Located within the Guerrero Gold Belt (GGB), the Ana Paula Properties consist of four claims that in total aggregate 7,622 [...]]]>

With their latest acquisition of the Ana Paula Properties from Goldcorp Inc., Newstrike Capital has purchased 100 per cent interest in a region considered to be extremely strategic in one of Mexico’s most historic mining districts.

Located within the Guerrero Gold Belt (GGB), the Ana Paula Properties consist of four claims that in total aggregate 7,622 hectares and show early signs of yielding significant gold deposits. Many of the major gold discoveries in the area – over 12 million ounces – have been made in the southern part of the GGB in places such as Bermejal, Nukay and Filos.

The Ana Paula Properties are in the northern part of the Guerrero Gold Belt but this area is situated in the same geological and mineralizing environment as the south. Newstrike’s exploration of the Ana Paula Properties (coupled with previous research by Goldcorp) has shown geological settings highly comparable to those on the southern properties.

Among other things, geological research has found:
- The presence of the sediments formed in the Cretaceous period (145-65 million years ago)
- The presence of intrusions – liquid rock that forms under the Earth’s surface and crystallizes into minerals – that are rich in magnesium, iron, and quartz.
- Evidence that granodiorite – a quartz-rich igneous rock formed by cooled magma – has been injected into active fault zones along the Morelos-Mezcala contact, developing rock formations that lead to gold mineralization.
- Evidence of rock formations that have gone through the necessary set of temperature and pressure transformations over time leading to rich mineralization of the rocks.
- Evidence of altered mineralization within the intrusive rocks.

A Brief History

The bedrock deposits of the great silver-gold vein system of the Veta Madre at Guanajuato [...]]]>

Mexico has a fairly long history of mining which dates back almost 500 years. Today, it continues to stand as one of the world’s largest producers of metal and it is known as a major destination for mineral exploration.

A Brief History

The bedrock deposits of the great silver-gold vein system of the Veta Madre at Guanajuato were discovered in the year 1550 and unearthed almost immediately. El Oro, one of the leading gold districts but presently without any significant gold deposits, was discovered in 1521, developed to a great extent by 1530, and mined regularly with some interruptions for about 400 years in the following period generating an output in excess of 5 million oz. of gold.

In the late sixteenth century, the mining industry in Mexico began expanding. Mexican President José de la Cruz Porfirio Díaz brought about modernization of the mining sector during his presidential career, which lasted for thirty-four years (except for 1880 to 84). In 1884, mining code was reformed and subsoil ownership was given to landowners.

The miners in Sonoran Mexico adopted a method for pulverizing gold ore that required no water in the primary stages of gold processing. Termed as the arrastre, this system comprised of an upright axle with large spokes that used horses or mules dragging a heavy rock in a circular motion, which would pulverize the ore. After the rock was pulverized, the miners then made use of gold pans for the final processing.

“A New Gold Rush”

Mining is now returning to Mexico in a big way as the prices of metals – particularly precious metals – have increased. Rich mineral deposits and fair mining regulations in Mexico have also been contributing factors to an increased mining community and mines that were shut down in the first part of the twentieth century are being restarted and are turning profits once again.

A new gold rush fuelled by increased foreign investment in gold exploration and development activities brought Mexico’s mining output to a record high in the year 2007.

Speaking at the Prospectors and Developers’ Association of Canada convention, Mexico’s economy minister Eduardo Sojo Garza-Aldape said Mexico’s gold mining is currently experiencing the “best period” in its history.

Investment by foreign companies in Mexico has taken a huge leap to about $700 million in 2007 from a meager $750,000 in the year 2000. Many locals are also reaping the benefits, with 300,000 people employed in the mining industry, as of 2007.

One of the companies in the region is Newstrike Capital. Though they are strictly an exploration company, members of their team have been instrumental in discovering major gold deposits in the Guerrero Gold Belt – a mineral rich area in the southwest of Mexico.

With strategic landholdings in both Guerrero and Oaxaca, Newstrike is poised to find even more gold in an area that has – to date – yielded over three million gold ounces in every discovery and is still proving itself to be a historically mineral rich mining district.

SOURCE:
History of Mining in Mexico