BRISAS
A possible deposit analogy is of a copper porphyry forming over a magmatic source (yet to be discovered) that was very rich in boron. A peraluminous granite might fit the boron requirements and a sufficient volume of basaltic/andesitic rock could provide the copper. Thin lenses of high Cu and Mo extending away along bedding/foliation planes could be the result of periodic high confining pressures within the Blue Whale that forced mineralizing fluids outward along these planes. The fluids replaced crystals and lithic fragments, evidence of which can be viewed in drill core.

There are four distinct types of gold and copper mineralization present at Brisas, defined by geometry, associated minerals, and the gold-copper ratio. These zones are the Blue Whale body, disseminated gold + pyrite ± copper, disseminated high copper, and shear-hosted gold. Only the first three types are encountered within the proposed pit geometry.

The Blue Whale mineralized body is a discrete, sharply bounded, flattened, cigar-shaped feature that trends more or less parallel to the local schistosity and plunges approximately 35° southwest.

Mineralogically, the Blue Whale is a sericite- tourmaline-pyrite-chalcopyrite-quartz schist, with a smaller volume of quartz-tourmaline-sulphide breccia.

The bulk of mineralization occurs in disseminated, coalescing, lensoid bodies, and high in gold and in most cases low in copper. These bodies lie almost exclusively in the lapilli-rich, rapidly alternating sequence of tuffaceous units and are clearly aligned along foliation. Together, these lenses form a generally well defined mineralized band, which mimics the dip of the foliation/bedding and remains open at depth. It remains at a similar thickness from the northern concession boundary for a distance of 1.4 km south, after which, it tapers rapidly. Alteration minerals characteristic of these lenses are epidote, chlorite, secondary biotite, and sericite.

Stratiform lenses of high copper with or without high gold underlie the gold+pyrite lenses described above. These lenses outcrop in the northern part of the deposit, and plunge to the south in a manner similar to the Blue Whale and high gold/low copper lenses but with variable dips.

Shear-hosted gold occurrences exist in the southern part of the concession, running parallel to the foliation as with mineralization further north. Stratigraphically, they occur above the large disseminated lenses previously described. The gold and copper grades are erratic and discontinuous.

CRISTINAS
In terms of classification, Cristinas has been assigned to shear zone-hosted systems by some geologists, and to a porphyry association by others; however, several key elements of the Cristinas deposit must be satisfied in any attempt to classify the deposit.

The main two styles of mineralization present at Cristinas are:
1. Stratiform mineralization at Conductora, Morrocoy, and Cordova.
2. Hydrothermal breccia-hosted mineralization at Mesones-Sofia.

The Conductora (including Cuatro Muertos and Potaso), Morrocoy, and Cordova areas contain over 95% of the gold resource at Cristinas.

Mineralization occurs in a greater than three- kilometre long, north-trending zone that dips moderately (30° to 40°) to the west, sub-parallel to the volcanic stratigraphy and to the pervasive (S1) cleavage. Gold mineralization is associated with a sulphide assemblage that consists essentially of pyrite and chalcopyrite.

Mineralization in Mesones-Sofia is concentrated in the quartz-tourmaline-sulphide-calcite vein breccias and extends laterally into the adjacent country rocks. The breccias are sufficiently closely spaced that the country rock between them also constitutes ore in the central part of Mesones-Sofia. Grades in the country rock on the periphery of the system decrease as the distance between the breccias increase.

Discrete auriferous quartz veins are located adjacent to the Cristinas deposit. Such veins include the Los Rojas and Albino veins that lie approximately one kilometre to the east of the Conductora area, and the Hofman vein, which lies about one kilometre to the west of the Cordova area. These veins consist of quartz with gold mineralization associated with pyrite (there is no appreciable chalcopyrite). The veins have chlorite selvages about 50 cm wide. Although gold mineralization in these veins does not constitute part of the Cristinas resource, they are considered to be genetically related, and peripheral, to the Cristinas deposit.

The Siembra Minera Project is an open-pit gold- copper mining project. The mine will be a conventional truck and shovel open pit mining operation, which will utilize hydraulic shovels and 236-tonne trucks as the primary mining equipment. Ancillary activities will include, however not be limited to, road maintenance, road dust control, site dewatering, dump and stockpile maintenance, and grade control.

Brisas inter-ramp pit slopes based on Vector (2007) range from 22° to 30° in saprolite, 36.2° to 46.6° in the east wall, and 46.6° to 52° in the west wall. Cristinas pit slopes based on SNCLavalin (2005) are 31° for saprolite, 45° for east wall, and 50° to 55° for hard rock on the west and south wall.

The pit slopes used for RPA’s pit optimization were 36° for oxide saprolite, 46° for sulphide saprolite, and 48° for hard rock for the entire deposit.

The resource pit is approximately 6,000 m long and 1,900 m wide with a maximum depth of approximately 700 m. The total material including waste is 5,910 million tonnes. The pit slope on the east wall follows the mineralization with slopes from 36° to 38°; the west wall final pit has overall pit slopes ranging from 48° to 50°.

The overall Project contemplates two plants: a smaller 15,000 tonne per day ("tpd") cyanidation plant (the "Small Plant") and a larger 140,000 tpd flotation plant (the "Large Plant"). The Small Plant is designed to recover gold from oxide saprolite and sulfide saprolite that contains low concentrations of copper and the Large Plant is designed to process hard rock material containing higher concentrations of copper as well as gold. The overall mine life is estimated to be 45 years after achieving commercial production of the Large Plant.

The Project is expected to begin with the Small Plant, which is estimated to take two years for detail design and construction while providing a platform for establishing the Project's operations and management group in advance of the Large Plant operation.

The overall Project contemplates two plants: a smaller 15,000 tonne per day ("tpd") cyanidation plant (the "Small Plant") and a larger 140,000 tpd flotation plant (the "Large Plant"). The Small Plant is designed to recover gold from oxide saprolite and sulfide saprolite that contains low concentrations of copper and the Large Plant is designed to process hard rock material containing higher concentrations of copper as well as gold. The overall mine life is estimated to be 45 years after achieving commercial production of the Large Plant.

The Project is expected to begin with the Small Plant, which is estimated to take two years for detail design and construction while providing a platform for establishing the Project's operations and management group in advance of the Large Plant operation.