History
Bramaderos was sporadically explored from 1970 to 1984, 2001 to 2002, and 2004 to 2007. The property was known as Rio Playas and, subsequently, Curiplaya during this period.
Rio Playas was discovered in 1970 during a regional systematic geochemical survey conducted by a United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in conjunction with the Spanish Aid mission. This work showed that several southeast-flowing and northwest-flowing tributaries of the Playas River were anomalous in copper, molybdenum, lead and zinc.
Between 2001 and 2002, Ecuanor S.A., an Ecuador-based junior mineral exploration company, undertook a range of exploration activities at Curiplaya, including geological mapping, stream sediment and soil surveys, rock chip sampling, ground magnetic surveys, electrical geophysical IP surveys, and drilling of 13 diamond drill holes.
In 2004, Ascendant Gold S.A. optioned the Curiplaya property but subsequently completed very little work there beyond reinterpreting existing data collected by Ecuanor and collecting 17 surface grab samples from the Brama, Melonal, and Porotillo zones.
In September 2006, Ecuador Gold S.A acquired all of Ascendant’s rights, title and interest in the Curiplaya and Curiplaya 1 concessions and, over two years, undertook geological mapping, grid soil sampling, trenching and associated channel sampling, geochemical and geophysical surveys and drilling of 22 diamond drill holes. Exploration activity ceased in April 2008 when the Ecuador Constituent Assembly passed a Mining Mandate, whichprovided for the suspension of exploration activities until a new Mining Law was introduced.
The outcome of the various phases of exploration activity conducted on the Curiplaya property between 1970 and 2012 was the identification of several centres of porphyry-style gold-copper mineralisation that were associated with quartz vein stockworks and breccias hosted by a cluster of potassic-altered, northeast-aligned, quartz-diorite porphyries that exhibited typical porphyry alteration and mineralisation patterns at the Brama, Porotillo and Limon prospects and elsewhere.
Historical exploration located an extensive, 5km by 1-2km, gold and copper (+/—molybdenum) soil geochemical anomaly in the central part of the property. However, trenching and diamond drilling have only partially tested it, with several zones remaining to be followed up.
No other work was undertaken on the property until it was optioned by Cornerstone Capital Resources, which subsequently entered into a joint venture with Sunstone Metals to develop it in 2017.
