Artha has recently entered into an Option Agreement to whereby it can earn an undivided fifty-five (55%) percent working interest in the interest of Cardero Argentina S.A. ("Cardero Argentina") in the tenures which make-up the Organullo Project, and thereafter form a Joint Venture with Cardero Argentina, a wholly owned subsidiary of Cardero Resource Corp. ("Cardero"). The Organullo project is a relatively advanced epithermal gold-silver project located in northern Salta Province NW Argentina with excellent potential for both high sulphidation type epithermal high grade gold and silver as well as bulk tonnage lower grade gold and silver mineralization.
Artha considers the Organullo project to offer excellent drill ready targets with a focus on delineating both large bulk tonnage potential as well as higher grade zones in dilatant structures. The property delivers an exceptional and relatively advanced project into Artha's highly prospective portfolio in the under explored NW of Argentina. Drilling is planned to commence on the project in the December 2011 quarter.
A NI-43-101 Technical Report is being completed on the property as part of the Option Agreement with Cardero and is expected to be available shortly.
The Organullo property, owned by Cardero Resource Corp., is located in Salta province of Argentina approximately 20 kilometres due south of the village of San Antonio de Los Cobres and approximately 100km W-NW from the city of Salta. Access is easily attained by a network of roads through the central part of the property. The property was initially explored and mined on a small scale as the Julio Verne mine in the 1930's. Regional work on the property was conducted in the 1960's and 70's. In 1994-5 Triton Mining Corporation conducted a mapping, sampling, rock geochemistry and reverse circulation drill program. Newmont Overseas Exploration Ltd. performed a property evaluation in 1996. Northern Orion Explorations Ltd. performed a core drilling program in 1997 followed by a reverse circulation drilling program in 1999.
In 2002 Cardero acquired the property by staking and in 2005 performed a digital data compilation of information on the property and surrounding area.
The Organullo property is located in a visually anomalous area which owes its lighter colour to the argillic alteration extending 6 km north-south, parallel to the Organullo river valley. In addition, strong oxidation of pyrite has produced orange-brown gossan over significant areas of the clay alteration. The style of alteration, age of the various rock units, lithologies, structural complexity, mineralization and geochemistry are all permissive of epithermal style mineralization. Numerous mineral properties associated with magmatic and volcanic centres along regional structural features are documented in Chile and Argentina. Regionally the property lies along a major fault lineament, the northwest trending Calama-Olacapato-El Toro lineament, which is one of several NW lineaments which host magmatic and volcanic centres as well as major mineral deposits and mines, making the area an interesting target for exploration (Map 3).
Previous exploration by others at Organullo focused mainly on higher grade gold (+/-copper and bismuth) mineralization and little to no attention was paid to the bulk tonnage potential on the property. Records of historical exploration (from several operators) obtained by Cardero illustrate the significant gold endowment of the property - a total of 1,580 surface rock samples from an area of approximately 8-kilometres by 8-kilometres average 0.25 g/t gold (Map 4).
Cardero considered that historic exploration inadequately tested this large, pervasive gold-bearing system. The majority of the historic drilling (6,121 metres in 35 holes) was collared parallel to mineralized structures and hence either failed to test the principal structures and/or provided intersections which the Cardero believed may not be representative. In addition, recoveries were very poor (25-30%) due to loss of potentially mineralized clay rich zones and high groundwater saturation. Despite sub-optimal drill hole orientation and drill conditions, historical drill holes did define potentially economic bulk-tonnage style gold-silver mineralization.
Historical drill results from Organullo identified significant bulk-tonnage style gold mineralization, including up to 189 metres grading 0.66 g/t gold, Table 1. Results from mapping, geochemical and geophysical exploration in 2010 indicates potential for a large, bulk-tonnage gold system that warrants follow up drilling.
Table 1: Select Historical Drill Highlights| Hole ID | Year | Type | Length (m) | Average Gold Grade (g/t) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AR3 | 1995 | RC* | 200.00 | 0.34 |
| AR4 | 1995 | RC | 200.00 | 0.47 |
| AR5 | 1995 | RC | 189.00 | 0.66 |
| AR7 | 1995 | RC | 200.00 | 0.36 |
| DD19 | 1997 | DDH** | 144.80 | 0.48 |
| DD21 | 1997 | DDH | 118.05 | 0.34 |
| AR32 | 1999 | RC | 186.00 | 0.50 |
The earliest recorded work in the area of the Organullo property comes from reports of small-scale production from the Julio Verne mine during the 1930's. Mining activity centered on 2 high-grade sub-parallel veins with concentrates reported to average 12.5% bismuth and 8.2% copper with gold ranging between 10-20 g/t. Early regional work was undertaken in the area by Fabricaciones Militares in 1962-72 in partnership with the United Nations, followed up by an IP survey and drilling by Cities Service Corporation. In 1994-1995 Triton Mining Corp. and Northern Orion Explorations, Ltd. jointly conducted a detailed surface sampling, mapping and prospecting campaign and completed a 17-hole, 3,295-metre RC drill program. This was followed with a 6 hole diamond drill program in 1997 and an additional 12-hole RC drill program in 1999 by Northern Orion. Cardero purchased the project in 2004, and conducted several reconnaissance exploration programs and detailed petrographic studies since that time and as well as 2,053 metres of diamond drilling.
Cardero's exploration programs included:
Cardero completed an initial 2,053 metre, 8-hole diamond drill program to test an approximately 2.1-kilometre long by 800-metre wide north-south trending structural zone defined by the coincidence of significant historical drill intercepts (Table 1), gold-in-rock surface geochemistry, and variably developed advanced argillic (alunite+/-dickite+/-pyrophyllite) and silica alteration in the vicinity of the former Julio Verne mine (Figure 1). Results from this drilling are summarized in Table 2. A number of technical issues arose during Cardero's drilling program which resulted in the key targets still remaining untested.
Table 2 - Significant intersections in Cardero drilling 2010.| HOLE ID | FROM | TO | Interval | Au | Ag |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (metres) | (metres) | (metres) | (ppm) | (ppm) | |
| ORG10-02 | 3.8 | 37.2 | 33.4 | 0.17 | 4.20 |
| ORG10-03 | 6.1 | 12.8 | 6.7 | 0.21 | 3.78 |
| ORG10-04 | 7.8 | 91.3 | 82.5 | 0.11 | 1.42 |
| ORG10-05 | 16.4 | 139.2 | 122.8 | 0.22 | 1.04 |
| Includes | 52.6 | 68.6 | 16.0 | 0.96 | 0.87 |
| ORG10-05 | 190.9 | 256.0 | 65.1 | 0.43 | 2.11 |
| Includes | 208.8 | 226.1 | 17.4 | 0.83 | 2.60 |
| ORG10-06 | 47.5 | 63.3 | 15.8 | 0.26 | 0.98 |
| 78.3 | 193.9 | 115.6 | 0.20 | 1.55 | |
| Includes | 78.3 | 101.9 | 23.6 | 0.59 | 1.48 |
| ORG10-07 | 4.5 | 71.5 | 67.0 | 0.30 | 0.30 |
| Includes | 5.9 | 54.8 | 48.9 | 0.35 | 3.48 |
| ORG10-08 | 0.0 | 445.0 | 445.0 | 0.14 | 1.92 |
| Includes | 47.1 | 353.6 | 306.5 | 0.17 | 1.98 |
| 116.4 | 175.2 | 58.8 | 0.30 | 3.12 |
A 2053.5 m drill program on the Organullo Ridge and area proximal to the Julio Verne mine intersected silica and clay altered and faulted Puncoviscana sediments and Tertiary volcanic/intrusive rocks which returned values ranging from 0.96 ppm Au over 16.0 m and 0.14 ppm Au over 445.0 m. The drilling identified mineralization and alteration of a hydrothermal system which appears to be high sulphidation in style, with interpretation complicated by faulting.
