Azure Minerals (ASX: AZS) has updated the Resource at its Promontorio copper-gold-silver deposit in northern Mexico to 840,000 tonnes at 2.5% copper, 1.6 grams per tonne (g/t) gold and 56g/t silver - or 4.1% copper equivalent.
This compares with the previous Resource of 502,000 tonnes at 4.7% copper, 2.1g/t gold and 99g/t silver.
Notably, 75% of the Resource is now contained in the higher confidence Indicated category, allowing the company to proceed to the Feasibility Study stage.
This includes completing a definitive underground mine design, production schedule and a Probable Ore Reserve, which are expected to begin in the second half of 2013.
The Indicated Resource is contained entirely in the main Santiago and Veta Grande veins.
Azure has also started drilling at the newly discovered, high grade copper zone at Cascada.
A hole drilled at Cascada had returned an intercept of 70 metres at 2.7% copper equivalent (1.6% copper, 0.9g/t gold and 35g/t gold) from 41.9 metres.
If this is successful, it would add further value to the overall Promontorio Project.
The updated Resource used data from 149 drill holes compared to 50 drill holes for the previous Resource from 2009.
Promontorio is a high-sulphidation, epithermal system where base and precious metal mineralisation is contained in veins of massive and semi-massive sulphides. Sulphide mineralisation is predominantly enargite (a copper-arsenic sulphide) and pyrite, with minor chalcocite and chalcopyrite (copper sulphides).
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