Northern Peru drills more gold at Hilorico

Vancouver – Drilling by Northern Peru Copper (NOC-T, NPUCF-O) on its Hilorico gold project in northwestern Peru has returned wide mineralized intercepts in all five of the latest holes.

With the company citing results as some of the best holes drilled to date, the program returned:

• Hole HR-06-09, a northeasterly step-out, cut 68.6 metres (from 25 metres downhole depth) grading 0.96 gram gold per tonne and 2.9 grams silver per tonne in an oxide zone, followed by a deeper 47.3-metre oxide interval (from 135 metres downhole) grading 0.8 gram gold and 3.9 grams silver; An additional 10.9-metre sulphide section (from 246 metres) averaged 0.48 gram gold and 36.6 grams silver with the hole ending in 2.6 metres of semi-massive pyrite where it was lost in a thrust fault;
• Hole HR-06-10 extended the zone to the north with an intersection of 180 metres (from 68 metres) averaging 1.26 grams gold and 2 grams silver, with the top 43.2 metres being oxide mineralization and the remainder sulphide;
• Hole HR-06-11 hit 38 metres (from surface) of oxide mineralization grading 1.3 grams gold and 2.9 grams silver, followed by 172 metres (from 138 metres) of 0.86 gram gold and 3.5 grams silver with 88 metres of oxide and 84 metres of sulphide, all within brecciated quartzites;
• Hole HR-06-12 returned 27.7 metres (from 2.3 metres) of 0.53 gram gold and 2.9 grams silver in the oxide zone, then cut 196 metres (from 78 metres) grading 0.8 gram gold and 4.9 grams silver with the top 48 metres being oxide the followed by sulphide mineralization, also within the brecciated quartzites;
• Hole HR-06-13 cut 156 metres (from surface) of brecciated quartzite averaging 0.97 gram gold and 9.6 grams silver with the first 115.7 metres being oxide.

A pair of drill holes by Northern Peru Copper in early 2006 initially confirmed a significant epithermal gold system at Hilorico, which is located just one km from the company’s large Galeno copper-gold-molybdenum deposit. About 6,000 metres of core drilling in 17 holes has been completed on Hilorico.

The company has also completed its infill drill program on the Galeno deposit, totaling almost 33,500 metres in 91 holes, and soon expects to produce a preliminary economic assessment plus a revised resource estimate.

Shares of Northern Peru Copper rose about 7% on the July 5th news to close up 21 at $3.33 apiece. The company posts a $91 million market capitalization given its 27.2 million shares outstanding. The stock has a 52-week trading range of $1.11-to-$3.86.