Prospero Silver Provides Corporate Update
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - Aug 16, 2016) - Prospero Silver Corp. (TSX VENTURE:PSL) ("Prospero") is pleased to provide an update on its exploration programs in central Mexico. Prospero recently announced a $1.8M financing to fund its generative exploration program and to advance its existing project portfolio. Prospero's exploration programs have 3 key objectives:
Discover blind/close-to-surface mineral deposits in -or close to- historic Au-Ag and base metal mining camps, for example the Pachuca Southeast and Matorral projects.
Advance Prospero's existing project portfolio to drill-ready status and then drill or joint venture the projects.
Use the team's unparalleled knowledge of Mexican metallogeny to generate new projects and expand Prospero's project portfolio, for example the Bermudez low-sulphidation epithermal Au-Ag project.
Commenting on the recently initiated financing, Tawn Albinson, the President of Prospero said: "This month's capital raise is intended to give fresh impetus to our Mexican exploration programs. Our main priority would be to advance Bermudez with a detailed sampling program to delineate potential drill targets. We are also pushing ahead with showing the Petate project to potential joint venture partners and hope to have news on this front in the near future. We have identified a series of additional targets and projects which we plan to advance to full project status and are also looking at potentially drill testing one of our projects ourselves."
Prospero has a strong portfolio of 8 projects, at least 4 of which are drill ready. A brief summary is given below.
El Petate
The 6,868 hectare Petate property is located 30km northwest of the historic Pachuca-Real del Monte mining district on the western side of the Sierra Madre Oriental fold belt, within a northwest trend of historic deposits which include Zimapan (Hidalgo) and La Negra (Queretaro). The project is close to the historic Pachuca-Real del Monte mining district and accessible by road. Prospero has shown the project to a number of mid-tier mining companies who are interested in potentially joint-venturing the project. Discussions are ongoing.
High-level epithermal alteration is exposed over a 5x4 km area with highly anomalous gold and silver hosted in extensive outcrops and float of steep to strata-bound jasperoid. Extensive mapping and sampling have defined five key drill-ready targets in the Petate West and Petate East areas. Two targets have 0.1 to 6 ppm gold grades at surface and are potentially large enough for open pit mining. A drill permit -good for 2 years- was granted on September 7, 2015 covering 27 drill sites. Surface access for these targets has been granted by the land owners.
The significant size of the silicified zones indicates that Petate is a robust mineralized system with excellent potential to host a replacement type deposit at depth. In addition to drilling, future work should test the potential for blind carbonate-replacement bodies of manto and/or chimney type, containing Ag, Pb, Zn and ± Au similar to the Zimapan or Santa Eulalia polymetallic systems.
Santa Maria del Oro (Matorral)
The 9,066 hectare Santa Maria del Oro claim blocks are located in Durango State and almost completely surround the historic Magistral del Oro mines. Historic mining records obtained by Prospero suggest that more than 1-million ounces of gold were recovered at the Magistral Mine from oxide ores with an average grade exceeding 15 g/t. Two drill ready target zones have been defined by Prospero: the Matorral Zone, and the Western Lineament Zone. Only Matorral will be described in this release.
At Matorral, a number of large structurally-controlled jasperoid bodies are exposed northeast of the Magistral Mine. The total length of individual prospective structures adds up to over 7 km. Semi-systematic sampling and multi-elemental geochemistry in jasperoids and multi-banded veins exhibit Ag and Au, from trace up 178 g/t Ag and 0.42 g/t Au in the northern Matorral Pit Zone. Base metals are also enriched up to 0.46% Zn, 0.12% Pb, 0.11% Mo, 41.0% Fe. Prospero has also identified anomalous Hg, Sb, As which are epithermal pathfinder elements. Alteration consists mainly of low temperature jasperoid development, either as massive brecciated bodies or in veins and stockworks. Fluid inclusion petrography on the crystalline quartz indicates low temperatures of formation, around 200°C, indicative of a high-level epithermal environment.
The elevated geochemical anomalies in precious metals, base metals and pathfinder elements suggest the system could represent the upper portions of a large mineralized zone at depth. The elevated geochemical signatures on this target are significantly higher than the geochemical responses documented in other high-level epithermal environments which are known to overlie productive, high grade epithermal ore bodies in major epithermal districts, such as Fresnillo and Guanajuato. This project is drill ready.
Pachuca Southeast
The 7,256 hectare Pachuca SE claim is 24km SE of the city of Pachuca, Hidalgo. Infrastructure is excellent, with power available and easy road access from the Pachuca-Tulancingo freeway which crosses the middle of the property. The Pachuca mine was in production for hundreds of years and is the second largest epithermal deposit in Mexico with total reported production estimated at 80 million tons with an average grade of 500 g/t Ag, and 2.5 g/t Au (Albinson et. al., 2001: SEG Special Publication Series No. 8, p. 1-32).
Prospero has identified high-level epithermal-style alteration exposed in clay pits adjacent and on-strike to the historic mining district. Epithermal-style argillic alteration is associated with anomalous Au, Ag and Zn geochemistry, exposed in an erosional window into a felsic volcanic pile. Detailed alteration mapping and sampling shows close similarities between alteration at Pachuca SE and alteration exposed above the Pachuca mine: the anomalous geochemistry and clay alteration are very similar to that seen in the Vizcaina structure above the Pachuca Mine. Furthermore, anomalous Au, Ag and Zn geochemistry (Au from 0.1 to 0.61 ppm, Ag from 1.0 to 4.9 ppm, and Zn from 100 to 5,290 ppm) indicates potential for blind epithermal mineralization, at relatively shallow depths below the present surface.
The Pachuca SE target has size potential, strong hydrothermal alteration and a number of geochemical anomalies associated with structures and could host a preserved Pachuca-type epithermal deposit at depth. The project is drill ready.
Bermudez
The 430 hectare Bermudez project is in Chihuahua, about 150km west of the City of Chihuahua. Classic banded low-sulphidation veins are exposed in felsic volcanics over a strike length of 2.5 km in zones up to 100m wide accompanied by stockworking. Fluid inclusion petrography implies that the veins are high-level with potential for deeper mineralization. Reconnaissance chip sampling has identified anomalous gold up to roughly 0.5ppm, accompanied by anomalous Ag, Ba, Mn and Zn. Prospero plans to return to Bermudez shortly and complete a follow up program of chip sampling.
San Luis Del Cordero
In March, Prospero announced that Golden Minerals had kicked off a 3,000m drill program on the Santa Rosa vein at its San Luis del Cordero Project in Durango State, pursuant to an exploration and exploitation agreement signed with Golden and Prospero's wholly-owned Mexican subsidiary. Golden's stated objectives for the 2016 drill program were to define a larger and upgraded Santa Rosa vein resource including measured resources as well as indicated and inferred resources intended for inclusion in an updated NI 43-101 resource estimate and preliminary economic analysis.
About Prospero Silver Corp.
Prospero Silver is a Mexico-focused project generator listed on the TSX.V under the symbol PSL.V. Prospero's aim is to discover world-class precious metal projects in the major mineral belts of Mexico. The Company applies a unique blend of practical exploration experience, cutting-edge mineral deposit science, and has extensive knowledge of Mexico´s geology to find new gold and silver systems. Our exploration programs are run by a small but highly-focused geological team based in Mexico.
For further information please visit our website: www.propserosilver.com.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD
William Murray, Chairman
Forward-Looking Statement Cautions:
This press release contains certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation, relating to, among other things, the Company's plan to undertake the Offering and the proposed use of proceeds. Although the Company believes that such statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts; they are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "believes," "intends," "estimates," "projects," "aims," "potential," "goal," "objective," "prospective," and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will," "would," "may," "can," "could" or "should" occur, or are those statements, which, by their nature, refer to future events. The Company cautions that Forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of the Company's management on the date the statements are made and they involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Consequently, there can be no assurances that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Except to the extent required by applicable securities laws and the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements if management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change. Factors that could cause future results to differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements include, the risk that the Company will not be able to secure sufficient subscriptions from investors to complete the proposed Offering, possible, accidents and other risks associated with mineral exploration operations, the risk that the Company will encounter unanticipated geological factors, the possibility that the Company may not be able to secure permitting and other governmental clearances necessary to carry out the Company's exploration plans, the risk that the Company will not be able to raise sufficient funds to carry out its business plans, and the risk of political uncertainties and regulatory or legal changes that might interfere with the Company's business and prospects. The reader is urged to refer to the Company's reports, publicly available through the Canadian Securities Administrators' System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval (SEDAR) at www.sedar.com for a more complete discussion of such risk factors and their potential effects.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
