Elementos has secured an option to acquire a 90% interest in the Mercedes copper project in northern Chile which is located close to a cluster of world class porphyry deposits 60 kilometers east of the Chiquicamata mining district.
Mercedes comprises 8,589 hectares of mining concessions and 21,200 hectares of exploration permit applications near to a region hosting large mines and deposits including BHP Billiton’s 64 million tonne at 1.01% copper oxide and 222 million tonne at 0.91% copper sulphide Spence mine.
The Atacama region is one of the largest copper producing areas, located centrally within the prolific northern Chile copper belt. Other substantial deposits in the area include Codelco’s 10.5 million tonne at 0.55% copper Chuquicamata deposit, 7.2 million tonne at 0.37% copper Radomiro Tomic deposit and 1.3 million tonne at 0.94% copper Ministro Hales deposit.
The project contains structurally hosted, copper oxide mineralization on surface with associated stratabound mantos in a volcanic sequence.
The average grade of mined copper oxide material in 2011 was 1.6%. Five selective samples assayed between 0.7% to 3.1% copper in different mineralogical environments across the project area. No modern exploration has been undertaken at Mercedes. Small scale intermittent mining has targeted high grade copper oxides across the property.
Elementos is planning two parallel strategies at Mercedes:
1. Investigate the potential for delineating a copper oxide resource capable of being developed into a solvent extraction and electro winning operation. This could include consolidation with other known nearby copper oxide deposits; and
2. Explore for copper, gold and molybdenum porphyry style mineralization which is prolific in the district.
Exploration activities will include mapping, sampling, geophysical surveys and drilling of advanced targets. Importantly, Mercedes has a number of targets that can be drilled quickly. Initially exploration activities will focus on the copper oxide target at Mercedes and the porphyry targets at Elvira.
(Sourced from www.proactiveinvestors.com.au)
