artisanal pits

A low-grade heap leach target in an historical gold camp, the Fritis gold prospect is located 42 kilometres south of the city of Copiapó.

The property is accessible by following the Pan-American highway for 39 kilometres, then turning southwest for 3 kilometres on an unimproved dirt road. The mining concessions consist of 2,300 hectares of exploration property.

Fritis has produced gold from small hand-dug placer operations during different eras of the 1900s. In the last 20 years, occasional mechanized operations have extracted ore from richer veins and shear zones.

Teck-Cominco held tenancy of the Fritis claims during most of the last decade. A modest trenching program was carried out, which included road cuts for additional access. Zoro now owns 100% of the Fritis project.

Gold occurs in a fractured, medium-grained intrusive rock of dioritic to granodioritic composition. The host rock at surface is generally weathered and well oxidized. Gold mineralization has also been identified in magnetite and hematite rich mantos in volcanic and sedimentary rocks south of the diorite intrusive.

A 43-101 report produced in 2010 recommends an initial program of geologic mapping and rock chip sampling followed by trenching and drilling to define the size and mode of gold mineralization on the Fritis property and to test the amenability to extraction if any gold is found.
An open cut at Fritis exposes highly sheared granodiorite hosting a quartz vein at least 2 metres thick. Click image to enlarge.
fritis

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