Prospecting Equipment

Soltera Mining Corp. (OTCBB:SLTA) has been busy acquiring properties during the first quarter of 2008. Unstable markets have been unable to dampen the resolve with which management goes about building shareholder value.

Three weeks ago, Soltera announced it had obtained two new Mexican gold properties through the acquisition of Aztek Mineral, S.A. de CV. One week after that, the vending in of the Eureka Copper-Gold property and joint venture with TNR Gold Corp. (TSX.V:TNR) was announced.

That brings to 4 the number of gold projects under development by Soltera, summarized as follows:

El Torno (Argentina, gold, mining rights 7,863 hectares) is located in the Andean Cordillera near the international border with Bolivia. The property contains a very large gold-bearing quartz vein that extends intermittently for at least 14 km long north-south. The vein is sub-vertical and the gold is concentrated in a 2 meter-thick breccia zone along its western flank.

Historically, El Torno was worked by the Incas and the Spanish over a long period and has more than 1,000 m of underground galleries. There is still a small-scale operation extracting gold from elluvial deposits on the east side of the vein. In 1997, Puma Minerals carried out 2,100 m of drilling on a 1 km length; and in 1999 Penoles Minerals (operators of the world’s richest silver mine and Mexico’s richest and largest gold mines) undertook surface sampling, geological mapping and an IP geophysical survey in the same area. The combined (non NI-43-101 compliant) results of this work showed:

a) El Torno is within a “gold province” that extends several hundred kilometers north-south through Argentina and Bolivia;

b) The strongly mineralized breccia zone on the west side of the vein carries up to 37 gpt gold in the tested area, and has potential for several million ounces along the length of the vein;

c) Samples of stockwork zones some distance from the main vein gave up 23 gpt and in one case 112 gpt gold;

d) There are several IP geophysical anomalies that could indicate mineralization, but have not yet been drilled.

Soltera holds almost all the 14 km length and commenced their exploration in late 2007 with a geochemical stream sediment survey combined with structural mapping designed to target specific parts of the vein and the surrounding area for more detailed investigation.

Soltera will now define drill targets using more detailed geochemical and geophysical surveys. Drilling is scheduled to commence in the second quarter of 2008 and, given success, this will lead immediately to a full feasibility study to commence before year’s end.

Real de Cananea, Mexico

The “Real de Cananea” (Mexico, gold, mining claims 1,030 hectares) is located in Sonora State 26 km from the Cananea copper mine owned by Penoles. It contains a gold-bearing fault zone up to 270 m wide and more than 400m long within Cretaceous volcanic rocks that are intensely altered and carry gold.

There is a small old mine in the center of the property that was probably first worked by the Mayas and certainly by the Spaniards, with several shafts reaching 100 m below surface. The hard wallrock was mined with enormous effort and this, together with the fact that water had to be transported 8 km, indicates the importance of the mineralisation. Gold is widespread on the property, with altered rocks showing up to 65 gpt.

Soltera’s target is a large-scale open-pit and the area is broad enough to accommodate well in excess of 1 million ounces. Geochemical, geological and geophysical surveys will be used to define drill targets and drilling is scheduled for the third quarter of 2008.

Eureka, Argentina

(Argentina, copper-gold, around 10,000 hectares) is located in northern Argentina near the Bolivian border and only 3 km from the El Torno project. The property contains ‘Red Bed’ type strata-bound copper mineralization within sedimentary sandstones, clays and conglomerates. The surface exposures are weathered and contain erratically distributed gold. Alluvial gold has been worked in the area since prior to the time of the Spanish arrival and there is an old mine with over 5 km of underground workings that exploited copper and gold on a small scale until 1987.

The deposit is similar in style to major copper deposits in the Bolivian part of the Tertiary Belt. A geological estimate in the late 1990’s (historic resources estimate which is not NI-43-101 compliant) was 50 to 60 million tons grading 1% copper. Only 70 meters of the 450 m deep formation has been explored to date which leaves extensive upside potential.

TNR Gold Corp. (“TNR”), a Vancouver based mining company listed on the TSX with extensive experience in Argentina, has entered into an option agreement with the option vendor to acquire a 75% interest in the property by spending a total of US$3,000,000 in exploration and option payments before April 20, 2010.

TNR will undertake detailed geological mapping, trenching, geochemical and geophysical surveys, sampling the historic underground workings and drilling. Soltera is not required to incur any expenditure on the project at the present time.

Casita Colorada, the Company’s other project in Mexico, is a large mineralized shear zone worked since the end of the 1800’s for gold. The mineralized zone was at least 400 m long and 150 m wide and there is potential for a substantial gold deposit, but the project is being held in reserve so that the company can concentrate on El Torno and Real de Cananea.

Be sure to keep a close eye on SLTA over the next couple months. Geochemical assay results are due any day now, and there’s plenty of news to be generated by exploration activity on all the properties.

gold metal detector

The decision to purchase home exercise equipment can be a daunting one. There are so many factors to consider.

What kind of exercise equipment to buy? Where will you buy your equipment from? Will you have enough space for it? What fitness goals will you try to accomplish with it? The list of concerns can be quite long. Cost, however, is probably the most important consideration for many – especially if you are on a budget.

If you are on a tight budget and would like to purchase exercise equipment, there are still many options available to you to purchase the exercise equipment that’s suitable for you and your needs without sacrificing the quality of the equipment you buy.

One option in purchasing exercise equipment when you are on a budget is to buy used equipment. Often, people are a little skeptical about the idea of purchasing anything used – and rightly so! However, there are a few precautions that you can take before making a final decision about your purchase.

Additionally, there are numerous advantages to purchasing used exercise equipment that you may not have thought about. The foremost reason for many people to look into buying used equipment is that the cost will be drastically lower than if you were to buy exercise equipment that is brand new.

Used exercise equipment can be priced dramatically lower than new equipment, which may provide you with an excellent opportunity to buy something with many more features than you would normally be able to afford.

Moreover, purchasing used exercise equipment may also allow you to buy a better quality piece of equipment such as the more advanced equipment meant for fitness clubs and spas. Often, you should be able to check your local newspapers and notice boards for deals like these. If you are interested in equipment like this, you can also check with your local gym or fitness club owners to see if they know of anyone selling used exercise equipment.

Second Hand Shops

You may also want to check out second hand shops which often sell used equipment at bargain prices. Shopping for exercise equipment from a second hand store is also a great place to look around to find out the going prices of equipment that you may be interested in buying.

Classified Ads

The classified ads section of your local newspaper is also another place to check for used exercise equipment at bargain prices. Often, you will be able to find ads from individuals who, for one reason or another, are selling their equipment. This could be because they are moving to another state, or that the equipment no longer suits their needs. Nonetheless, be sure to ask the person selling the equipment what their reasons are for the sale. You need to also ask if there are any problems with the equipment before you purchase it. Buying Refurbished Exercise Equipment

Another option for purchasing exercise equipment when you’re on a budget is buying refurbished equipment. Refurbished is a term used to refer to products that are no longer considered “brand new” – possibly due to cosmetic damage which may have occurred on a showroom floor, or merchandise that may have been returned by a customer for any number of reasons.

While merchandise returned by a customer may be due to damage to the item, it could also be due to a customer changing his mind about the product. Nonetheless, refurbished equipment goes through extensive inspection and repair and is then repackaged for sale to the consumer at a significantly lower price.

Buying refurbished exercise equipment can offer excellent savings to the consumer. However, if you have any concerns about your purchase, find out about the refund policy for the equipment that you are considering purchasing and whether there is any kind of warranty for the equipment before making a final decision.

While the cost of buying exercise equipment for your home can be an important consideration when you are on budget, try not to make it the only factor, nor the most important one. If you make price the most important factor, you may end up with equipment that you are not happy with. You will want to buy equipment that is not only within your budget but is good quality equipment that suits your needs as well.

nd gold may be best commodities prospects in 2009

Editor:   From: mineweb   Click?53   Date: 2009-01-04 11:42:57

It is a hazardous business trying to predict positive investment sectors in the current financial climate, but some commodities more than others do look as though they offer potential.

As most commentators will be aware, after a disastrous 2008 for commodities, and even more so for many commodities stocks, prediction is a hazardous business.  While many were only too well aware at the beginning of 2008 of the vulnerabilities in the global economy, few stuck their necks out to forewarn of the scale, or the speed, of the subsequent meltdown in virtually all stocks, among which commodities were one of the worst affected sectors.

Now there seems to be the opinion amongst many commentators that many of those investors who ventured into commodities and commodities stocks at or around their peaks, and got their fingers severely burnt, will likely give the sector a wide berth this year, as will funds who may have ventured into the sector in the past.  This could severely restrict the potential of good profits being made even should the sector economics improve over the next few months.

This may be a very shortsighted view though.  If specific commodities or stocks are seen as having strong potential then investors will invest and prices will rise.  Maybe there is less money around to speculate though so the kind of huge increases seen in the pre-crash commodities sector will likely not materailse again in the immediate future.

For those prepared to take the plunge back into the sector there are going to be some areas which hold out the prospect of better upside than others, and with a very limited downside potential, which should appeal to the more cautious investor.

So where do you look for this kind of potential.  In truth things fell back so far in the latter half of last year, and so rapidly, that one has to consider that the downside in virtually any commodity is somewhat limited for the near to medium term, but some stand out as offering perhaps better prospects than most.

In the forefront is, probably, oil where the huge price crash from $147 a barrel down to, at one stage, $32 a barrel almost certainly was way overdone.  With the major oil producers having the ability to manipulate the price through production controls, and the avowed purpose so to do which is already beginning to have an effect.  The impact of cuts – or production increases – takes time to sink through and affect the markets and pricing and we are only just beginning to see the glimmers of an oil price recovery now.  It would not be unreasonable to look for a doubling of the oil price within the next few months.

Indeed a doubling of the price puts us pretty much in line with Barclays Capital which is forecasting $76 a barrel for average U.S. crude in 2009.  Barclays is perhaps one of the more bullish on oil, though, among the major banks’ analytical teams.

Gold is another likely beneficiary from continuing financial and political turmoil, but don’t necessarily expect a sharp rise.  Indeed gold was one of the few sectors which showed a profit overall in 2008, but gold stocks may still have a little catching up to do so there is potential here.  Overall one would look to gold perhaps to regain the $1,000 an ounce level during the year – and it could well then stay there which could again substantially outperform any general stock market recovery, if indeed there is one.

Silver will likely rise on the back of gold, even though fundamentals may not be as strong depending on who’s figures one takes.  Its volatility in relation to gold means that there could be the prospect of a better performance than gold in percentage terms, but that’s not really something to bank on.

What of the rest?  Of the external commentators who deal with the commodities sector, Peter Grandich, who publishes online opinion (www.grandich.com) is one of the more circumspect commentators with a pretty good track record over the past year (apart from on junior mining companies which he never expected to be decimated in the way they have been).  He also feels that oil and gold are the most promising commodities in the current environment and on some of the others he makes the following comments, with which we would mostly concur:

“Platinum appears to have seen its lows and while the upside may be limited in 2009, so appears the downside.

Base metals – I’ve been bearish on them for about two years. As we begin 2009, there isn’t anything to change that view other than further declines which could bring us to the point where accumulating them for 2010 and beyond could be worthy.

I do think uranium has bottomed and can work its way back to triple digits in the next 24-36 months.”

Perhaps base metals may do better than Grandich suggests, but the sector certainly remains weak but to an extent the huge falls in stock prices, which in many cases exceeded those in the commodities themselves, could leave scope for investment gains this year.

prospecting supplies

The Gold Rush started on January 24, 1848, when James. W. Marshall – working for Sacramento pioneer John Sutter, discovered shiny pieces of metal at Sutter’s Mill, near Coloma in California. After taking them to Sutter, the two men tested the metal and found it to be gold. Far from being euphoric at the find, Sutter was dismayed as he envisaged his dreams of an agricultural empire going up in smoke once prospectors rushed to the area. Because of that fear Sutter tried to keep news of the find under wraps, but all to no avail as rumours soon spread.

By March 1848, news of the find had reached San Francisco where newspaperman and merchant Samuel Brannan, after being shrewd enough to set up a store to sell gold prospecting supplies, strode through the streets of San Francisco, holding up a piece of gold and shouting: “Gold! Gold! Gold from the American River!

By August 1848 the news had reached New York and on December 5th was confirmed to Congress by President James Polk sparking an invasion of Sacramento and the surrounding area by waves of immigrants, who would later be referred to as the “forty-niners”.

Confirming his fears Sutter was ruined; his workers deserted him seeking gold fortunes of their own, and immigrants squatted on his land helping themselves to his cattle and crops. However, by the time the 49ers arrived the easily accessible gold had long been scooped up by the original prospectors of 1848. As waves of new immigrants flooded the area around Sacramento it effectively became a squalid tented city. With no hotel in Sacramento to speak of, or any other places of shelter for that matter, the mass of new arrivals literally slept in the streets, until they got a job, or left for the prospecting fields.

It was a lawless place in California at the time of the gold rush. The goldfields were declared public land, with no property rights, no taxes and no fees. Land was ‘claimed’ by prospectors, who could keep the claim as long as they worked on it. Once work stopped or the site was abandoned then the land could be reclaimed. This loose definition led to disputes about ‘claim-jumpers’, which were often settled in a violent manner.

Most of the estimated 300,000 would-be prospectors that came to California after 1849 found little gold, but did help establish Sacramento as a major town, confirmed by it becoming the terminus of the Transcontinental Railroad in 1869. In only 20 years the settlement had burgeoned into a bustling hub for California. And, while his father’s dreams of an agricultural empire were dashed by the Gold Rush, John Sutter Jr, together with Sam Brannan became the City of Sacramento’s founding fathers.

gold panning gear

The Samsung U600 Copper gold phone clever design of Samsungs Ultra Edition 10.9 includes a unique and stylish interface for the ultimate sophistication and usability. Samsung U600 Copper gold also comes equipped with a 3.2 megapixel camera encased in an ultra slim profile and boasting a 2.22 wide TFT LCD widescreen. For the feature watchers, Samsungs Ultra Edition 12.1 offers a HSDPA 3.6 Mbps data transfer speed, video telephony functionality and auto focus in a slim 12.1mm case.

The Bluetooth cell phone Samsung U600 Copper gold has 3.2-megapixel camera features a 4x digital zoom, LED flash, enhanced auto focus, automatic switching between auto mode and macro mode by sensing the distance from the photo subject, and half shutter for more accurate focusing. An integrated image editor allows you to edit photos without compromising on the original quality and size of the picture. The camera also has video recording capabilities, shooting up to CIF resolution of 352 x 288 pixels.

The unlocked mobile cell phone Samsung U600 Copper gold is a compact phone with a slide open mechanism that lives up to the manufacturer’s name. The Samsung U600 Copper gold phone has a shiny casing and comes in sapphire blue, garnet red, platinum metal & in a copper gold colour, further adding to the sheen of U600. The Samsung U600 Copper gold phone built-in camera in the handset lets you record videos and click still snaps. The smart cell phone Samsung U600 Copper gold high resolution 3.2 megapixel camera comes with an auto focus feature, as well as other advanced camera features that a stand alone digital camera would boast of. Providing up to 262,000 colours on a 2.2 inch LCD colour screen, the large and lucid display of the handset also acts as a viewfinder for its camera.

The unlocked cell phone Samsung U600 copper gold phone provides Bluetooth version 2.0 wireless connectivity with EDR, and includes profiles for communication headset, hands free car kits, and audio/video remote control. You can connect your laptop (either via Bluetooth or wired USB) and enjoy dial-up networking–surf the Internet, send email, and access files from a server. Battery life is rated at 4.5 hours of digital talk time and 345 hours of standby time.

The smart handset Samsung U600 Copper gold is a complete music player phone with superb sound quality. It’s equipped with a digital power amp and offers a dedicated music user interface for a quick and easy way to navigate through the play list. In addition, the Ultra Music Samsung U600 includes a stereo FM radio and a Quick PC Sync function, allowing you to easily create and organize your music library. It plays a wide variety of music files including MP3, AAC, AAC+, e-AAC+, WMA file formats, and background music plays as you use the mobile’s other features. Please purchase online www.luckywirelessusa.com

gold mining equipment