Carmen JV returns more gold and copper

Vancouver — The final 10 holes from this year’s drilling campaign at the Carmen target on the Inca de Oro Sur property, a joint venture between Anaconda Mining (ANX-T, ANXGF-o) and Minera Penoles de Chile, show strong copper and gold grades.

As part of its 65% earn-in agreement with Anaconda, Penoles began a 28-hole, 12,000-metre drill program last October that focused on the south-central portion of the Carmen porphyry target. Holes 24, 26 and 28 cut the best grades in the latest batch of drill results.

Hole 24 included a 47-metre intercept grading 1.68 grams gold per tonne, 0.425% copper and 0.0657% molybdenum starting 158 metres down-hole. Hole 26 hit as much as 63 metres grading 0.42 gram gold and 0.319% copper starting 382 metres down-hole and hole 28 cut as much as 39 metres grading 0.823 gram gold, 0.319% copper and 0.0299% moly starting at 283 metres.

The latest results in large part mirror grades reported earlier this summer. Returns then included 257 metres grading 1.1 grams gold and 0.47% copper and 290 metres grading 0.67 gram gold and 0.37% copper in hole 1.

Penoles has concentrated its efforts on the Carmen target at the 10-sq.-km Inca de Oro Sur property about 100 km north of Copiapo, Chile, where mineralization principally occurs at the contact zone between a tonalite and andesite porphyry and continues through quartz-calcite-sulphide magnetite veinlets in adjacent skarn-altered tuffs.

Overall grades in the central mineralized area, mostly veinlets and disseminations of quartz, bornite, chalcopyrite and magnetite, range from 0.5 to 2 gram gold and 0.3- 1% copper. Grades surrounding that zone, typically mineralized in quartz, chalcopyrite and calcite, range from 0.1 to 0.5 gram gold and 0.1% to 0.5% copper.

Penoles also drilled a few zones outside Carmen — the Juana target, 1.5 km north; the Lautaro target, 3 km north; and the Rodesia vein, 900 metres southwest — but did not encounter significant gold and copper grades.

The earn-in agreement gives Penoles a 65% interest if it spends US$10 million on exploration over four years and pays US$12 million to Anaconda and the other owner of the project, Inversiones EM DOS. That would leave Anaconda a 24.5% stake and EM DOS 10.5%.

If Penoles decides to go ahead with a feasibility study, it will get another 5% boost to 70% and Anaconda and EM DOS’ stakes drop to 21% and 9%, respectively. As of this spring, Penoles has spent about US$3 million on exploration and paid about US$2 million to Anaconda.

Anaconda has a number of other properties. This summer, it made its first gold pour at its Pine Cove mine, about 150 km northeast of Corner Brook, Nfld., where it has reserves of about 2.3 million tonnes grading 2.76 grams gold.

Anaconda’s other focus is the San Gabriel iron project in Chile, about 1,000 km north of Santiago. There, it has pegged an indicated resource at 57.9 million tonnes grading 32% iron.

On news of the drill results, Anaconda’s share price shed 3 to close at 20. Its 52-week trading range is 20-$1.47 and the company has about 60 million shares issued.