14th Apr 2011 07:00
Metminco Limited
("Metminco" or "the Company")
LEVEL 6
122 Walker St
North Sydney
NSW 2060
Australia
T +61 (0)2 9460 1856
F +61 (0)2 9460 1857
For immediate release 14 April 2011
ASX ANNOUNCEMENT
qUARTERLY ACTIVITIES REPORT & APPENDIX 5B, 3 MONTHS TO MARCH 2011.
Highlights
·; Land purchase for the Mollacas Project well advanced with over US$2 million of acquisitions during the quarter.
·; Drilling at Los Calatos advances with 4th drill rig now on site.
·; Significant intersections during the quarter include;
CD 24 : 511 metres @ 0.55% Cu and 725ppm Mo
CD 25 : 684 metres @ 0.63% Cu and 1350ppm Mo
CD 28 : 211 metres @ 0.58% Cu and 91ppm Mo
Operations
Los Calatos project, Peru
Location
The Los Calatos Project is located in far south Peru, near the coast and at moderate elevation (approximately 2,900 metres). The project site is located approximately an hour's drive north of the Pan American highway. The Project also occurs within a well known major copper porphyry belt, near three large existing mines and hence near infrastructure.
The Los Calatos project lies within the major Paleocene / early Eocene belt of copper-molybdenum porphyry deposits (mineralization approximately 55 million years old), located adjacent to the coast in far south Peru. It includes the following deposits:
·; The Cuajone and Toquepala deposits to the south east of Los Calatos, both large existing mines, owned by Southern Copper Corporation, who also owns smelting and refining operations at the nearby port of Ilo,
·; The Quellaveco deposit, also south east, owned 81.6% by Anglo American, and now seeking permitting for development, and
·; Cerro Verde to the north west, a large existing mine, owned 53.6% by Freeport McMoran, close to and south west of Arequipa.
Porphyry deposits typically occur in belts, such that all such deposits within a belt generally share the same approximate age and geological characteristics. The total current tenement area is 214 km². Metminco has recently made applications for 2 further licence areas in close proximity to the Los Calatos project covering surface features which suggest the potential for the development of porphyry systems.
Geology and drilling
A comprehensive surface geological mapping, surface geochemical sampling and geophysics program has confirmed the existence of a large north west - south east trending lix capping (hydrothermal alteration) which conforms to the main mineralisation intersected at Los Calatos and several other geological features that make up the main Los Calatos system. Several other targets are identified peripheral to the main lix zone.
Note that volcanic ash from geologically recent eruptions is obscuring underlying geology across significant tracts of the tenements and therefore may be hiding additional anomalism.
Within the main hydrothermal altered lix zone surface mapping and drilling have identified a large post mineralisation intrusive plug in the south-east and immediately to the north west a diatreme (collapse structure) which both have a bearing on the location of copper and molybdenum mineralisation. The recently completed geophysics supports the earlier geochemistry and geology and has assisted in the planning and targeting of the current 50,000 metre drilling campaign.
Mineralisation has been intersected to the north east of the diatreme and lower grade copper mineralisation has been encountered within the diatreme. The Company is currently focussing on determining the outer boundaries of the mineralisation with the current drilling campaign, extending geological knowledge to the north west and south east of the currently defined mineral resources within the lix zone.
Metminco commenced the 50,000 metre diamond drilling program at its Los Calatos copper-molybdenum project in southern Peru in December 2010. This drilling program is designed primarily to extend the Los Calatos resource which currently stands at approximately 4.7 million tonnes of copper equivalent (CuEq) metal*, or over 10 billion lbs of CuEq. Copper equivalence assumes a ratio of Molybdenum to copper prices of 5 to 1.
The Los Calatos project has JORC compliant resources of 926 million tonnes, consisting of 111 million tonnes at 0.39% Cu and 380ppm Mo of Indicated Resources and Inferred Resources of 815 million tonnes at 0.37% Cu and 260ppm Mo (at a 0.2% copper cut-off grade).
The drilling program will also test a number of new targets identified by surface geochemical sampling and supported by geophysics.
Drill holes CD 24, 25, 26, 28, 29 and 30 were all completed during the quarter ranging in depth from 850 metres to 1,250 metres. Information on the drilling and assay results are listed in table 1.
Table 1 : Los Calatos drill hole information and assay results.
hole id | easting | northing | rl | azimuth true | dip | hole depth | depth from | depth to | Interval | Cu | Mo |
(m) | (m) | (m) | (degree) | (m) | (m) | (m) | (m) | (%) | (ppm) | ||
CD-24 | 286812 | 8130982 | 2964 | 360 | -65 | 1034.6 | 26 | 283 | 257 | 0.24 | 127 |
340 | 434 | 94 | 0.23 | 58 | |||||||
472 | 983 | 511 | 0.55 | 725 | |||||||
CD-25 | 286715 | 8130888 | 2982 | 360 | -60 | 908.95 | 193 | 877 | 684 | 0.63 | 1,350 |
CD-26 | 286618 | 8131028 | 2987 | 220 | -60 | 1041 | mineralisation below cutoff | ||||
CD-27 | 287123 | 8131649 | 3016 | 220 | -60 | 2000 | in progress | ||||
CD-28 | 287405 | 8130896 | 2924 | 219.9 | -60.3 | 1212.2 | 285 | 342 | 57 | 0.54 | 65 |
857 | 1068 | 211 | 0.58 | 91 | |||||||
CD-29 | 286300 | 8131965 | 2924 | 220 | -60 | 1250.45 | assay results awaited | ||||
CD-30 | 287207 | 8130602 | 2943 | 220 | -60 | 850.45 | assay results awaited | ||||
CD-31 | 286876 | 8131286 | 2956 | 220 | -60 | 1800 | in progress | ||||
CD-32 | 287715 | 8131260 | 2938 | 220 | -70 | 1500 | in progress | ||||
CD-34 | 287136 | 8131252 | 2948 | 220 | -60 | 128 | in progress |
Mollacas project, Chile
At the Mollacas project the Company continued to purchase land adjacent to the deposit in preparation for the development of the project. During the quarter the Company acquired land to the value of more than US$2 million giving the Company sufficient land and water rights for the eventual development of the project. Further land purchases will be made in the coming quarter.
Vallecillo, Loica, Isidro and Camaron projects, Chile
No work was undertaken on these projects during the quarter.
New project areas
Field work on the new areas identified in the north of Chile commenced during the quarter with initial ground mapping and sampling undertaken at the Caldera project in the Arica district of northern Chile. Recent licence applications at Caldera (42 sq km) have been lodged unopposed by the Company.
The Caldera project, one of three areas under application, is targeting a strongly altered sequence of porphyry rocks within the caldera of an extinct volcano. Surface mapping during the quarter identified surface oxide copper mineralisation while the results from geochemical sampling undertaken are still outstanding.
Competent Persons Statement
¨The preparation of the technical information contained herein was supervised and reviewed by Colin Sinclair, General Manager Exploration for Metminco, BSc (Hons) Geology, Durham Univ; MSc London Univ, a Member of the Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (AUSIMM), who is recognized as a Competent Person as defined in the 2004 edition of the Australian Code for Reporting Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves, and who has reviewed and approved the technical information in this press release. "
CORPORATE
S&P/ASX 300
On 18 March 2011 Metminco joined the S&P/ASX 300 index which will provide Metminco with the opportunity for stronger institutional investment support and wider investor recognition for it´s portfolio of assets in Chile and Peru.
Change of Financial Year
Effective 31 December 2010, the Company changed its financial year from 30 June to 31 December in order to synchronise with the Hampton group of companies. In accordance with this change the Company will in due course be issuing a notice of general meeting of shareholders.
William Howe
Managing Director
About Metminco:
Metminco is a dual ASX and AIM listed company with a portfolio of copper and gold projects in Peru and Chile. The Los Calatos project located in southern Peru has JORC compliant resources of 926 million tonnes, consisting of Indicated Resources of 111 million tonnes at 0.39% Cu and 380ppm Mo and Inferred Resources of 815 million tonnes at 0.37% Cu and 260ppm Mo(at a 0.2% copper cut-off grade).
The Chilean assets include a 50% interest in the Mollacas copper leach project with JORC compliant resources of 17 million tonnes consisting of Indicated Resources of 7.2 million tonnes at 0.56% copper and Inferred Resources of 9.8 million tonnes @ 0.52% copper (at a 0.2% copper cut-off grade); and a 50% interest in the Vallecillo gold zinc project with JORC compliant resources of 10.1 million tonnes consisting of Indicated Resources of 7.9 million tonnes @ 1.14g/tAu; 11.4g/tAg; 1.32% Zn; 0.29% Pb and Inferred Resources of 2.2 million tonnes @ 0.78g/t Au; 8.2g/t Ag; 0.58% Zn; 0.26% Pb (at a cut-off grade of 0.3g/t Au).
For further information please contact :
South America:
William Howe - Managing Director Ph: +56 (2) 411 2600
Australia:
William Etheridge - Executive Director Ph: + 61(0) 419 400 919
Phillip Wing - Executive Director Ph: + 61(0) 412 254 704
Philip Killen - Company Secretary & CFO Ph: + 61(0) 408 609 916
Ian Howarth (Collins St Media) Ph: + 61(0) 407 822 319
United Kingdom:
Tim Read - non-Executive Director +44 (0) 7770721809
Stephen Cooper (Investec Bank plc) +44 (0)20 7597 5104
Tim Thompson / James Strong / Katharine Sutton +44 (0) 20 7466 5000
(Buchanan Communications)
Related Shares:
Metminco