Long copper-gold hit at Taysan for Crazy Horse (January 03, 2011)

VANCOUVER — Crazy Horse Resources (CZH-V) has intersected almost half a kilometre of mineralization in just its second hole at the Taysan copper-gold project in the Philippines.

The company is advancing a 12- hole drill program at Taysan focused on updating the historic porphyry resource and expanding it at depth. All 12 holes are designed to twin historic ones and then continue to roughly 400 metres below surface.

The results from hole 2 are now out: the drill hit 487.3 metres grading 0.4% copper, 0.15 gram gold per tonne, and 1.45 grams silver per tonne, starting essentially at surface. The long intercept includes a short, high-grade segment — 12 metres averaging 1.16% copper, 0.27 gram gold and 3.65 grams silver — starting 40 metres downhole.

Just a week earlier Crazy Horse announced the results from hole 1, which returned 214 metres of 0.38% copper, 0.12 gram gold, and 1.4 grams silver from 62 metres depth. Hole 1 also included a higher-grade interval: 8 metres averaging 2.82% copper, 1.46 grams gold, and 10.6 grams silver, from 208 metres.

Results to date show good correlation with the historic data, though it appears historic results may have underreported the lower- grade copper mineralization (that between 0.1% and 0.2%) by about 0.1%. Mid-level copper grades correlate very well and the copper-gold ratio is fairly consistent throughout the deposit. In higher-grade areas, which exist primarily in the footwall of the main porphyry body, gold is more dominant.

It is also notable that the historic drill holes at Taysan were not assayed for silver.

“We are extremely excited about this very large interval of mineralization,” said Crazy Horse’s president and CEO Johan Raadsma. “It confirms our belief that a very robust, near-surface orebody is present, near the infrastructure required to develop an economic project… We intend to develop this project rapidly.”

Taysan, sitting in southern Luzon province, is indeed located near the required infrastructure. The project is near a major highway and sits 20 km from the commercial port and provincial capital of Batangas City. Labour and water are also easily accessible.

The project has already seen some 195 drill holes, 144 of which tested the Taysan deposit. An historic resource (not compliant with National Instrument 43-101 standards) estimated Taysan to host 391 million tonnes of mineralization grading 0.3% copper and 0.21 gram gold. That resource fits into an open pit 1.5 km long, 500 metres wide, and 300 metres deep.

Porphyry mineralization is hosted in potassic-altered hornblende diorite and hornblende dacite porphyry. Several companies have explored the property previously, including Newmont Mining (NMC-T, NEM-N) and Phelps Dodge. An earlier feasibility study gave the project a 25-year mine life with a strip ratio of just 0.56-to-1.

Crazy Horse is working on a resource update and scoping study for the project, both of which are due out in the first few months of 2011.

The company acquired the project for 20 million shares, US$1.7 million in cash, and a 1.5% net smelter return royalty, in a deal that closed in November.

Crazy Horse’s share price fell 2¢ on news of the latest drill results to close at $1.34. The company has a 52-week trading range of 30¢-$1.75 and 40 million shares outstanding.