Western Copper goes it alone

Vancouver — Western Copper Holding‘s (WTC-T) joint-venture partner, Lima, Peru-based Mauricio Hochschild & Cia, has dropped its option to earn a 68% interest in the Penasquito silver-lead-zinc property in central Mexico.

Over the past year, Hochschild spent more than US$1 million on exploration, mostly at the Chile Colorado prospect, where 11 core holes were drilled. As a result, silver-lead-zinc mineralization was delineated over an area of about 250 by 400 metres and to a depth of 300 metres.

The weighted average of the mineralized intervals from 19 holes drilled at Chile Colorado by Kennecott, a subsidiary of London-based Rio Tinto (RTP-N), Western Copper and Hochschild is 0.51 gram gold and 100 grams silver per tonne, plus 0.8% lead and 1.8% zinc.

Hochschild had started a scoping study that was scheduled for completion by the end of February, though no results were released. The study was to evaluate the economic potential of two different mining proposals: bulk-mining, with average metal values of US$50 per tonne, and selective underground mining, with metal values of US$100 per tonne.

Western Copper’s interest in the project now reverts back to 100%. The junior acquired the 32.5-sq.-km Penasquito property in a 1998 agreement with Kennecott that includes eight projects scattered throughout Zacatecas, San Luis Potosi and Guanajuato states.

Western Copper now plans to evaluate the Chile Colorado and adjacent areas for their bulk-tonnage potential, while, at the same time, seeking a new joint-venture partner.