Peru Copper expands Toromocho

Peru Copper (PCR-T) has more than doubled the resource at its Toromocho property, near Lima, Peru.

The measured resource consists of 107 million tonnes grading 0.73% copper and 0.024% molybdenum, whereas the indicated resource is 711 million tonnes grading 0.63% copper and 0.022% moly. The estimates are based on a cutoff grade of 0.6% copper-equivalent.

The copper-equivalent grade of the combined measured and indicated resource, which forms the centre of the deposit, is 0.9%.

Outside of the central core is a lower-grade measured and indicated resource of 763 million tonnes grading 0.33% copper and 0.008% moly. The copper-equivalent grade is 0.44%. This mineralization was estimated using a copper-equivalent cutoff of 0.26-0.59%.

Using a 0.26% copper-equivalent cutoff, there is also an inferred resource of 257 million tonnes grading 0.45% copper and 0.009% moly.

The copper-equivalent cutoff in the proposed pit geometry was determined using a 3-year backward average price of US$1 per lb. for copper, US$10 per lb. for moly, and US$5.58 per oz. for silver.

All resource categories contain from 6.3-7.4 grams silver per tonne.

Peru Copper intends to process the higher-grade resource and stockpile the rest. The waste-to-ore ratio is about 0.35:1.

The latest estimates, prepared by Independent Mining Consultants, used data from Peru Copper’s 48,230 metres of drilling combined with 41,260 metres of historic drill data.

Last August the resource was estimated be 655 million tonnes grading 0.61% copper, in the inferred category.

The company plans to drill 50,000 metres this year and begin a feasibility study. Priority exploration targets include northeast and southern extensions to the main pit, as well as testing of the main pit at depth.

Metallurgical tests are under way. To date, an average copper recovery of 85% has been realized using a traditional flotation process.

The property is underlain by intrusions, which have cut limestone, forming skarn and breccia pipes. Copper mineralization is primarily hosted by intrusive breccia. The deposit exhibits silicate alteration and metal zoning. The central zone contains disseminated copper and molybdenum, surrounding which are lead-zinc veins that give way to lead-silver veins.

Minera Peru Copper Syndicate, a unit of Peru Copper, optioned the property from Centromin, a Peruvian state-owned company, in mid-2003.

The deposit is about 2 km from the mining town of Morococha, which is connected by paved highway with Lima. A railway also services the area.