Zaruma updates Luz del Cobre numbers (May 21, 2007)

Thanks to additional metallurgical testing and orebody modelling, Zaruma Resources (ZMR-T, ZMRAF-O) has posted a revised reserve figure for its Luz del Cobre copper project, in Sonora state, Mexico.

The new figure shows a slightly larger reserve in oxide material and slightly less in mixed and sulphide material, but changes little in Luz del Cobre’s feasibility picture. It does, however, allow negotiations on financing to resume.

Luz del Cobre’s oxide zone is now estimated at 1 million tonnes grading 0.67% copper, up from 958,000 tonnes of oxide material grading 0.3% in the estimate used in a November 2006 feasibility study. Leach tests, both in columns and bottle-rolls, on the oxide material showed recoveries of 75%.

The mixed and sulphide material makes up about 3.2 million tonnes grading 1.1% copper, down from an estimate of 3.4 million tonnes at the same grade that was used in the 2006 study. Mixed material showed recoveries of 80% in the recent metallurgical tests, except for material from the lower part of the planned North Pit, where recoveries dropped to around 70%.

The modelling also showed the deposit is open to the south.