Mariana Resources Ltd is an AIM quoted exploration and development company focussed in Argentina and Chile. Key discovery projects are the100% owned Las Calandrias Gold-Silver Project and the 70% owned Sierra Blanca Silver-Gold Project, both in the prospective Deseado Massif in Santa Cruz Province (southern Argentina). In Chile, major miner Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. is providing funding for exploration along the Iron-oxide-copper-gold (IOCG) Belt in joint venture with Mariana.
Scout drilling at the Calandria Sur prospect at Las Calandrias Project in late 2009 intersected wide zones of epithermal gold-silver mineralization, hosted in a brecciated rhyolite dome. . Follow-up drilling in Q1/Q2 2010 confirmed the discovery of bulk tonnage gold-silver mineralisation with intersections including 69.5m @ 2.1 g/t Au & 39 g/t Ag from 47m - CSD23, 102m @ 1.4 g/t Au & 21 g/t Ag from 12.5m - CSD24, 68m @ 2.4 g/t Au & 24 g/t Ag from 74m - CSD25 and 106m @ 1.6 g/t Au & 27 g/t Ag from 3m - CSD39. In addition, impressive bonanza gold-silver was intersected in the Calandria Norte rhyolite dome, 700m to the north, with best intersections 4.0m @ 76 g/t Au & 70 g/t Ag from 92.5m - CND45 and 4.5m @ 102 g/t Au & 72 g/t Ag from 81.5m - CND46 along a 450m trend.
Following a £6.75M capital raising in June 2010, detailed ground magnetic and IP surveying is underway, leading to a 10,000m drilling programme to start Q3 2010 at the Calandria Norte bonanza target, the south-western untested area of the Calandria Sur disseminated gold discovery and other El Nido targets in the 10km² Calandrias dome field.
At Sierra Blanca, Mariana has been conducting detailed magnetics and IP to follow up encouraging epithermal silver-gold discovered over an 1100m trend at Veta Chala with best intersection of 11m @ 3.4 g/t Au and 386 g/t Ag from 46m - hole SBD51. Mariana also has a 130,000 Ha land package covering eight epithermal gold-silver target areas in Santa Cruz.
In Chile, the alliance with Cliffs will add impetus to Mariana’s exploration along the Northern Chile IOCG Belt. Cliffs can acquire 51% of Mariana subsidiary Sociedad Contractual Minera Mariana by sole funding US$2M exploration programme within two year and an additional 19% (to 70%) by spending a further US$1M within the following year.