Palladon drills Utah copper project (April 26, 2004)

Vancouver — Palladon Ventures () will drill-test known deposits and new targets on its property holdings in the Western Utah copper district.

The junior can acquire up to a 65% interest in more than 60,000 acres near Milford, Utah, including ground previously explored by several major base metal mining companies.

To acquire the interest, the company must update an existing feasibility study, arrange financing to place the project into production, and spend US$4 million on exploration over five years.

Previous operators identified copper-gold-silver resources, as well as significant values of tungsten and molybdenum. Palladon is reviewing those data and intends to prepare new reports to bring the Western Utah copper project into compliance with National Instrument 43-101. In the meantime, 5,600 metres of drilling will be carried out to expand known deposits and test new targets.

The recent land consolidation makes it possible for Palladon to carry out district-wide exploration for the first time in decades. The land package includes the historic Cactus mine, which is surrounded by numerous breccia pipes anomalous in gold and silver, and a copper porphyry target drilled by Anaconda in the 1960s. One of Anaconda’s deep holes cut nearly 900 ft. of mineralization, including 486 ft. grading 0.7% copper and 0.017 oz. gold per ton.

Palladon has interests in more than 520 sq. miles of gold and silver exploration projects in the Patagonia region of Argentina, and is evaluating other potential acquisitions in that country and neighbouring Paraguay.