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LOCATION
The Caldera project
is located in the Huasco Province within the Atacama
Region of Chile approximately 120km NE of the city
of La Serena and 250km North of the city of Santiago.
The property is situated in the mineral-rich Chilean
Andes Mountains, home to some of the worlds largest
copper resources including the Escondida, Collahuasi,
and Quebrada Blanca mines.
Located approximately 60km SE of Caldera is Barrick Gold's Pascua-Lama gold and copper project which contains proven and probable reserves of 18.0 million ounces of gold, 731 million ounces of silver, 662.5 million pounds of copper. Barrick Gold's Veladero gold mine (in production) lies approximately 65km SE of Caldera. Proven and probable mineral reserves in December 2007 at the Veladero project were estimated at 11.7 million ounces of gold.
The Caldera project
covers approximately 2400 hectares consisting of
17 exploration and exploitation concessions each
at elevations between 2500m and 2800m. The dry climate
offers year-round exploration and a nearby spring
and power station offer water and electricity if
required. There are no permanent dwellings within
the project area and the arid climate and minimal
vegetation present no significant environmental
liabilities.
HISTORY
The Caldera property
corresponds to an historical mining district of placer
gold and auriferous veins which were exploited at
the beginning of the 20th century. Production from
these times is unknown although it's reported that
up to 300 miners had worked in the district. Today,
there is evidence of recent artisanal small-scale
underground gold mining in the area.
From 1993 to 1995 Noranda undertook
an exploration program which resulted in the definition
of a copper-gold exploration target. The target
area was mapped, magnetically surveyed (50.5 km),
I.P. surveyed, trenched (17 trenches), and sampled
(357 samples). The resulting data was used as the
basis for defining a series of drill targets. Noranda's
1065m drill program consisted of nine angled diamond
drill holes (N sized core) averaging 120m depth.
The late 1990's metal markets
did not warrant further work by Noranda and the
property lay dormant for a further ten years until
the mineral markets began to rise in 2004.
In 2005 Aguas Caya commenced a
sampling program and performed a program of geological
mapping over certain areas within the boundaries
of the Noranda work. This program added pertinent
components of the surface mapping to the Noranda
geology.
Network Exploration Ltd. began
its exploration program at the Caldera property
in late 2006.
PROJECT DEVELOPMENT
Acquisition:
On October 30, 2006, Network Exploration Ltd entered
into an option agreement to acquire a 50% interest
in the Caldera property's mineral concessions over
a four year term. The agreement includes property
payments totaling USD 340,000 and staged work commitments
totaling USD 1,050,000 over the term. Upon completion
of the agreement a company will be formed 50% owned
by the current owners and 50% owned Network Exploration
Ltd. There will be a 2% royalty on production payable
to the vendors.
Exploration
Phase I (Mapping and Sampling)
    
The first phase of Network Exploration's
exploration program consisted of surveys and mappings
to re-define and re-assess the geology in the area.
Samples were taken from a series of hand trenches
and test pits from strategic locations on the property
to further verify the gold and copper presence on
the property.
  
Exploration
Phase II (Trenching)
Network Exploration's second phase
exploration consisted of 1500m of excavator trenching
(1.5m wide, average 1.5m deep (max 3.4m)) and
12 lines over 1,485m with test pets each 10m. A
total of 494 samples were collected weighing approximately
3.5 tonnes.
This program was designed to test
the property's widespread copper presence, to investigate
the gold and copper presence in the newly staked
NE claims, and to pinpoint drill locations.
Highlights from the program include
the following:
Copper
Highest values: 4770ppm, 4440ppm, 4300ppm
- 250m @ 1393ppm copper including 150m @ 1.921ppm
copper
- 180m @ 1628ppm copper
- 170m @ 1311ppm copper
Gold
Highest values: 2.95ppm 2.35ppm 2.25ppm 1.465ppm
1.18ppm
- 35m 0.43g/t
- 35m 0.42g/t gold
Phase II findings clarify the
presence of a gold zone at Caldera previously suspected
due to anomalous surface gold samples found on the
property (up to 6.6g/t reported Aug '06). This newly
discovered gold zone will require additional exploration
and the widespread copper zones warrant deep drilling
to determine the economics of the system.
Drilling
Phase I
January '08 to March '08
Network Exploration Ltd. commenced its Phase 1 reverse
circulation drilling program on January 15, 2008.
The program was designed to test the copper gold and
molybdenum concentrations at depth by targetting portions of a large intrusive with structural, geochemical and geophysical anomalies. The program (completed in March) concluded after nine holes totalling 1344 meters in depth.
Click
here for Drill Targets
Highlights from the program included the following:
CA08-RC2
18 meters of 0.25% Copper and 0.13g/t Gold
including 6 meters of 0.46% Copper and 0.31g/t Gold
CA08-RC3
70 meters of 0.20% Copper and 0.124g/t Gold
CA08-RC4
171 meters 0.23% Copper and 0.07g/t Gold
including 36 meters of 0.52% Copper and 0.12g/t Gold
CA08-RC8
42 meters of 0.13% Copper and 0.03g/t Gold
CA08-RC9
69 meters of 0.18% Copper and 0.59g/t Gold
This first phase program tested only a small portion (approximately 0.4 square kilometers) of the total exposed area of the five square kilometer intrusive. More than 90% of the area is deemed to be intrusive and a potential host for copper gold mineralization remains to be tested. This program did not test the northeast striking buried fault zone which has been the target of artesianal placer miners and did not test the La Blanca gold mine area. Network's geologists are encouraged by the results of this drill program as the potential of the property has not been fully realized. The alteration and sulphide (primarily pyrite) content indicate the presence of a large porphyry system. It is believed that the recent drill results are from above the copper-gold enriched part of the system.
Samples were taken over 3 meter intervals throughout all holes, bagged in tamper proof bags and delivered by Company personnel to the ALS Chemical Laboratory in La Serena, Chile where they were assayed using the Au plus 41 element ICP package. La Blanca Mine Exploration
May '08 - June '08
The La Blanca Mine was developed years ago by artisanal miners who mined gold from Caldera. Four adits were completed resulting in approximately 200 meters of underground tunnels. The La Blanca mine houses a 300m x 100m silica breccia consisting of stockwork with quartz-sericite alteration. It is located on the western portion of a porphyry copper-gold system at Caldera.
60 meters of channel samples were taken by Fernandez-Concha (two meter continuous chip samples) with the following results:
12 meters @ 5.82 g/t Gold
20 meters @ 2.21 g/t Gold
Noteable values:
2 meters @ 9.24 g/t Gold
2 meters @ 20.9 g/t Silver
2 meters @ 3,000 ppm Copper
La Blanca Drifting Program
Summer/Fall 2009
La Blanca gold prospect, one of several gold targets on the property, encompasses a 1.4 km by 400 metre area of historical artisanal gold workings. The recently completed drifting program focused on one small area named the La Blanca mine.
An eight man team, headed by senior geologist Marco Fernandez-Concha, has completed crosscutting 1.8m x 1.4m drifts in an area commencing approximately 30m beneath the La Blanca mine. The drifts cut into the 100m x 300m silica breccia in which the gold-bearing La Blanca mine is located. This program was designed to test the underlying structure of the La Blanca mine approximately 190m into Cerro Caldera (Caldera Mountain).
Ninety-four underground wall samples were taken along the entire length of the new underground workings. They have been submitted to ALS Chemex Laboratory in La Serena Chile, where they will be analyzed by procedure Au-SCR22 ("metallics" or screen fire assay) and ME-ICP 41 (35 element ICP) methods.
Results of this program revealed the existence of three distinct gold zones with grades of up to 5.01 g/t Au over four metres, 4.55 g/t Au over 14 metres, and 2.45 g/t Au over 18 metres. These zones were interpreted from assay results of continuous panel chip samples taken along one wall of the entire new workings and data from previous campaigns.
Samples from the 2008 La Blanca program were assayed using standard atomic absorption (AA) procedures followed by gravimetric procedures for samples with AA assays greater than 10 g/t Au. The initial 34 samples taken in the 2009 program were treated similarly to the 2008 samples. On comparing assays to amounts of visible gold from panning the Company decided to initiate a program of pulps and metallics assay techniques to determine a more accurate gold content in the samples. Rejects from the initial 34 samples and the remaining 60 samples were all assayed using the pulps and metallics method. As a further check, two panels were re-sampled on site, divided at the laboratory into 50 gram splits and each split was assayed by atomic absorption followed by gravimetric finish if enough sample remained. On the first of these two samples the original AA gravimetric assay returned 18.85 g/t Au and the average of the seven splits is 4.55 g/t Au. The second of these samples originally assayed 0.707 g/t Au and the average of the 10 splits is 9.08 g/t Au. The results of this test work indicate the erratic distribution of gold within the mineralized area.
Analysis of the current assays led Network’s geologists to conclude that La Blanca gold breccia zone contains at least three distinct zones of gold mineralization; specifically the Gold Internal Zone, the Gold External Zone, and the Central Zone.
The Gold Internal
Zone
Located at the north end of La Blanca silica breccia zone, the Gold Internal Zone correlates in part with historical workings and delineates a zone interpreted to be at least 70 metres long by 15 metres wide. The strike and down dip extension is unknown and will be tested with drilling. The average grade of panel samples along the strike of the zone is 2.42 g/t Au. Individual samples within the zone assay up to 9.24 g/t Au. Out of a total of 41 samples, 31 exceeded 0.1 g/t Au.
The Gold External Zone
Located on the western side of La Blanca silica breccia zone and also correlating in part with historical workings this zone is at least 50 metres long by 10 metres wide and open along strike and to depth. The average grade of panel samples (37 samples) through this zone is 1.08 g/t Au. Individual samples within the zone ranged from 0.08 g/t Au to 2.74 g/t Au.
The Central Zone
The Central Zone is located in or near the Main adit and is difficult to interpret and correlate accurately at this time. The Central Zone contains two sections - one represented by two samples averaging 5.01 g/t Au (four metres) and a second represented by nine samples (18 metres) of lower grade material averaging 0.37 g/t Au. The exact orientation of this zone is unknown.
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NI 43-101
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