• Sept 25, 2008
Acquisition campaign continues in South America..
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• Sept 02, 2008
Network to List on Lima Exchange..
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• July 09, 2008
Network Stakes Pistalla Sur Property...
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• June 03, 2008
Network Discovers 5.82 g/t Gold over 12m at La Blanca...
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• Mar 14, 2008
Network Drills 36 Meters of 0.52% Copper...
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CALDERA:

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.

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)

Work Tent Test Pit Core Inspection Sample Sample

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. 

Geology  Copper Geo  Gold Geo

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.

Test Pits Excavator Excavator Test Pits Trench

  
 

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

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

 


Download the NI 43-101

 

 



Ourcrop

Placer mine

Trench

Folk inspecting