São João and Comandante Arara
All the properties were selected based on their proximity to infrastructure and lithological similarities to other sizeable deposits in the region. With the projects and applications combined Samba will have an area of more than 18,000 hectares.
The two gold projects, São João and Comandante Arara share a common boundary with a total area of approximately 8,000 hectares. Previous exploration has revealed a series of 6 quartz veins containing significant grades of gold located in granites of the Parauari Intrusive Suite, a Proterozoic unit mainly containing granites and related volcanic rocks which is known to host several other gold deposits elsewhere in the Tapajós region. Samba intends to follow up the surface exploration and initiate drilling on these quartz veins to test the potential depth and strike continuity. Concurrently the Samba geological team will acquire and interpret airborne geophysical data to define targets for further ground geophysics, geochemistry and mapping.
The main mineralisation of São João and Comandante Arara is interpreted to be a result of North Easterly trending shear zones which host a series of parallel tectonic features. These acted as pathways for mineralised fluids which finally formed gold-mineralized quartz veins. Recent sampling of two veins on the Comandante Arara property returned results of up to 125g/t gold. Previous sampling on São João revealed the Main Vein to be mineralised for 80m @ 31g/t gold, though mineralised outcrops further along strike may indicate this to be much more extensive. Samba is confident that the projects will reveal several more mineralised quartz veins, and that the interpreted system may host a series of gold deposits within the structural envelope created by the NE trending shear zones.
Applications for licence areas were selected for similar reasons as the projects. Some have had artisanal workers (so-called Garimpeiros) producing gold in the past. The lithologies are dominated by those of the Proterozoic Parauari Intrusive Suite with regional structures similar to those on other mineralised areas. Available Government provided geophysics would act as the initial guide to exploration, with the follow up interpretation of other remote sensing guiding the mapping and surface sampling.
Samba has established an office in Itaituba, the regional centre of the Tapajós Region to manage the projects. The projects themselves have accommodation, messing and offices currently installed. Communications is via portable satellite receivers with full Internet facilities. Both properties are linked to Itaituba by airstrips and seasonally accessible roads.
