Deixo aqui uma notícia que me parece relevante e que poderá estar na origem da força relativa que a HL está a registar hoje.
Hecla Releases Results on Venezuelan Exploration Properties
COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 4, 2003--Hecla Mining Company (NYSE:HL) today reported that excellent exploration results have been achieved at the Block B gold project in the El Callao mining district in Venezuela. Continued positive drilling results and the recent acquisition of a pre-existing lease within the Block B area could lead to accelerated access to the deposit. The new property is adjacent to the high-grade discoveries at what is now being called Mina Isidora. Besides giving earlier access to Mina Isidora, the property will also eliminate the need for a barrier pillar. Work is underway to incorporate the new acquisition into the plans for Mina Isidora, including a new detailed cost analysis and in-depth planning on roads, power lines, surface facilities and mine design.
An additional 9,255 meters of diamond drilling were completed in Block B during the third quarter, bringing the total to 27,953 meters. Third quarter drilling consisted of 18 in-fill holes for resource definition, 9 step-out holes for resource expansion, 8 exploration holes in a new target area with follow-up scheduled for 2004, 4 in-fill holes for structural analysis, and several geotechnical drill holes for the Mina Isidora feasibility study.
On the Mina Isidora project to date, 57 drill holes have been completed within the current resource boundary, with assays pending on 6 holes. More than 15% of the holes have a resource grade of two ounces of gold per ton or more over a 2-meter true vein width. One-quarter of the holes drilled have a resource grade of one ounce of gold per ton or more over a 2-meter true vein width. At least 60% of the drill holes have intersected mineralization above the proposed cut-off ore grade of 7 grams per tonne of gold (0.2 ounce per ton). One incredible intercept graded more than 20 ounces of gold per ton.
According to Hecla President and Chief Executive Officer Phillips S. Baker, Jr., "This recently completed in-fill drilling program should allow a significant portion of the Block B/Mina Isidora resource to be upgraded to reserve status by the end of the year." Hecla's drilling program was aimed at confirming and expanding the resource previously identified by CVG-Minerven, the Venezuelan government-owned mining company, from whom Hecla acquired the property one year ago. That resource was estimated to have an average grade of about 0.63 ounce of gold per ton. Baker said, "Although our data collection and analysis is not yet final, our drilling program is expanding the size and the grade of the resource." Baker continued, "The Mina Isidora would greatly supplement our gold production in Venezuela, with the potential to even double it, at a relatively low capital cost." Ore from Mina Isidora would be trucked for processing to Hecla's La Camorra mill about 70 miles away.
Thanks to the recent lease acquisition within the Block B area, Hecla will have earlier access to the Mina Isidora orebody. This access could be used to drift along the vein to develop reserves, confirm continuity and begin bulk metallurgical sampling and development mining.
The vein is a typical, shear-hosted mesothermal quartz vein that formed under greenschist-grade metamorphic conditions. The vein contains free gold and gold and bismuth tellurides in quartz with pyrite and minor chalcopyrite. Gangue minerals are ankerite, sericite, and chlorite, and accessory minerals formed from the breakdown of mafic minerals in the host rock. The resource is still open-ended, especially to the west. Information on the holes drilled within the resource outline at Mina Isidora is included in the table below:
These results indicate a high-grade, underground orebody exists at Mina Isidora. Detailed data analysis is underway and an upgraded reserve/resource estimate is expected to be released no later than the first quarter of next year.
Hecla Mining Company, headquartered in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, mines and processes silver and gold in the United States, Venezuela and Mexico. A 112-year-old company, Hecla has long been well known in the mining world and financial markets as a quality silver and gold producer. Hecla's common and preferred shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbols HL and HL-PrB. Hecla's Home Page can be accessed on the Internet at: http://www.hecla-mining.com.
O Clubeinvest.com informa que nenhuma da informação
aqui facultada deverá ser entendida como conselho ou recomendação
de qualquer tipo de transacção ou investimento.
