discussed under “Risk Factors” in its annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2011. Actual results may differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements in this press release. Casablanca Mining does not undertake any obligation to update or revise forward-looking statements to reflect changed assumptions, the occurrence of unanticipated events or changes to future operating results.