Mining History

With a history of more than 400 years, Coneto has been a mining camp since the days of the Conquistadores. Over 40 veins of silver & gold have been documented in the Coneto mining camp, some over 20 m wide and extending more than a km in length. Very little diamond drilling had occurred on the property. However, drilling records from the 1970s yielded grades of 2.35 g/t Au and 224 g/t Ag for a silver equivalent of 365 g/t over 3.15 m in Loma Verde, part of the western vein system. The central vein system was also mined in the 1970s by private companies. Mining on several veins has only gone as far down as the water table, yet the veins continue below that level. Silver-equivalent determined as silver grade plus 60 times gold grade, the 10-year average metal price ratio on the London Metal Exchange. This also assumes 100% recovery, and does not include a contribution from base metals, nor fluorite.

Sub-Districts

Central
The central vein system was mined most recently by private companies for silver & gold in the 1970s, but closed in the early 1980s due to a drop in silver prices. The Palma and the Sauce veins were mined down to the water table.

South-Eastern
The southeastern vein system had been mined to extract ‘fluorite’ from the Durazno and Impulsora veins. In places, the vein is 20 m thick. These operations mark a high level in the epithermal vein system. The southeastern vein system shows an increase in sulphides & precious metals with depth. Also in the southeastern zone is the broad Promontorio, a gold-rich stockwork system.

Western
The western vein system was drilled with one hole in the late 1970s, in the Loma Verde vein. Gold & silver results were strong and while a follow-up program was planned, it was never executed. Since then, 20 holes have been drilled in Loma Verde in Phases I to IV.

Northern
Additional vein systems are located in target areas to the North including La Bufa, Santo Nino, El Reliz, Rosario, and El Rey.