Los Andes Copper Ltd (TSX-V:LA) announced the largest 1% copper equivalent intercept to date at its Vizcachitas project in Chile.
One hole, CMV-009, located near the southern edge of the current resource returned results from 93.2 meters to 480.35 meters with a copper equivalent grade of 0.56%, including 0.53% copper, 62 parts per million (ppm) molybdenum and 1.5 grammes per tonne (g/t) silver, including 152 meters grading 1.00% copper equivalent.
Los Andes is planning further drilling at the southern portion of the copper project to outline the area in more detail.
READ: Los Andes Copper set to advance Vizcachitas pre-feasibility as it closes US$4M Queen's Road Capital investment
Another hole, CMV-010, near the western edge of the previous resource model returned assay results of 377.3 meters of 0.31% copper equivalent, which will be incorporated into the new resource assessment for an upcoming prefeasibility study.
Commenting on the drill results, CEO Michael Jones called the shallow mineralization in Hole CMV-009 “impressive.”
“The higher-grade areas of the deposit will be targeted for early mining where accessible in the developing prefeasibilty mine plan,” Jones said in a statement.
Jones added that Hole CMV-010 illustrates that the deposit is still open to the northwest. Additional drill results are pending for Hole CMV-011.
Both holes will allow the western area to be reconsidered in the resource model, Jones told shareholders.
“The opportunity to convert tonnes assumed to be waste in the preliminary economic assessment to resources in the mine plan for the prefeasibility study, and to target high grade areas are good opportunities to optimize the project,” the CEO said.
The drilling results indicate that the limits and the center of the Vizcachitas porphyry copper deposit are “not yet known,” according to Los Andes. Another 3,300 meters of sampled core are awaiting assay results.
Vizcachitas is a copper-molybdenum porphyry deposit near Santiago with measured resources of 254.4 million tonnes at a grade of 0.439% copper and indicated resources of approximately 1.03 billion tonnes at a grade of 0.385% copper.
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