Location:
130 kms north of Hanoi, Vietnam
Ownership:
Archipelago 65%, VIMICO and Bac Kan 35%
Project:
In June 06 the Company announced that following endorsement by the Prime Minister of Vietnam, it had entered into a joint venture heads of agreement with Minerals Corporation (“VIMICO”) an affiliate member of national minerals company Vietnam National Coal – Minerals Industries Group (“VINACOMIN”) and provincial mining company Bac Kan Mineral Joint – Stock Company (“Bac Kan”) to explore for gold and associated minerals at the Pac Lang Gold Project in northern Vietnam. In September 2007 the parties were granted an exploration licence (“EL”) covering the project area.
The Pac Lang mineralised system is located approximately 160kms north north east of Hanoi in the Ngan Son district of Bac Kan province. It comprises a group of gold mineralised quartz veins initially exploited by the French early in the last century which became the site of a major gold rush in 1990-1991 following the discovery of a large quartz vein containing high grade gold mineralisation. Mining activities were subsequently suspended by Vietnamese government authorities apart from some small scale mining by Bac Kan and soil geochemistry by the French government organisation BRGM.
At least 15 gold mineralised mesothermal quartz veins generally less than 2m wide have been identified with a combined outcropping and inferred strike length of 3,300m. The veins are sediment hosted and generally steeply dipping. Many of the veins are clustered and based on previous preliminary sampling (1999) reportedly assay between 0.4 and 49 grams per tonne gold.
Archipelago will be entitled to an interest of 65% in the joint venture and has undertaken to expend US$1.24m within two years from the date of grant of the ELA to maintain its interest entitlement. Exploration has already commenced and includes a topographic survey to locate all adit portals, stream sediment sampling and the survey by chain and compass and mapping and sampling of over 33kms of underground adits, drives and crosscuts which confirmed the existence of a large gold mineralised system. Work is focussed on gaining an understanding of the controls to mineralisation and determining the extent of the system and potential for and likely location of any remaining and additional economic mineralisation.
Download the Pac Lang Gold Project Plan.