El Cubo

AuRico Gold’s El Cubo Mine is located in the village of El Cubo, approximately 10 km east of Guanajuato, Mexico. The Guanajuato mining district is famous as a world-class mining area with over 400 years of production history.

The El Cubo property consists of 58 exploitation and exploration concessions covering 8,500 hectares. El Cubo also leases the adjacent Las Torres Mine complex from a subsidiary of Industrias Peñoles. The Las Torres Mill has a processing capacity of up to 2,000 tonnes per day.

Geology

El Cubo is located 1,996 metres above sea level in an arid, mountainous region. Situated in the eastern part of the Guanajuato mining district, the El Cubo property is underlain by a volcano-sedimentary sequence of rocks ranging from the Mesozoic to the Cenozoic periods.

Mineralization

El Cubo’s veins are not rock-type specific. The principal host rocks for the ore shoots are Guanajuato conglomerate for the lower veins and Bura rhyolite for the upper veins.

Mineral deposits at El Cubo are all related directly to faults. These deposits occur as open-space fillings in fracture zones or as impregnations of the locally porous wall rocks. The main targets for mining are the veins formed in relatively open spaces.

Exploration

Exploration at El Cubo has revealed significant potential for growth at this site. In 2009 and 2010, we completed 33,287 metres of new drilling in a search for extensions of known and new ore bodies. Although it was cut short by a labour disruption (now resolved), the program produced impressive results:

• Expanded El Cubo’s’s reserves by 10%;
• Identified 10 new targets for follow-up drilling in 2011;
• Set in motion plans to launch a $2-$3 million drilling program in 2011.

Now that El Cubo has resumed full operation, we plan to re-evaluate our exploration plans for this promising property.