5. San Juan La Paz / Technical facts

5. San Juan La Paz
/ Technical facts
La Paz, municipality Baja California Sur, México
146,329 hectares.
Located south of the Baja California Peninsula, 80 km from La Paz (219,600 inhabitants). Access is from La Paz by
paved road number 1 to kilometer 112. From here you turn right onto a 6-8 km dirt road to the project. The closest
power line is at Pocitas, 13 km away
Syngenetic, marine-sedimentary.
Phosphorous.
Siliciclastic sequence that includes sandstone, siltstone, slate, phosphate tuffs and shale of Miocene
San Gregorio Formation.
Not present
17% P2O5. (Phosphorous pentoxide).
Extensive mantos up to 3 km length, and 0.75-1.00 meters width. Present resources of 14 Mt of ore at a grade
of 17%
Early stage.
Geological mapping and sampling. Total investmen: 102,190 USD.
Remarkable granular-phosphate stratabound along the Purísima-Iray Basin, highly profitable since the last third
of XX century, those mantos have been mapped for up to 20 km, close to the eastern limit of the property.
Located 19 km west of Rofomex 2, a similar deposit operated by Fertinal or National Fertilizers over the same
manto. The company process 15,000 tons per day in a flotation plant producing 3,000-4,000 tons of concentrate.
From June 2013 to June 2014, Fertinal mined 4’459,908 ton of ore grading 17.34% of phosphorous pentoxide,
and 1’544,427 tons of concentrate with 27.80% P2 O5.
Go to extended Technical Report
5. San Juan La Paz Project
San Juan-La Paz mining concession is located in
the southern tip of Baja California Sur state, 80 km
N70°W from La Paz, the head municipality.
It is part of the mineralized region San Hilario-Santa
Rita, 30 km away from the San Juan de la Costa
phosphorus deposit in which the company Roca
Fosfórica Mexicana exploits and beneficiates mineral
from mantos genetically and morphologically similar
to the ones of San Juan-La Paz, hosted in a soft
syncline structure.
Baja California Sur state - 146,329 hectares
SAN HILARIO AREA
Regionally, Paleocene to Holocene marine sediments
sequences and continental volcanic rocks outcrop.
The Oligocene-Miocene San Gregorio Formation is
composed of sandstone, shale, tuffaceous-phosphatic
or siliceous mudstone, siltstone and sandstone
bearing granular phosphorus, so it is the most
important rock unit as it hosts the economic mineral.
• Both, lower (1.07 m) and upper (0.54 m wide) mantos extend over 2.5 km.
• Lower returned average grade of 15.79 % P2O5 with hights up to 22.5% de P2O5.
• Upper content is 17.01 % P2O5 with punctual maximum grade up to 19.9% P2O5.
Five main areas were defined: San Hilario, Laguna
Cota, La Matanza, Cañada Del Cerro and El
Gavilán. The most important structures are a couple
of mantos (strata-bound) known as San Hilario,
observed by some 2.5 km, and Laguna Cota along
almost 3.7 km; both striking NW30°-60°W and
smoothly dipping to the NE 02° to 04°. Width is
variable from 0.20 to 1.50 meters.
After lab results on the collected samples, average
grade of the upper and lower mantos of each area
was computed.
It is estimated that the mineralized strata may extent
up to 20 km until the east limit of the project, and
although they are not totally exposed, it is expected
that are the same horizons outcropping over San
Juan de la Costa.
Because of the aforementioned, and the geological characteristics of this
region, it is reasonably valid to assume that San Juan-La Paz project has
expectative to become a big deposit, with similar reserves of those estimated
at San Juan de la Costa with a volume of 60 Mt grading 18% of phosphorous
pentoxide. Here, Roca Fosfórica Mexicana beneficiates by flotation, mineral
at a rate of 15,000 tons per day. Tembabiche has proven 97.5 Mt of reserves
of 14.3 P2O5; and La Bocana, 927 Mt grading 15.75% P2O5.