Resource World Magazine

mining Knowledge is golden for Riverside Resources by Jennifer S. Getsinger, PhD, PGeo Riverside Resources Inc. [RRI-TSXV], a precious metal and porphyry exploration company based in Vancouver and Hermosillo, uses a business model of generating prospects and multiple discoveries in the Cordillera to appreciate value while minimizing risk. Riverside's advantage, symbolized by its slogan, "Knowledge is Golden," is the confluence of long-term management expertise, maintenance of its huge proprietary database of mineral prospects as well as a large portfolio of gold, silver, and copper properties, and excellent funding. Leveraging those assets with joint venture agreements and strategic alliances, Riverside continues to expand opportunities for both shareholders and partners in what it calls a "de-risked model". Led by the vision and geological knowledge of CEO, Dr. JohnMark Staude, (with decades of experience in major international mining companies), Riverside has negotiated these uncertain economic times by developing its knowledge of Cordilleran metallogeny and historical prospects, and making deals to share their information with smart partners. Riverside's current focus is Mexico, where it holds several properties as 100% owner and agreements on others, particularly in northwestern Mexico and adjacent parts of the US; it has also been looking at gold-copper porphyry possibilities in British Columbia. According to Staude, top projects for Riverside include Peñoles in Durango, Tajitos in Sonora, and Sugarloaf Peak in Arizona. Located in a well-known gold and silver mining district in the state of Durango, with hundreds of years of mining history, the large Peñoles property contains several target areas, such as the El Capitan epithermal gold prospect at its core, and historical silver producers Jesus Maria (Ag-Pb-Zn-Cu veins) and related orebodies with additional gold veins. Exploration has progressed with collaboration between Riverside and its partner Sierra Madre Developments Inc., which has completed a drill program in high-grade silver veins with favourable results indicating that a more extensive gold and silver exploration program would be worthwhile. Riverside and Sierra Madre are seeking additional funding partners for Peñoles, as Staude says, "Growth potential is substantial." The Tajitos gold system is set in the heart of Mexico's richest gold-bearing area, in the vicinity of the extensive northwesttrending tectonic feature known as the "Mojave-Sonora Megashear." Structural controls of gold metallogeny in this region were researched in the doctoral work and publications of Staude. Several operating gold mines (up to 300,000 troy ounces per year), such as those run by Fresnillo-Newmont (La Herradura), AuRico, and Timmins Gold (San Francisco) share similar geological setting 44 www.resourceworld.com Left to right, Howard Davies, VP Exploration, Dave Smith, Chief Geologist, and Dr. John-Mark Staude, President & CEO, at the drill site of the Jesus Maria Vein system at the Peñoles Project in Durango, Mexico. Photo courtesy Riverside Resources Inc. to the Tajitos property. Historical high-grade vein mining in the past century yielded some 50,000 oz gold from the Tajitos property. Future potential for bulk-tonnage, lower-grade gold mining is considered significant, and is a major target in current exploration. Limited sampling by Riverside so far and previous drill results suggest a high gold to silver ratio typical of orogenic gold. At Sugarloaf Peak Project in Arizona, Riverside and former partner Choice Gold Corp. reported recent reverse circulation drilling results of 93.0 m of 0.44 g/t Au (including 21.3 m at 0.53 g/t Au and 33.5 m at 0.51 g/t Au), 114.0 m at 0.41 g/t Au (including 59.5 m at 0.54 g/t Au), and 10.7 m at 0.54 g/t Au. Both Sugarloaf Peak and Tajitos projects are available for option. With funding hard to find in the exploration industry, Riverside has done well to make exciting and ongoing strategic alliances with Antofagasta Holdings and Hochschild Mining. In a threeyear deal with Antofagasta, wrapping up in 2014, two prospective copper-gold porphyry properties have been designated in BC for further exploration, the Flute and Lennac projects near Granisle, west of Babine Lake. In addition, a new three-year alliance with Antofagasta, with a focus on identifying similar porphyry copper systems within known belts of gold mineralization, expects to concentrate on western Mexico in the eastern part of Sonora and parts of Chihuahua and Sinaloa, in Riverside's familiar stomping grounds around the Mojave-Sonora Megashear trend. The third important strategic alliance for Riverside is its recent deal with Hochschild Mining plc to explore for prospective precious metal targets at the Clemente silver project in Sonora, which is surrounded by producing mines such as the Cerro Colorado (Goldgroup Mining Inc., now producing doré). Previous exploration identified high-grade silver on outcrop, with precious metal assay results from chip sampling ranging from <5 g/t Ag to 2,900 g/t Ag and <5 ppb Au to 5.4 g/t Au. Riverside Resources anticipates a flow of new results from these programs in the coming months and welcomes expressions of interest. n november 2013

• Cover