Lumina further expands Regalito copper zone (September 27, 2004)

Vancouver — Earlier this year, aspiring copper developer Lumina Copper (LCC-T) began an advanced drill program on its recently acquired Regalito project in Chile, and results have shown further expansion of the main mineralized zone.

The latest series of stepout holes encountered continued wide intersections of copper mineralization on the porphyry project. Testing of the recovered material has shown good copper recoveries through leaching.

About 24,500 metres have been drilled with the aim of delineating a large-tonnage copper-molybdenum resource. Upon completion of the remaining 3,500 metres of drilling, an updated resource estimate will be calculated. Some highlights from the latest drill program are as follows:

— Hole RG04-17 — Diamond drilling returned a 431-metre intercept (from 20 metres), in the central portion of the deposit, averaging 0.42% copper with 63% leachability, including near-surface higher-grade sections of 36 metres of 0.66% and 24 metres of 0.68% copper with leachability of 97% and 92%, respectively;

— Hole RG04-51 — a reverse-circulation drill hole, from the central part of the deposit, intersected 436 metres (from 4 metres) of leachable mineralization grading 0.47% copper, including a 14-metre higher-grade section, essentially from surface, averaging 0.86% copper, and a 260-metre section from surface averaging 0.62% copper.

Stepout drilling southwest, south, southeast, east and northeast of the deposit has continued to encounter significant intercepts of near-surface leachable copper mineralization.

Regalito is an Andean-type porphyry copper deposit associated with a cluster of dacitic porphyry intrusives and hydrothermal-contact breccias. It exhibits typical potassic and phyllic alteration. The dacites intrude Paleozoic granites and are associated with the regional, northeast-trending Caserones Fault. The predominant copper mineral is chalcocite in the supergene enrichment zone at Regalito. Mineralization in the hypogene zone consists of pyrite and chalcopyrite with minor bornite and molybdenite.

The project has been examined by a number of major mining companies since the late 1980s. A historical, unclassified resource of roughly 200 million tonnes of 0.5% copper (using a 0.3% copper cutoff) had been outlined by previous operator BHP Billiton (BHP-N) from previous work consisting of 65 drill holes. The historical resource does not meet NI 43-101 standards.

Lumina Copper exercised its option to acquire 100% of Regalito in late-2003. The agreement requires payments of US$900,000 over an 8-year period, as well as maintenance costs. Additional cash payments are triggered if copper prices remain above US$1 per lb. for a calendar year. A 1-3% NSR will be applied to production, depending on copper prices.

The company has a portfolio of 10 exploration-to-advanced stage copper projects in Chile, Peru, Argentina and Canada.

At presstime, Lumina had 14 million shares outstanding and was trading in the $4.60-4.80 per share range.