The Zacatecas Venture properties are situated in the Zacatecas Silver District in the state of Zacatecas, Mexico. The venture consists of three separate properties: Mina San Jose, Salvador, and Zacatecas which are located approximately 15 kilometers northwest of the municipality of Zacatecas, the capital city of Zacatecas State, Mexico. The Mina San Jose property is located at 22°49'23"N and 102°34'51"W while both Salvador and Zacatecas are centered at 22°48'34"N and 102°32'42"W. The properties are situated in the Central Mesa Plateau in north-central Mexico at elevations of 2300-2450m above sea level.
History
Since 1535, the Zacatecas Silver District has been one of the largest historic silver districts in the world with past production estimated at 1.2 billion ounces of silver. The city of Zacatecas initially developed as a mining camp to service the number of long, wide La Cantera and El Bote veins that passed beneath the city. Other vein systems that parallel that group occur to the north, a number of which have operated on modest scales over 450 years. Most of the smaller workings have little, or no record of product, shaft depth, etc., but have remained attractive to small-scale miners. Since the Revolution in 1912, little major new work has been conducted on the smaller deposits which include the three properties of Silver Sun's Zacatecas Venture.
Purchase Agreement
Silver Sun Resource Corp. exercised it's option of the Zacatecas Venture properties from Yale Resources Ltd. Silver Sun, through it's Mexican subsidiary Minera Plata Del Sol, owns a 73% undivided interest in the three mining concessions, in a joint venture agreement with partner IMPACT Silver Corp, who hold the remaining 27%.
Geology
The properties lie in the large block of Jurassic-Cretacious Los Chilitos Formation that forms a plateau from Zacatecas City, north for approximately 65 kilometers, and is roughly 28 kilometers wide. It is the northernmost part of the Guerrero Terrane, an intra-oceanic island arc that docked with paleo-Mexico in latest Cretaceous. The block is bounded by a steep fault on the south and probable faults on the east and west sides. Younger platform sediments unconformably overlie the northern limit. The properties lie within the lithologies of the Los Chilitos Formation, an Upper Jurassic to middle Upper Cretaceous assembly of rhyolite cryptodomes and clastics with tuffaceous sediments in the lower informal unit, overlain by basalt-andesite pillow flows, breccias, and associated epiclastics cut by feeder dykes and sills as the middle unit. The upper unit is mainly tuffaceous sediments intruded by basalt-andesite with minor pillow flows and clastics.
Work Programs
Silver Sun's Exploration Program for the Zacatecas Venture properties consisted of three separate phases:
Phase I - Completed March 2009
Geological mapping and sampling of the three properties. Of the 78 samples taken, a total of 55 returned grades greater than 31 g/t silver and multiple samples returned grades greater than 500 g/t silver with a highlight Chip Channel Sample grading 1040 g/t silver from within a previously unrecognized historic adit within the Mina San Jose property.
Highlights of the Sampling Program Results are as follows:
| Property | Sample #: | Sample Size (m) | Description | Au (g/t) | Ag (g/t) | Pb (%) | Zn (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| San Jose | 711504 | Selected Material | Mineralized Dump | 0.37 | 476.0 | - | 1.16 |
| San Jose | 711523 | .9 x 0.9 x 1.1 | Mineralized Dump | 0.21 | 315.0 | 1.25 | 0.58 |
| San Jose | 711525 | 1.2 | Channel | 0.21 | 1040.0 | 0.68 | 0.31 |
| Zacatecas | 711569 | 0.9 x 0.9 x 1.5 | Mineralized Dump | - | 557.0 | - | - |
| Zacatecas | 711571 | 0.9 x 0.9 x 1.4 | Mineralized Dump | - | 296.0 | - | - |
| Zacatecas | 711572 | 0.9 x 0.9 x 1.5 | Mineralized Dump | - | 295.0 | - | - |
| Zacatecas | 711573 | 0.9 x 0.9 x 1.5 | Mineralized Dump | - | 200.0 | - | - |
| Salvador | 711547 | 0.9 x 0.9 x 1.5 | Mineralized Dump | 0.23 | 268.0 | - | 0.52 |
| Salvador | 711548 | 0.9 x 0.9 x 1.4 | Mineralized Dump | 0.14 | 243.0 | - | - |
| Salvador | 711551 | 0.9 x 0.9 x 1.5 | Mineralized Dump | 0.16 | 211.0 | - | 0.60 |
| Salvador | 711558 | 0.3 | Channel | - | 527.0 | - | 0.46 |
| Salvador | 711563 | 1.6 | Channel | - | 257.0 | - | - |
Phase II - Completed April 2009 Diamond Drilling Program on the Mina San Jose Property. Six holes, totaling 712.25m were drilled along a mineralized structure, which had previous historical workings. A total of 77 saw-cut, half-core samples were sent to the ALS Chemex Lab in Zacatecas, and pulps were sent on to the ALS Chemex Lab in North Vancouver, BC for 41-element ICP and fire assay.
| Hole ID: | Sample #: | Interval: | Length (True): |
Au (g/t) | Ag (g/t) | Pb (%) | Zn (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MSJ-05 | 711604 | 54.45-55.39m | 0.96m (0.61) |
0.06 | 26.0 | 0.27 | 0.45 |
| MSJ-05 | 711605 | 55.39-56.13m | 0.72m (0.46) |
1.15 | 289.0 | 0.20 | 8.14 |
| MSJ-05 | 711606 | 56.13-56.90m | 0.77m (0.49) |
0.22 | 103.0 | 0.05 | 10.10 |
| MSJ-05 | 711607 | 56.90-57.55m | 0.65m (0.41) |
0.18 | 189.0 | 0.12 | 3.76 |
| MSJ-07 | 711639 | 83.45-84.35m | 0.90m (0.57) |
0.10 | 19.0 | 0.20 | 0.40 |
| MSJ-08 | 711645 | 167.40-168.35m | 0.95m (0.61) |
0.04 | 5.40 | 0.12 | 0.98 |
| MSJ-10 | 711668 | 76.26-77.75m | 0.70m (0.45) |
0.40 | 213.0 | 2.39 | 3.93 |
| MSJ-10 | 711669 | 77.75-78.45m | 0.70m (0.45) |
0.12 | 16.0 | 0.02 | 0.17 |
Technical Reports
View Zacatecas 43-101 Report [pdf | 1.06mb]