Equinox keeps drills turning during Lumwana construction

Vancouver — With the commissioning of Africa’s largest new copper mine at Equinox Minerals’ (EQN-T, EQN-A) Lumwana project in northwestern Zambia in sight, the company is continuing exploration at its other projects, with drill results from another copper project in Zambia recently spurring trading of nearly 15 million shares in the company.

In late June, Equinox released a new batch of reverse-circulation (RC) drill results from the Ndola West prospect, one target within the large Zambezi project that covers 19,300 sq. km, mostly in the Zambian copperbelt. Though many holes came back blank, results from holes that intersected mineralization confirmed the existence of a high-grade, complex structure and extended the known strike length. Shares closed down 6 on the news, at $3.22.

Hole 10 returned 0.89% copper over a true width of 30 metres starting 70 metres below surface. Hole 25 intercepted 14 metres (10 metres true thickness) grading 6.29% copper, and hole 26 cut 4 metres (2.5 metres true width) of 1.3% copper. The three RC holes were part of a recent 15-hole program. The other 12 holes did not return significant mineralization (less than 0.2% copper).

A summer 2006 drill program returned similar results from Ndola West, including 64 metres grading 2.33% copper in hole 3.

Situated about 5 km west of the mining town of Ndola, the deposit is hosted within Lower Roan sequence Copperbelt rocks that stretch 90 km along the border between Zambia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Roughly 60 km northwest along the sequence sits the Mufulira deposit, held by Mopani Copper Mines (an operating company held 73% by privately owned Glencore International, 17% by First Quantum Minerals [fm-t, fqm-l], and 10% by state-owned Zambian Consolidated Copper Mines). Mufulira holds historic resources of 325 million tonnes averaging 2.65% copper in massive arkosic sandstones.

While the orebodies at Mufulira are considered facies equivalents of the principal sulphide host at Ndola West, the latter target appears to be more complicated. The currently identified mineralization lies within one deformed limb of a tightly folded syncline, and the primary mineralization is overprinted by copper oxides.

Equinox’s primary focus is Lumwana, a 1,355-sq.-km project hosting measured and indicated reserves of 321 million tonnes averaging 0.73% copper, plus 417 million inferred tonnes of 0.6% copper. Construction is under way at the fully permitted site, where Equinox plans to sequentially mine by open pit the Malundwe and Chimiwungo deposits, which are 7 km apart.

When completed, Lumwana will produce an average of 169,000 tonnes copper in concentrates for the first six years of its 37-year mine life. The mill, which will process 20 million tonnes of ore per year, will also rank as the largest in Africa.

Equinox is also exploring other projects in Zambia, Peru, Sweden and western Australia.