Today the new Activity Report of EMAG has been published. It describes all activities within the month of August 2008 in Bolivia.

Here you can download the whole Activity Report (08/08) in English language including all details (facts, graphics, pictures).

To view the pdf-file your computer needs the Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Introduction

The month of August offered ideal weather conditions for the execution of the fieldwork. It was focused mainly on the sampling of gossan, banded iron formation (BIF) and oxidized quartz veins, the excavation and geological mapping of trenches.

Project Johannes - Colonia

Work Progress

The field crew took 38 trench sampling less as scheduled (Tab. 01) because of a leg injury of the project geologist.  The excavation and the geological mapping of trenches were completed as foreseen. Further small tantalit/columbit fragments were found in the coluvial cover on top of pegmatite outcrops.

Sampling tools such as washing pans, buckets, sieves etc. were purchased for future sampling of tantalite containing coluvial material. Mr. Mario Surubi will take charge of the panning duties. He has 20 years experience and worked in many exploration projects as panner under guidance of the author of this report. The topographic maps have been updated. Discussions about environmental studies for the installation of a pilot washing plant were carried out with the environmental consultant Hugo Heymann.

Conclusions

The initial business plan of EMAG assumed:

Tantalite pegmatite –Three lenses up to 140 m long and 15 m wide. The current exploration results indicate that the pegmatite lenses stretch over more than 3.5 km in strike and up to 18 m in width. (Figure 01).

Copper-gold mineralization –Three lenses up to 240 m in length and 25 m wide. The geological mapping confirmed the corresponding gossan formation over a strike extension of 6.0 km. It could easily contain more than three mineralized lenses.

Planning

The excavation and geological mapping of the exploration trenches, as well as the sampling of the gossan formation will be concluded in September. Furthermore, the contact zone between the quartz core and muscovite feldspar zone of the pegmatite and, respectively the coluvial layer will be sampled and investigated for the content of Ta, Nb, Sn, W, U und Th.

Opening of the EMAG branch

The statutes of EMAG and the decision of the administrative board to open a branch in Santa Cruz de la Sierra have been translated and legalized.  The registration of the branch can now be initiated and being concluded in the next few weeks.

Economic & political development

From a political point of view, August 2008 was of high significance. President Evo Morales and the four oppositional governors of eastern Bolivia have been confirmed in office through a referendum with 56 to 67% of the votes. The Bolivian voters have clearly confirmed that they want a dialog and a compromise solution over significant issues, such as the new constitution and the distribution of natural gas royalties. The US$ exchange rate has slowed down the downswing. By the end of the month it was situated at Bs 7.11.


Santa Cruz de la Sierra

Dr. Michael Biste
Consulting geologist
BDG-Germany No. Reg. 0-1016
Colegió de Geólogos de Bolivia, No. Reg. 0127
SMI Nº. Reg. 4141755  
09.09.2008