Lago del Desierto Seen Rich in Gold

Though windswept and desolate, Patagonia's Lago del Desierto is not without its riches, according to team of geologists.

There is gold, said the geologists from the Universidad de La Plata and the state-owned mining company Fomento Minero de Santa Cruz.

The three-month survey found suitable geological patterns for mining gold in the region, where the geologists found one gram of gold per ton of rocks, said Isidro Schalamuk, director of the investigation and president of the university.

Schalamuk is not new to gold discoveries. In 1985, he found Cerro Vanguardia, one of the country's biggest gold and silver mines.

Vanguardia, in Patagonia's Santa Cruz province, has known gold reserves of more than three million ounces. It is being exploited by Minera Mincorp SA, an Argentine mining company run by Anglo American Corp. Argentina in association with Perez Companc SA.

For Lago del Desierto, it is still too early to tell whether it will be another Vanguardia, but Schalamuk has his hunches. This summer, he plans to continue to study the geology of the area and determine whether it is suitable for putting exploration rights up for grab.