Modern day gold rush heads for Patagonia. Dec 29 2010 by Robin...

Modern day gold rush heads for Patagonia.

Dec 29 2010 by Robin Turner, Western Mail

IT BECAME the focal point for Welsh settlers keen to establish their own community in the 19th century.

Now, Patagonia is at the centre of a modern day "gold rush".

Sky high gold and silver prices have stimulated precious metals exploration around the world.

Lawrence Williams, of precious metals information service Mineweb, said Patagonia was one of the regions where gold and silver mining activity was definitely on the up.

He said the term "gold rush" could be applied to the South American province because it was a region where little precious metal mining had been carried out in the past.

Mr Williams said: "Gold mining and exploration history in the province effectively only goes back around 30 years when what is now AngloGold Ashanti's Cerro Vanguardia epithermal vein deposits were first discovered."

But a broad mix of mining firms are now involved in looking for gold and silver in Patagonia, an activity which could provide a massive boost to the area's economy.

Companies involved in addition to AngloGold include Hochschild, Minera Andes, Andean Resources, Pan American Silver, Coeur d'Alene Mines, Extorre Gold Mines, Mariana Resources, Minera IRL, Mirasol Resources, Argentex and Patagonia Gold.

Shares in some of these firms have jumped in recent weeks. "Assuming gold and silver prices hold up anywhere near current levels and that the Santa Cruz authorities remain supportive of mining development in the region, and the Argentinian federal government does not get greedy, Patagonia could become one of the world's major precious metals mining regions over the next decades," said Mr Williams.

Specialist mining website Mineweb reported earlier this month of one mine in Patagonia: "While the results are patchy, as is the nature of these vein deposits, some exceedingly high values, particularly of silver, have certainly suggested this new vein is well worth considerably more work."

(continues with story of early Welsh settlers)

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2010/12/29/modern-day-gold-rush-heads-for-patagonia-91466-27899079/

MINEWEB OCT 2010 - Lawrence Williams has been travelling in this area of Argentina looking at some of the exploration targets there and interviewing the companies involved. This is one of a series of reports on Patagonian mining and exploration from the trip

putting his name in search Mineweb articles shows 5 ? articles Oct - Dec appears to be Patagonia related
at
http://www.mineweb.com/mineweb/view/mineweb/en/page556?query_string=patagonia&bsubmit.x=29&bsubmit.y=10

also i noticed on that great Argentina Mining website that Goldcorp (bought Andean's Cerro Negro) has all approvals from Santa Cruz state govt and starts construction of mine tomorrow !! Lots of recent anns/info about DEG's neighbours in Santa Cruz on argentinamining's blog at

http://argentinamining.blogspot.com/search/label/Santa%20Cruz

so i'll go back to reading about DEG's neighbours with that "nearology factor thing" in mind while i wait for a certain known HC "mapophile" to do his thing :)
Yeah yeah.

"DEG is a pure grass roots "green fields" explorer that has recently secured control of 14 projects contained within 2,200 km2 of leases in Santa Cruz province. Projects were selected after aeromagnetic data and initial ground sampling identified structural corridors that may carry precious metals, including a project called Boleadora, which is located 30 kms from Cerro Negro, and covers 527 km2. Sampling and mapping of outcropping mineralized breccias will commence in the next quarter (Dec) and lead to selection of drill targets."