American Bonanza In Joint Venture With Suparna Gold
VANCOUVER - American Bonanza Gold Corp. has entered into a letter of intent with Suparna Gold Corp. with respect to a proposed mineral property acquisition and joint venture whereby Suparna may acquire up to a 60% interest certain mining claims and property comprising the Southwest target at the Copperstone gold mine in La Paz County, Arizona.
Copperstone is located in western Arizona within the Walker Lane mineral belt where it intersects gold provinces in southern California and western Arizona. These provinces host a total known gold endowment of over 40 million ounces of gold. Copperstone is located within a lesser known, globally significant, high grade gold province.
The Company holds a 100% leasehold interest in Copperstone, renewable at the Company's option every ten years, and was last renewed in 2005. While almost all exploration at Copperstone has historically been focused on the north end of the property, between 2006 and 2008 the Company made a new discovery at the Southwest Target. During the last year, the Company has new information about the nature and controls of gold mineralization at Copperstone and now has advanced the understanding of the gold mineralization.
The data now in hand for the Southwest Target, along with what has been learned from development of Copperstone, points to the possibility that another deposit, similar to the known Copperstone deposit (bulk-mineable near surface, underlain by a high grade gold vein-type deposit), exists in the Southwest Target area. Present analysis of the data suggests that mineralization comes to the bedrock surface, under thin sediment cover, in the western portion of the Southwest Target area.
The Company believes that the Transaction with Suparna will provide the necessary corporate focus and resources to continue exploration of the Southwest Target and will allow the exploration to be conducted at the Southwest Target in a timely manner.