Latin America heats up. THE DIRT: Robin Bromby | July 29, 2009...

Latin America heats up.

THE DIRT: Robin Bromby | July 29, 2009
Article from: The Australian.

AFTER decades of hits and misses in the region, it seems that Australian explorers are now starting to make big headway in Central and South America - both known for huge mineral and energy riches, and a region still far from completely explored.

Certainly one of the darlings for investors has been Andean Resources (AND) and its Cerro Negro high-grade gold and silver deposit.

Development news continues to flow in.

Troy Resources (TRY) reports a 32 per cent increase in the resource at its Casposo project in Argentina. It now has 2.37 million tonnes at 5.4 grams/tonne gold and 201.7g/t silver, or 414,600oz of contained gold and 15.3 million contained ounces of silver. Troy made a name for itself a few years back by being the lowest cost - by far - gold producer in Australia.

We drew attention to EnviroGold (EVG) in Monday’s Pure Speculation column in The Australian, and the technology it is bringing to bear on a large gold tailings project in the Dominican Republic.
This company has been combing South America and has come up with three other potential projects that fit its bill - old gold or silver operations where new technology can extract the gold left behind. Now we know the identity of one of those. EVG said today it was negotiating with the Venezuelan government’s mining company for a 50:50 joint venture that would see the Australian company reprocess gold tailings in Bolivar province.

In other recent Latin American news, Avanco Resources (AVB) said it expected to get a trial mining licence for its Carajas copper project in Brazil by next year. It has a resource so far of 210,000 tonnes at 11.65 per cent copper.

Mirabela Nickel (MBN) expects to begin construction of its Santa Rita nickel mine in Brazil by September. It also today announced that project financing had been completed and $117m raised. Meanwhile, Golden Cross Resources (GCR) is optimistic it now has all the paperwork in place for its application in Panama for six properties prospective for copper.

Azure Minerals (AZS) makes progress in Mexico. The company said it has established that its Promontorio project (502,000 tonnes at 4.7 per cent copper, 2.1g/t gold and 90g/t silver) can be developed and operated at a profit. Azure is also in a joint venture with Japan’s government-owned Jogmec at the La Tortuga copper project.

But it doesn’t all go smoothly: Otto Energy (OEL) says its latest oil well in Argentina did not encounter any hydrocarbons and it will be plugged and abandoned as a dry hole.