This comes with the announcement of a ‘company maker’ drill hole at its prized Lindero Deposit in northwest Argentina. We’re talking about the intersection of 1.65 grams per tonne (g/t) of gold over 274 metres of drilling in hole number 19.

 

The drill hole intercepts also include 74 metres of 3.17 g/t of gold, as well as 178 metres grading 2.10 g/t of gold. These results constitute major news that has precipitated a flurry of activity in the Company’s stock in recent days since they were announced. Consequently, the stock has rallied strongly (up more than 250%) on heavy volume. 

 

Indeed, sophisticated investors are already wagering that a sizeable economic deposit is in the offing – one that stands to virtually double in size the Company’s past modest estimates of 1.5 to 3 million ounces of gold potential.

 

Company Overview

However, before we get too caught up in the excitement of this milestone development, we should consider the sobering fact that this is no overnight success story in the making. Mansfield has made slow but steady progress over the past several years since the Company first discovered the Lindero Property in 1999.

 

During this time, Mansfield kept a low, unassuming profile. But now that the genie is out of the bottle, Mansfield is sure to be a fixture on the radar screens of the resource-oriented investment community for some time to come.

 

Furthermore, Mansfield has two other key projects that are shaping up to be dynamic prospects – one of which exhibits ‘blue sky’ potential for a world-class gold-copper discovery. One is the Rio Grande Property and the other is the La Frontera Property. More on the latter of the two later.

 

Indeed, what really makes Mansfield a stand-out among its many peers at this stage is a rare and potent blend of substance and ‘sizzle’. In other words, not only is the Lindero Deposit a likely near-term catalyst to high share price multiples.

 

But so too is the Company’s gold-copper Rio Grande Property. In fact, this multi-phase mineral assemblage offers investors ‘home run’ potential for a world-class discovery. Such a finely calibrated risk/reward formula is sure to attract the type of shareholders whose investment strategies are as shrewd as they are speculative.

 

Therefore, such compelling dynamics make Mansfield a standout favourite of SmallCapMedia for 2006 and beyond. Henceforth, we will explain why these two flagship projects — along with a third compelling prospect among an attractive portfolio of other Argentinean properties — are full of genuine near-term promise that add considerable intrinsic value to the Company’s ascending share price.

 

Lindero Deposit — A Rich Gold Mine in the Making?

First, let’s discuss the Lindero Property which, by itself, has the very real potential to present Mansfield’s shareholders with a handsome windfall. Like all of the Company’s properties, it is located in northwestern Argentina — a geologically fertile and under-developed frontier territory with very little mining history. Yet, this region’s geology is structurally not unlike Nevada — the world's third most prolific gold territory.

 

This is where Mansfield has spent a whole decade doggedly exploring for ‘company maker’ deposits in the rural backwaters of this increasingly mining-friendly Latin American nation. And it’s a testament to the Company’s vision and business acumen that it has weathered a prolonged mining recession to emerge with projects of the caliber of Lindero and Rio Grande.

 

Since the Lindero Property’s discovery, it has been extensively explored and developed. And much of the credit for proving the existence of a potentially economic million-ounce-plus gold resource is owed to Rio Tinto Mining and Exploration Limited — the world’s largest mining multinational. Realizing the property’s potential in 2002, Rio Tinto struck a deal with Mansfield to earn-in on the project by way of a series of work programs.  At least US$1,500,000 was spent outlining an impressive gold resource.

 

A total of ten holes comprising 3,278 metres were drilled. Then Rio Tinto undertook a costly reverse economic study. This included the design of a three-dimensional model of the deposit that revealed its known parameters, as well as the location of the greatest concentrations of gold. This allowed Rio Tinto to outline an “inferred” resource estimate of approximately 109 million tonnes of 0.57 grams per tonne (g/t) of gold.

 

In turn, this translates into an inferred mineral inventory of two million ounces of gold, with the scope for some modest expansion. (This resource estimate is not yet compliant with the relatively new National Policy 43-101 guidelines — a Canadian federal government recognized standard of a ‘measured resource’).

 

However, global mining powerhouses tend to have a strategic focus on deposits with a minimum threshold of at least five to ten million ounces. So Rio Tinto returned the property to the Company in March 2003. But Mansfield’s management was far from discouraged. The Company’s deep-pocketed partner had just gifted it with a wealth of invaluable data to form the basis of a pivotal scoping study.

 

So in September, 2003 Mansfield commissioned an independent resource estimate that was audited by Roscoe Postle Associates Inc., an international geological engineering firm. In Roscoe Postle’s opinion, a preliminary cut-off grade for a deposit of this type — that was amenable to cost-efficient open pit mining methodology — would be 0.6 g/t of gold, giving the deposit a resource of 29 million tonnes grading 1.08 grams/tonne (1,037,000 ounces of gold).

 

Readers should note however that this high cut-off grade was arbitrarily selected mainly as a factor of low gold prices at that time. A 0.4 g/t cut-off grade is more applicable these days, which more or less doubles this initial resource estimate to a resource base of around 2,000,000 of gold.

 

Another consulting group, Kappes Cassiday Associates (KCA) which specialize in the metallurgy of heap leach gold deposits, also calculated a recovery rate for the ore of around 70% to 75%. In other words, KCA has concluded that a profitable mining operation is within Mansfield’s reach.

 

Mansfield’s savvy management team, nonetheless, believes that there still exists the likelihood of increasing this inferred gold inventory to as much as five million ounces. This would be achieved by lowering the cut-off grade to 0.4 g/t and with the significant geological potential offered by the latest round of drill results. Though incremental, this lowered threshold for ore-grade rock stands to make the logistics favouring a gold mine all the more attractive.

 

The next phase of drilling at the deposit is expected to aggressively develop the deposit by way of in-fill drilling towards forming the basis of a pre-feasibility study (an initial blueprint for a mine) by the year’s end. All of this drilling should go a long way towards better outlining Lindero’s overall size and grade distribution. 

 

Equally important, the presence of feeder structure (where some high grade mineralization is present, which runs as high as 10 g/t over two metres). All of this provides further evidence that the deposit offers the prospect for low-cost, heap leachable processing of open-pittable bulk tonnage ore. These key logistics paints an even more favourable picture in support of an economically viable mining operation.

 

The deposit also benefits from the availability of reasonable infrastructure by way of a nearby rail line (within 60 kilometres) and access to power and water. There is even a nearby small airstrip.

 

Mansfield’s commitment to completing a pre-feasibility study will go a long way towards grooming the deposit for a prospective buyer — likely a mid-tier mining company. This benchmark development would in essence facilitate the upgrading of the Lindero Deposit’s mineral inventory from an ‘inferred’ category to a ‘measured and indicated’ status. Again, Mansfield would need to ensure that its assessment is National Policy 43-101 compliant prior to seeking an official stamp of approval for its final resource calculations.

Moreover, an adjacent discovery only two kilometres to the east, known as the Arizaro Zone, also shows considerable promise for further bolstering the Lindero Property’s collective mineral inventory. Early-stage exploration at Arizaro involving 93 grab samples returned values averaging 0.49% copper, though some ran as high as 2.7% copper. Meanwhile, gold values averaged 1.09 g/t. And two test holes that were drilled by Rio Tinto in 2003 comprising 629 metres included highlights of 20 metres of 1.197 g/t gold equivalent and 10.95 metres of 1.530 g/t gold equivalent.

Rio Grande Exhibits Early-Stage, World-Class Copper-Gold Potential

Now let’s move on to the Rio Grande Property. This is where the Company’s story really begins to heat up. Discovered by Mansfield in early 2000, the Company’s wholly-owned project area is seated along the same regional structural trend as the Lindero Deposit and the adjoining Arizaro Zone.

 

To date, the Rio Grande Property has been shown to host a cluster of half a dozen porphyry/iron oxide-copper-gold discovery zones. The story also gets more enticing with the recent discovery of a new style of mineral-laced rock — structurally-controlled, gold-copper stockworks mineralization. For instance, 106 metres of 0.93 g/t of gold and 0.57% copper have been outlined at surface in a trench.

 

This was part of a 3,000-metre trenching program that is already confirming the potential for economic mineral grades within the cluster of half a dozen known copper-gold oxide zones on the property. Detailed analysis of a ground I.P. survey (a sub-surface scan) also attests to the fact that the oxide-sulphide mineralization runs to a depth of at least 200 metres.

 

Thus, an emerging picture of this large zone of hydrothermal alteration — that covers an area of 2 kilometres by 1.9 kilometres — suggests that a deep high-grade keel of mineralization bisects widely disseminated, veinlet-controlled stockworks zones. Mansfield’s management therefore believes that a potential 500-million-tonne mineral inventory is not an unrealistic target. And Mansfield’s joint venture partner, Antares Minerals Inc. agrees. That is why an aggressive and ambitious 2006 drill program is planned to extensively drill the mineralization with a view to revealing its bulk tonnage potential. 

 

Meanwhile, the ‘wild card’ at the Rio Grande Property presents itself in the shape of a very large geochemical anomaly anchoring the southern portion of the discovery area. It is so large that it dwarfs the rest of the deposits all amassed together. Early stage trenching, test pitting, as well as two exploratory drill holes, suggest the potential for a very large gold-copper porphyry deposit.

 

In fact, this target area is beginning to reveal a geological “footprint” that is comparable to the 545-million-tonne Bajo de la Alumbrera copper-gold deposit — Argentina’s largest mine. It also has geological similarities to the 366-million-tonne similarly-mineralized Candelaria deposit in neighboring Chile.

 

A Canadian mining junior, Antares is run by a very successful team of explorationists who benefit from enviable technical expertise. And this industrious, well-respected company now has an option to earn an initial 50% interest in the Rio Grande project by funding most of the costs of developing the deposit. This is all very good news for Mansfield. And these exploration dollars are already generating the desired results, which should continue to gather critical mass in 2006 towards the outlining of a world-class deposit.

 

Recent Bonanza Grades Offer La Frontera Property Lustrous Potential 

Elsewhere in this remote region of Argentina, the Company owns a 100% interest in the La Frontera Property. This is a silver-gold discovery that was made by Mansfield in early 2000 in a region where there is no evidence of previous exploration. Exposed and inferred mineralization covers an area measuring 100 metres by 1,200 metres.

 

In fact, the Company’s joint venture partner, Apex Silver Mines Ltd. (which is earning-in on the propertv) announced in late February that trenching has exposed high-grade silver-gold mineralization over a structural trend exceeding 1,500 metres in length. Highlights include an attention-grabbing 2,344 g/t of silver over 6.2 metres.

 

Past silver grab sample values have also revealed “bonanza” grades of up to 4,000 g/t. Apex has also indicated to Mansfield’s management that this high-grade epithermal vein system is drill-ready.

 

Investment Summary

On a corporate note, Mansfield obviously benefits from a strong management team. It includes brothers Gordon and John Leask, who together have close to half a century's worth of experience in the mining business. Moreover, Gordon Leask has presided over the Company for over a decade, during which time he has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to developing top-tier projects in one of the world's last under-explored mineral belts.

 

The Leasks are also joined by Dr. Murray Hitzman, a director and technical advisor, whose distinguished career includes serving as an Advisor to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy in Washington. As an exploration geologist, Dr. Hitzman also played a leading role in the discovery of the Lisheen zinc-lead-silver deposit in Ireland. He was awarded the Chevron Corporation Chairman's Award for his contribution to this significant discovery.

 

From a technical perspective, Mansfield has a relatively tight share structure with approximately 30 million shares outstanding (about 35 million fully diluted). Such a situation, matched with positive news flow, typically acts a catalyst to significantly higher share price valuations (a situation which has been very well demonstrated with the latest drill results from the Lindero Project).

 

Indeed, the Company’s share price has established a pronounced uptrend in recent weeks. One that is underpinned by strong enough fundamentals or value drivers to almost assuredly sustain its momentum for many months to come. Accordingly, SmallCapMedia is confident that Mansfield Minerals is on course to successfully develop a richly-mineralized gold deposit. One that will likely be sold for a handsome profit, thereby providing patient shareholders with a ‘home run’ return on their investments.

 

Likewise, there are compelling odds in favour of a similar scenario unfolding over the next year at the much larger Rio Grande deposit. This ‘ace-up-the-sleeve’ discovery has the potential to be one of the most prolific porphyry deposits in Latin America. Needless to say, we will be watching Mansfield’s progress very closely during 2006 and encourage all of the Company’s loyal shareholders to sit tight and enjoy the ride. It’s going to be an exhilarating experience.