Napo Basin Project
Rio Napo Basin Project – Placer Gold/Iron Sands and Gravel – 3 Concessions
The Rio Napo River flows east out of the Andes Mountains in east-central Ecuador through neighboring Peru as it eventually merges with the Amazon River in Brazil which empties out into the southern Atlantic Ocean. Gold and silver mining activity on the Rio Napo and the eastern slopes of the Andes in Ecuador has been documented back to the Conquistadores and the various Spanish expeditions in the 1500’s & 1600’s.
The Rio Napo project is comprised of 3 concessions totaling 8,006 hectares. These concessions, which are located along the Rio Napo River in the Napo province near the city of Tena, have had previous exploration work completed through 2002. The results indicated economically recoverable gold and heavy mineral resources. Wardrop Engineering Inc., a Canadian fully integrated, multi-disciplinary engineering firm, has completed a preliminary NI 43-101 technical report on the 3 concessions.
The mineralization within the Rio Napo is comprised of native gold and heavy minerals contained within alluvial gravels. The heavy mineral component is comprised predominantly of magnetite (~65%) and hematite (~20%). The principal mineral resource to be recovered in these concessions is gold. The heavy minerals and gravel by-products will be utilized by the regional construction industry in government initiated projects such as the Tena airport expansion and related roads development.
Location
Three Mining Concessions, Boardwalk 9A, Boardwalk 16 and Sindy are located in Napo Province, 120 Km southeast of Quito and 30 Km southeast of Tena, the capital of Province.
The three concessions form an irregular shape with an area of 25 Km east-west and 8 Km north-south covering 8,006 hectares.
RHRC intends to conduct a program of exploration in order to quantify the gold and heavy mineral resources.
Mineralization
Mineralization within the Rio Napo property is comprised of native gold and heavy minerals contained within alluvial gravels. Size analysis of gold recovered indicated that over 90% of the gold was +80 mesh; the heavy mineral component is comprised predominantly of magnetite (about 65%) and hematite (about 20%). Size analysis of the heavy minerals indicated that about 65% was between 60 and 140 mesh.
