Zacapa Resources Ltd. announced the acquisition of the Kramer Hills gold project centered on the past producing Shaharald oxide gold mine. The historic mine is located on patented claims and U.S. Bureau of Land Management ground in San Bernardino County, California, which is also home to Equinox Gold's Castle Mountain Mine. Historical resources include five near-surface open pit oxide gold deposits that were permitted for exploitation in the late-1980's and contained approximately 7,500,000 tons at reported grades of 1.65 g/t gold for 375,000 ounces of oxide gold, at a stripping ratio of 0.55:1. Historical drill results include KRH-38 which intersected 19.5 metres at 8.6 g/t gold from 9.14 metres depth3.

Gold occurrences at Kramer Hills extend over an area measuring 7.5 kilometres (northeast-southwest) by 8.5 kilometres (northwest-southeast) with a concentrated central area containing more than 54 historic shafts, 2.4 kilometres of tunnels, and numerous pits and trenches 1,5,6. Thin alluvial cover and shallow historical drilling (most holes to only 30 metres or less) suggest good potential that the Shaharald deposits can be expanded by drilling below established mineralized zones, along strike (east-west), and by identifying new mineralization within the district. Kramer Hills is easily road accessible and located on patented claims and U.,S. Bureau of Land Management ("BLBL") ground in mining friendly San Bernardino County, 21 kilometres southeast of Rio Tinto's Boron Mine. San Bernardino County also hosts Equinox Gold's Castle mountain Mine and MP Materials' Mountain Pass Mine.

Exploration History: Exploration and mining at Kramer Hills dates to the early 1900s. During a gold rush in 1926 numerous pits and shafts were excavated exploiting gold hosted in strongly altered and fractured bedrock and in nearby placer deposits. At least 54 shafts had been completed by 1932 and by 1934 a small open cut surface operation had been constructed to a depth of 7.6 metres and 5,000 tons of ore was milled5,6. The historic Shaharald mine shut down in 1942 with Order L-208 which prohibited precious metal mining during World War II.

Several evaluations were made of the property in 1945-46 but no significant advancements are recorded until 1981 when Amselco Minerals started sampling and in 1983 obtained a permit for a pilot gold processing operation. By 1986 Beaver Resources had acquired the property and conducted a drill program which delineated a series of mineralized zones comprising four new pits west of the historic pit. In total these five pits included approximately 7,500,000 tons of ore with a stripping ratio of 0.55:1 and a reported grade of 1.65 g/ton gold, totaling 375,000 ounces of oxide gold in a historical resource.

In 1988 Beaver Resources commenced heap leach production but ran into problems due to swelling of clays associated with the ore. Operations ceased in 1990 and an estimated 200,000 tons of mined ore remains on the leach pads. Gold occurrences are noted in the Kramer Hills district over an area measuring 7.5 kilometers (northeast-southwest) by 8.5 kilometers (northwest-southeast), which includes at least 54 shafts, 72 trenches, and a historic open pit.

Five mineralized zones have been defined by previous exploration within an east-west trending structural corridor of fractured and altered gold bearing rock that extends at least 2.7 kilometres5,6. Gold mineralization at Kramer Hills is spatially associated with this broadly east-west trending, moderately south dipping (50°) brittle fault zone that transects the property and aligns gold showings, pits, and other workings. This structural zone parallels the contact of a mapped inlier of metavolcanic rocks in a quartz monzonite pluton that intruded into Mesozoic basement rocks. This contact zone appears to have been the focus for mid-Tertiary intrusions and hydrothermal activity1.

The fault zones measure 9-15 meters wide and are spatially associated with rhyolite-dacite dykes, bleached and layered volcanic rocks and late manganiferous jasperioid interpreted to be hydrothermal in origin1. The fault is intensely silica-clay +/- sericite altered to more than 60 metres wide with moderate to intense goethite-jarosite (after pyrite). Oxide gold mineralization at Kramer Hills is spatially associated with these iron oxides generated from weathering pyrite which has occurred to depths of 36 to 42 metres1,2. Zacapa interprets this alteration as indications of a high-sulfidation epithermal gold system associated with Tertiary volcanism in the region.

Most of the historical drill information has been lost however a total of 36 drill hole intercepts have been recovered from a drilling program conducted by Amselco in 1984 which provide some insight into the gold grade and gold continuity in the Shaharald mine pit.