Project Highlights

LocationChiapas State, Mexico
Ownership100%
StatusAdvancing community consultation to commence field work
CommodityCopper, Gold

The 100% owned Ixhuatán Project, located in Chiapas State, Mexico, is a copper-gold project that includes a historical gold resource, plus significant exploration and development upside.

Project Highlights:

  • NI 43-101 gold resources of 1.7 million ounces (historical estimate including 1Moz @ 1.8 g/t in Measured & Indicated and 0.7 Moz @ 1.0 g/t in Inferred)
  • Geological setting parallels the majority of the giant porphyry deposits worldwide, including shallowly-dipping subduction of an aseismic ridge with associated igneous alkalic rocks similar to those hosting such deposits as Grasberg (Indonesia) and Bingham Canyon (USA). 
  • Historical exploration by previous operators (Linear Gold & Kinross) was focused on gold exploration. Drilling targeted near-surface gold mineralization identified by soil sampling. No focused copper exploration has been carried out.
  • Lack of geophysically-led exploration and no targeting of very large buried/blind Cu-Au porphyry system.
  • Drilling between 2004-2009 discovered Campamento Au-Ag epithermal deposit, Cerro La Mina Cu-Au porphyry prospect and numerous other surface prospects (epithermal-, skarn- and porphyry-related).
  • Mineralization encountered to date is characteristic of the upper portion of a district-scale Cu-Au-Ag-Mo mineralizing system. 
  • Established infrastructure with highway, railway system and air transportation.
  • Historical mining district, with Cu-Ag-Au mining operations (1950’s) at Santa Fe, 5 km north of the Ixhuatán property.

Ixhuatán Copper-Gold Project

Overview

The Ixhuatán Project consists of the 4,176 hectare Rio Negro concession which is valid until May 10, 2051. The Project is located immediately southwest of the Santa Fe mine and is accessible by roads running five kilometres east of the town of Rayon, Chiapas. Rayon is situated 120 kilometres south of Villahermosa, Tabasco State. The Ixhuatán Project is an exploration project which hosts the Campamento gold-silver deposit, the Cerro La Mina copper-gold prospect, and numerous other exploration targets. The property is 100% owned and not subject to any royalties, back-in rights, payments or other agreements and encumbrances.

Exploration History

  • Approx. 89,000 meters of drilling in 342 holes completed since May 2004 undertaken by Linear Gold Corp and Kinross Gold Corp.
  • Drilling targeted near-surface gold mineralization identified by soil sampling.
  • Lack of geophysically-led exploration and no focused copper exploration has been carried out.
  • No significant work since 2009.

Geology

  • The Ixhuatán project occurs at a triple point plate junction where the subducted Tehuantepec aseismic ridge promoted flat slab crustal thickening and volcanism followed by rapid uplift and erosion in a horst- and graben-type setting located on the flanks of an eroded shoshonitic stratovolcano. On a global scale, it is recognized that giant porphyry deposits are formed in this type of tectonic environment because of increased erosion associated with rapid uplift, as well as significantly increased sediment input in the mantle wedge.
  • NW trending faults extend from the Chichonal volcano onto the property along with a conjugate set of NE faults.
  • The geological setting for the property is a distal horst and graben type environment where trachyandesite breccias, syn-volcanic domes and pyroclastic and air fall deposits are underlain by monzodiorite to diorite intrusions.
  • The underlying porphyry intrusion (circa. 1.064 Ma) melted up through a thick folded sequence of limestone as well as Mesozoic anhydrite-halite and Cenozoic sedimentary rocks providing source of sulphur and salinity.
  • This favorable geological setting was permissive for the emplacement of:
    • Large porphyry Cu-Au (priority copper target)
    • Au-Cu skarns
    • Epithermal Au-Ag deposits (historically delineated Campamento deposit)
    • Intrusive–hosted quartz stockwork Au deposits

Geology

Known Mineralization

Ixhuatán has a significant mineral endowment. Mineralization discovered to date is a result of historical gold-focused programs by Linear Gold and Kinross, and includes the Campamento epithermal Au-Ag deposit, the Cerro-La-Mina porphyry Cu-Au breccia pipe, and numerous other epithermal & skarn related gold prospects.

All the significant mineralization drilled on the property to date demonstrates an early porphyry-related potassic alteration overprinted by a later stage epithermal gold mineralizing event. This is consistent with the upper portion of a large Cu-Au-Ag-Mo district-scale mineralizing system.

Highlight historical mineralized drill core intercepts:

  • Santa Fe skarn: 0.6% Cu, 2.4 g/t Au, 120 g/t Ag and 1.30% Pb (mine average grade)
  • Cerro La Mina: 601.4 m @ 0.28% Cu, 0.68 g/t Au and 2.71 g/t Ag (drill hole IXM08-51) [0.8% CuEq]
  • Campamento: 100 m @ 12 g/t Au & 64 g/t Ag (drill hole IX-26)
  • Laguna Grande: 56.0 m @ 1.5 g/t Au & 1.7 g/t Ag (drill hole IXLG-09)
  • Western Zone: 140 m @ 0.7 g/t Au & 0.9 g/t Ag (drill hole IXWA05-05)
  • Laguna Chica: 22.0 m @ 10 g/t Au and 7.6 g/t Ag (drill hole IXLC-02)

Historical Mineral Resources

A mineral resource estimate was completed in accordance with NI 43-101 for the Campamento deposit with an effective date of June 22, 2006. This mineral resource estimate, prepared for a previous operator, is considered historical in accordance with NI 43-101, and the reader is referred to the Technical Disclosure section below and to the Ixhuatán Resource Statement for important disclosures regarding historical estimates. At a cut-off grade of 0.5 g/t gold, the historical estimate included:

Measured and indicated mineral resources:

  • 1.04 million ounces of gold (17.6 million tonnes at 1.8 g/t Au), and
  • 4.4 million ounces of silver (17.6 million tonnes at 7.8 g/t Ag)

Inferred mineral resources:

  • 0.7 million ounces of gold (21.8 million tonnes at 1.0 g/t Au), and
  • 2.3 million ounces of silver (21.8 million tonnes at 3.2 g/t Ag)

Exploration Potential

Target-rich environment that includes unexplored copper potential, and numerous underexplored gold zones that warrant further exploration.

Exploration Target Types:

  • Large Cu-Au porphyry (priority Cu target)
  • Cu-Au skarn associated with limestones (e.g. Sante Fé deposits)
  • Au-Ag epithermal deposits (e.g. Campamento)
  • Au intrusive–hosted quartz stockworks

Exploration Target Areas:

  • Large porphyry system across entire tenement (both in outcrop and beneath shallow cover sediments)
  • Skarns associated with limestones (primarily northern & western areas)
  • Cerro La Mina porphyry breccia pipe (NW portion untested)
  • Follow-up of underexplored gold targets (Ixhlatan, Central, Caracol, San Isidro, Laguna Chica, Laguna Grande, Western, Cacate)

Exploration Target Areas

Technical Disclosure

The historical results contained within this webpage have not been verified and there is a risk that any future confirmation work and exploration may produce results that substantially differ from the historical results. The Company considers these historical results relevant to assess the mineralization and economic potential of the property. The Company also cautions that historical results on adjacent properties are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be achieved on the Project. The mineral resource estimates for Ixhuatán are considered historical in accordance with NI 43-101. Please refer to the Ixhuatán Resource Statement for important disclosure regarding historical estimates.

Further details for the Ixhuatán Project are provided in the Technical Report titled “2011 Summary Report on the Ixhuatán Advanced Stage Gold Project, Chiapas State, Mexico” with an effective date of May 18, 2011 (the “2011 Summary Report”), prepared by Philip K. Seccombe, PhD, MAIG of Equity Exploration Consultants Ltd. and Gary H. Giroux, P.Eng. The 2011 Summary Report was prepared for Cangold Limited (“Cangold”) who previously optioned the property from Brigus Gold Corp. The report provided an updated review of the Ixhuatán Project and included the mineral resource estimate from the NI 43-101 Resource Estimate Report (effective date of June 22, 2006) since no further holes had been drilled in the resource area since 2006. The 2011 Summary Report is available on Fortune Bay’s website and filed on SEDAR+ (sedarplus.ca) under Cangold’s issuer profile.

Qualified Person

The technical and scientific information for the Ixhuatán Project has been reviewed and approved by Dale Verran, M.Sc., P.Geo., Chief Executive Officer for Fortune Bay Corp., who is a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101. Mr. Verran is an employee of Fortune Bay and is not independent of the Company under NI 43-101.

Cautionary Statements

Information set forth on this webpage may contain forward-looking statements that are based on assumptions as of the date of posting. The reader is referred to the cautionary language contained within the respective Project’s News Releases, in addition to this website’s Terms of Use specifically including Forward Looking Statements.

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