Malbex Resources

Del Carmen, the Company's flagship project, is located near the southern end of the El Indio Gold Belt. Del Carmen Norte is a well-exposed, high sulphidation epithermal gold-silver system that covers approximately 9 km². Malbex is also currently exploring a similar, but less well exposed high sulphidation epithermal system some 5 km to the south at Del Carmen Sur, within the same concession package.

Preliminary exploration at Del Carmen Norte by Malbex in 2008/2009 revealed widespread trace to high grade gold mineralization on surface within the large alteration zone, principally in siliceous black-matrix, hydrothermal breccias that are commonly controlled within north-east striking structures such as that tested at Cresta del Gallo. The style and mineralogy of alteration at Del Carmen Norte is typical for high-sulphidation epithermal gold-silver systems with hydrothermal alteration zoned around cores of massive and vuggy silica, similar to the producing Veladero gold-silver mine and the large Pascua-Lama deposit currently in development. The best result of previous drilling of the Del Carmen Norte system in the late 1990s was 36 m at 1.06 g/t gold.

In addition to drilling, a variety of other exploration testing is ongoing or planned at Del Carmen Norte, including geological mapping, mechanical trenching and geophysical surveying (ground magnetics and CSAMT). Targets to be drill tested during the current field season include:

• Cresta del Gallo - northeast-striking band of intense to moderate silicification with narrow envelope of quartz-alunite within broad zone of argillic (kaolinite) alteration; controlled by northeast-striking structure
• Brecha Límite - northeast-striking bands of intense silicification, massive to vuggy and breccia textures; local barite crystals; locally prominent fracture (vein) controlled copper mineralization (chalcocite, malachite, azurite) in silicified tuff
• Quebrada Pedegrosa - high grade silicified dacite tuff and hydrothermal breccia with narrow zones of northeast-striking veinlets of jarosite (±quartz-hematite) and high grade gold (several samples >100 g/t Au)
• Brecha Oportuna - roughly north-striking, narrow band of silicification and siliceous breccias within quartz-alunite alteration
• Rojo Grande-Lion King - subhorizontal bands of silicification, locally prominent vuggy textures and red-brown discolouration; gold accompanies ENE-striking hydrothermal breccias that cut massive silica
• Ladera Sur de los Tortólas - silicified dacite tuff with zones of east-southeast-striking hydrothermal breccia and quartz-alunite veinlets

Strongly elevated copper and silver distinguishes the Brecha Límite and Ladera Sur de los Tortólas prospects from the others. Coincident gold, silver, copper and arsenic enrichment suggests the occurrence of epithermal enargite-bearing vein mineralization at these targets, similar to high grade mineralization exploited previously at the El Indio mine, some 20 km to the northwest in Chile.