Categories: Precious Metals
Topics: General Precious Metals

Prolific Progress For Pediment Gold

Pediment Gold (TSX: PEZ) have been working quietly and steadily in recent months, building their properties in Sonora State and the Baja Peninsula, Mexico into something quite substantial.

At their flagship San Antonio property they’ve proven a measured and indicated resource of 1.53 million oz gold and an inferred resource of 111,000 oz. Their second gold asset, La Colorada gold mine, has provided them with 605,000 oz of gold measured and indicated, and 582,000 oz inferred. Pediment have struck gold, they’ve invested time and patience in improving and expanding their properties and resource, and now they’re beginning to realize the fruits of their labor.

Mexico Focus
Pediment Gold Corp is a junior mining company with a focus on the exploration and development of low-cost gold assets in Mexico. The company was formed in 2005 through the reverse take-over of Minera Pitalla, a private Mexican company originally created by Mel Herdrick, a veteran Phelps Dodge geologist, who had assembled a portfolio of highly prospective gold projects in Sonora and Baja Sur. His vision was to explore high potential but under explored regions of Mexico, which were hidden under shallow pediment cover.

Herdrick now holds the position of Vice President of Exploration. Vancouver-based entrepreneur Gary Freeman was instrumental in financing Pediment at its inception, and currently serves as President and CEO.

What’s New?
Keeping a relatively low profile in recent times, the shrewdly candid Gary Freeman, CEO explains exactly what Pediment has been up to.

“In the last year and a half, we weren’t doing a lot of high impact things for the company… We were doing a lot of low impact, but really high value things… for example water rights, surface rights, acquiring additional properties in other known zones of mineralization. I knew everything we’d put together would revalue the company, it had to actually be done… all of it would have to be done in order to make it work properly.”

With the low impact, high value tasks completed, Pediment is now pushing forward with the La Colorada property in Sonora State.

La Colorada Property
The past producing La Colorada gold-silver mine property is located approximately 40 km southeast of Hermosillo, Sonora State, Mexico. La Colorada originally operated as a high-grade underground mine which produced approximately 3.5 million ounces of gold and 15-30 million ounces of silver, then closed at the start of the Mexican Revolution in 1914. During the period 1993-2000 Eldorado Gold Corp developed a bulk tonnage heap leach operation from several open pits; although the operation was sold in late 2000, production continued by a private Mexican owner until April 2002, yet La Colorada was never shut down for the lack of gold.

To date, Pediment has just completed 9,000 meters of RC drilling and has come out with a resource estimate (43-101) of 1.2 million ounces, which 600,000 are measured and indicated. 6 deeper holes have also been drilled as a test depth and we can expect these results this month.

Metallurgical testing is also scheduled for La Colorada, along with a preliminary economic assessment study, hydrology studies and base line studies. The company intends to continue drilling at La Colorada and hopes to add ounces whilst carrying out these highly valuable studies.

San Antonio Property
The San Antonio Gold Project is located on the Baja Peninsula, adjacent to the historic mining town of San Antonio and 40 km southeast from the port city of La Paz. The 100% owned project covers 46,328 ha and 14 km of favorable geological trend. In the late 1990s Echo Bay Minerals located and partly tested the Colinas gold resource and in 2007-2008 Pediment discovered and defined a significant gold resource at Los Planes 800 meters to the north.

There has been historic mining from two separate deposit types in the San Antonio region. Vein mining of silver-base metal deposits has taken place along the northeast trending El Triunfo Trend, and more limited lode gold mining along a separate and younger north-south trend south of Los Planes and Las Colinas.

The northerly extensions of these two mineralized trends are projected to intersect in a flat lying, pediment covered area immediately north of Los Planes, which constitutes a prime target for the discovery of additional vein type and/or shear zone hosted gold-silver and base metal mineralization. Results from drilling at Los Planes and Las Colinas also suggest the possibility that these 2 zones may be connected but are offset by late faulting, and separated by a highly prospective Intermediate Area. Pediment intends to commence drilling these areas to about 11,000 meters in mid April. The immediate focus is on mapping and sampling the area to identify drill targets. The overall focus is on expanding the resource.

Pediment aren’t sitting on their laurels with their flagship San Antonio project either, as Investor Relations Rep. Michael Rapsch hints. “2010 should be a very interesting year as we have a number of exploration tasks ahead of us, as well as operational work by this I mean we will continue to purchase additional land and water as well as conduct a Preliminary Economic Assessment and Hydrology studies. We have started our third major work program (exploration) at San Antonio and this will include mapping and sampling in three areas as well as IP and drilling. Based on last year’s land and water purchases there will be continued efforts to add to the land and water packages.”

Addition to Pediment Management
Regarding Pediment management, an interesting addition worth noting is that of William A. Faust as a Director. With over 28 years of engineering and management experience, including over 10 years of mine development and operations in Mexico, Faust actually worked with Eldorado Gold as VP of Operations and spent 4 years on the La Colorada property, then a key project of Eldorado. “It’s a great asset for Pediment to have him on board.” Michael Rapsch comments. In a subsequent event and more recently Pediment also announced that Peter Mordaunt has joined the board.

Faust joins Gary Freeman, of course, CEO with 28 years of valuable experience in the industry, including a number of years in the Brokerage industry. Freeman has held a number of executive positions and has been instrumental in financing, marketing and shareholder relations' capacities with several junior exploration companies.

Also on the board sits the aforementioned Mel Herdrick, Director and VP Exploration, with a distinguished career behind him with Phelps Dodge, including tenure as the head of exploration for Mexico. Combined with the rest of the team, Pediment management is shaping up to be quite a formidable force.

Pediment Stands Out
Over the last 5 years Pediment has met and dealt with many challenges to begin with the process of dealing with the shell with an H attached meaning NOT fully listed was just the beginning. But more importantly are the successes. While the idea of looking in the Mega shear for big Pediment covered blind deposits (YES THIS IS THE WHERE THE NAME CAME FROM) to buying old closed down producers and rolling the dice and adding ounces’S. So where are we are now well how about 2.8 million Oz of gold 43-101 ( 2.2 million M+I the balance Inferred ) and lot of upside and not only on the existing production areas, 30 million Oz of silver and 12 Million in the Bank. Three prolific gold districts and a with one a discovery.

Pediment Gold is a company that stands out from the others. Having spent the last year quietly and confidently preparing for greater things, they seem to value the necessity and worth of putting in the gritty ground work before the realization of drill hole dreams.

CEO Gary Freeman fervidly confirms this; “Just because you have a couple of drill holes today doesn’t mean the metallurgy’s right, doesn’t mean the permitting’s gonna work, doesn’t mean you have water, it doesn’t mean much… What it means is that you’re into something. And it’s what you do with that that gives the company real value at the end of the day. And that’s where were at.”

SOURCE: http://www.midasletter.com/news/10032201_Pediment-Golds-Prolific-Progress.php