Summo options copper deposit

Summo Minerals (SMA-T) will acquire the Terrazas copper-zinc project in Chihuahua state, Mexico, in return for paying US$3 million and spending at least US$2 million on exploration.

The vendor retains a 1.5-2% net sales royalty, based on the price of copper.

Terrazas is an oxide skarn deposit with a measured, indicated and inferred resource of 68 million tonnes grading 0.44% copper and 0.41% zinc. The stripping ratio is 0.5-to-1.

To date, 55 core and reverse-circulation holes have been drilled, totalling 7,700 metres. Also, channel samples have been collected from 2,500 metres of underground workings.

The company plans to carry out 20,000 metres of definition drilling at 50-metre spacings. Some of this work will focus on expanding known resources, as the deposit remains open in three directions.

Metallurgical tests, which will be incorporated into a prefeasibility study, indicate that 85% of the mineralization is acid-soluble. That study is due in early 2001.

Summo believes Terrazas is capable of producing, on an annual basis, 30-40 million lbs. cathode copper and a similar amount of zinc (either as a precipitate or as cathode).