EuroZinc drills to expand Neves deposit

Vancouver An ongoing surface drill program by EuroZinc Mining (EZM-T) has returned mixed results from the western edge of the Neves deposit, one of five massive sulphide deposits comprising the company’s wholly owned Neves-Corvo mine in southern Portugal.

The highlight of the initial round of drilling was a 10.55-metre intersection (true width) grading 6.1% copper, 0.36% lead and 2.37% zinc. The hole was situated 52 metres southeast of a previous surface hole that returned 5.2 metres grading 11.6% copper, and 110 metres southeast of a surface hole that hit 4.3 metres of 7.1% copper.

Three holes failed to intersect the targeted massive sulphide horizon, and therefore limit the western edge of the deposit at that location. The other holes returned: 4.25 metres of 0.57% copper, 0.92% lead and 2.43% zinc; 3.5 metres of 1.96% copper, 1.27% lead and 4.55% zinc; 11.75 metres of 0.28% copper, 1.67% lead and 0.2% zinc; and 12.25 metres of 0.9% copper, 0.65% lead and 1.54% zinc.

The initial results were from 2,800 metres of a planned 4,000-metre drill program designed to test the western edge of the Neves deposit, which has a strike length of 1 km and varies in thickness from a few metres to more than 20 metres.

EuroZinc has budged US$10 million for mine-site and regional exploration programs in 2006. A further 16,000 metres of surface drilling are planned for the Corvo and Lombador deposits this year, with work aimed at identifying new resources.

A separate 19,000-metre underground drilling program is planned to upgrade inferred resources to the indicated and measured category. The bulk of the drilling (11,000 metres) will test the lower Corvo deposit, with the remainder split among the Neves, Graca and Zambujal deposits.

A regional exploration program is also planned for next year to test targets on the Malhadina exploration concession and four other concessions in the district, which is part of the Iberian Pyrite Belt.

The Neves-Corvo mine produced 48.7 million lbs. of contained copper-in-concentrate during the third quarter at cash costs of US$0.78 per lb. of payable copper. The company posted net earnings of US$25.8 million on net revenue of US$75.2 million for the period.