Firesteel's major ongoing project in Mexico is the the Virimoa Au-Ag + base-metal property in northern Durango. 

Firesteel Resources Inc.     [FTR:TSX-V]

Virimoa Au-Ag, polymetallic deposit, Durango. Located in northern Durango, this claim was purchased outright for $10,000. The Virimoa property is located in an area with a long history of small-scale mining. Numerous old mine workings are located about 2 km to the north of the property. Most of the production likely came from the San Cayetano mine. A study of San Cayetano by Mexican government geologists showed that production came from three levels and from ore that graded in the order of 0.7g/t gold and 300-400 g/t silver.  Geological mapping and rock sampling has been concentrated on a prominent northwesterly trending argillic-siliceous alteration zone. This zone is at least four hundred meters long and 200 meters wide. Much of the area is overburden covered, and this limits the extent of surface sampling. Chip sampling was carried out along creek banks and road cuts which exposed strongly pyritic and clay-altered andesites and rhyolites. Some of the volcanics contain rounded fragments, which may be hydrothermal breccias. The altered volcanics are cut by a well developed system of northeast trending sheeted sulphide rich veins and pods up to two meters wide. Continuous chip samples collected during a previous evaluation shows highly anomalous metal values over a straight-line distance of approximately 350 meters. The width of the zone is unknown but is at least 200 meters. Within this zone, a 160-meter section returned a weighted average grade of 1.1 g/t gold, 17 g/t silver. This section also has a high zinc content (1.12%), minor lead (0.15%) and copper (0.1%). A 30-meter section at the extreme southern end of the previous sample traverse returned 2.79 g/t gold, 21.9 g/t silver and 3.43 % zinc. This high-grade section occurs near the contact with
the overlying unaltered andesites and rhyolites. Chip sampling of a road-cut 150 meters southwest of the sampled creek returned 60 meters of 46.6 g/t silver. These results suggest that the various metals may exhibit a zonal distribution.

wwwinfo March 2001
Press Release 20Dec00
Press Release 12June00

Reyna De Oro Property, Chihuahua. The 1467 ha, road accessible property is located in the SW portion of Chihuahua State in the heart of the Sierra Madre Au-Ag-Cu belt around 18 km WNW of El Sauzal. Optioned property from Cia. Minera La Metalica de Chihuahua (a private Mexican company) and Consolidated Magna Ventures Ltd. Firesteel can initially earn a 70% interest in the property by incurring total staged exploration expenditures of US$ 3 million and cash or share- equivalent payments of US$ $203,500 over four years. This option agreement is contingent upon Firesteel's satisfactory completion of a three month due diligence review. Upon fulfilling the required commitments, a 70/30 Firesteel/Cons.Magna JV will be formed (Metalica retains a 2% NSR which can be purchased for US$2.5 million.) Any J.V. partner that does not contribute to ongoing work programs will have its interest diluted on a straight-line basis. If this interest falls to 10%, an automatic conversion to a 1% nsr  will be triggered. The contributing company has the right to purchase this 1% NSR for US$ 1.25 million. Thus, the total NSR purchase amount is US$3.75 million.  This district has experienced continuous mining activity since its discovery in 1632. Numerous mines and significant undeveloped epithermal gold/silver/copper deposits occur in this area. The Reyna de Oro property adjoins Francisco Gold's El Sauzal holdings. El Sauzal hosts one of the largest gold resources in Mexico and has reported a "mineable resource" of 23.5 million tonnes at a grade of 2.98 gpt Au. An independent review states that numerous geological similarities exist between the Reyna de Oro prospect and El Sauzal. The Reyna de Oro property hosts a significant epithermal Au-Cu prospect that was formerly part of the Mexican Mineral Reserve. Previous work has delineated the main mineralized zone over a strike length of 400 m. Recent prospecting has identified Au mineralization up to one km W and 400 m E of the main zone. Five previous surface and underground sampling programs confirm the potential of the mineralized system. These are highlighted by: - A surface sample from the Vicente Zone which gave 57 m of 4.52 g/t Au and 0.28% Cu, as well as a road-cut channel sample which returned 60 m of 3.41 g/t Au and 0.18% Cu. - Underground channel samples of 3.16 g/t Au over 63 m, 3.44 g/t Au over 54 m and 2.51 g/t Au over 45 m - In 1997 a drilling program tested the mineralized zone over a strike length of 150 meters. Almost all of the holes encountered lengthy sections of significant Au and Cu mineralization. Drill hole RDO 97-01 returned 61.2 m of 1.44g/t gAu and 0.42% Cu. (NOTE: This intersection had a core recovery of only 60%.) The upper 29.8 m of this hole gave 2.89 g/t Au  and 0.42% Cu despite only a 36% core recovery. Channel sampling of an adit 15 m above this drill hole returned 6.64 g/t Au and 0.21% Cu over 25.8 m. (NOTE: the Au values intersected in drill holes through the mineralized zone under-represent the true grade because of the poor core recovery. In this case, much of the free gold is hosted by soft, altered volcanics which are easily washed away during drilling.) Firesteel's planned exploration program will be directed toward expanding the known mineralized zone at depth and along strike. This program will involve geological mapping, IP, trenching and soil geochemistry followed by a drill program. 

Press Release 5Oct99