Lundin hits new zinc deposit in Portugal

Lundin Mining (LUN-T, LMC-N) has hit upon a new zinc-copper discovery at its Neves-Corvo mine in southern Portugal which it says, could well be the largest deposit at the project.

Lundin is calling the new find the Lombador East deposit and says it contains the thickest, highest-grade zinc intersections ever encountered at the Neves-Corvo mine.

Highlights include:

• 89.2 metres grading 8.43% zinc, 0.49% copper and 1.78% lead
• 71.5 metres grading 8.38% zinc, 0.59% copper and 2.88% lead
• 68.5 metres grading 9.70% zinc, 0.43% copper and 3.13% lead

The deposit has been defined by eight drill holes. All of those holes contain thick sections of massive sulphide zinc mineralization with four of them hitting greater than 65 metres of greater than 8% zinc that each include wide intervals of greater than 10% zinc.

The deposit was first hit in August of last year when a hole was drilled there as part of an exploration program that centered on the Lombador South deposit. That program defined a measured and indicated resource of 17.3 million tonnes grading 7.5% zinc and 1.9% and increased total proven and probable reserves by over 200%.

That first hole, drilled as a step-out from Lombador South, hit 92 metres of massive sulphide, including a 67 metres of 8.03% zinc. But that wasn’t all. The hole also hit 16 metres of stockwork mineralization that returned 3.92% copper.

Spacing between drill holes ranges from 62 metres to 143 metres and averages 95 metres. The deposit remains open down dip and along strike to the southeast, Lundin says.

Deposits at the Neves-Corvo are massive sulphide lenses associated with stock works which contain zinc and copper-rich zones.

High grade copper and zinc zones generally occur separately but adjacent to one another leaving Lundin to hypothesize that Lombador East could also host a high grade copper zone that has yet to be discovered.

Two drills are now focused on step-out holes trying to determine the deposit limits and explore for a copper deposit.

Lundin has operations in Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Ireland, with a total of six mines in operation producing copper, nickel, lead and zinc.

In Toronto on July 17 its shares were trading for $5.28 on 5.1 million shares traded. Its share price has moved between $5.12 and $15.20 over the last 52-week period and it has roughly 390 million shares outstanding.