Eldorado 2001 - The New World Au & FeOx Cu-Au of South America

After a long drive through the rain forest the group's two buses, escorted for safety reasons by two fully equiped four wheel drive vehicles (with radios), crossed the Itacaiunas river by ferry and then on to the main Salobo camp for a comprehensive overview briefing by Eduardo Vieira of Docegeo. This was followed by the opportunity to study a series of selected drill holes illustrating the different ore types and hosts and their relationships, before being taken to the ore type stockpiles from the earlier phases of underground testing. Left: Crossing the Itacaiunas river. Centre: Studying ore types on the stockpiles. Right: After some heavy rains in the early afternoon, one of the buses had to be towed out of a muddy patch.
Photographs by Mike Porter