Alta Zinc Ltd (ASX:AZI) has been granted a trading halt by the ASX with an announcement pending in regard to a proposed capital raising.
The halt will be in place until the start of regular trading on Wednesday, March 24, or when an announcement is released to the market, whichever occurs earliest.
Expanding exploration pipeline
The company is expanding its exploration pipeline into two of the most commercially significant copper mining districts in Italy with the lodgement of applications for two exploration licences (ELs).
AZI has applied for the Monte Bianco EL (8,200 hectares) in the Liguria region of the Northern Apennines and the Corchia EL (3,500 hectares) in the Emilia Romagna region.
Copper potential
Mineralisation at both projects is hosted in copper-rich VMS systems mined up to the early 1970s with historical production grades of 7% copper at the Libiola mine and 3-5% copper at the Corchia mine.
The Monte Bianco EL also contains the old Gambetesa mine which was, at the time, the largest manganese mine in Europe and operated from 1939 to 1971, with mined grades of 28-30% manganese to produce around 50,000 tonnes of manganese metal per annum.
These ELs are close to existing infrastructure (roads, centres of population, water and power) and within easy logistical reach of the hub port of Genoa.