TNM Drill Down: Valeriano tops copper assays

The Northern Miner has compiled the top 10 copper drill results reported from June 17 to July 15. Drill holes are ranked by interval width multiplied by copper grade, following the format used for the gold and silver results.

Atex Resources’ (TSX: ATX) Valeriano project in Chile led with a width x grade score of 498, followed by Torex Gold Resources’ (TSX: TXG) Morelos complex in Mexico at 256 and Koryx Copper’s (TSXV: KRY) Haib project in Namibia at 186.

Valeriano

Atex completed 28,400 metres in its latest drill program, exceeding its 25,000-metre target, and traced the high-grade B2B breccia across about 600 metres.

Hole ATXD23C cut 692 metres grading 0.72% copper from 916 metres downhole for a width x grade score of 498. The interval included 310 metres at 1.02% copper from 1,074 metres and 124 metres at 1.67% copper from 1,236 metres. A 20-metre section within the latter interval graded 2.53% copper, 1.39 grams gold per tonne and 9.3 grams silver.

Valeriano, in Chile’s Atacama region, holds 475 million indicated tonnes grading 0.58% copper and 0.25 gram gold per tonne for about 2.76 million tonnes contained copper and 3.82 million oz. gold. Inferred resources total 1.51 billion tonnes grading 0.50% copper and 0.2 gram gold for about 7.55 million tonnes contained copper and 9.71 million oz. gold.

“These results continue to strengthen our confidence in the continuity of the high-grade B2B breccia,” interim CEO Chris Beer said in a July 8 release.

Morelos

Hole MLND-010 at Media Luna North cut 38.4 metres grading 6.67% copper, 5.29 grams gold and 183.9 grams silver per tonne from 177.5 metres downhole. Its width x grade score was 256. The hole returned a separate 33.4-metre interval grading 4.4% copper and 5.68 grams gold from 127 metres.

Media Luna North forms part of Torex’s producing Morelos complex in Guerrero state. Torex has targeted 11,500 metres of drilling at Media Luna North this year to refine the geological model and support the first planned production stopes. Its broader Morelos program calls for 113,500 metres of drilling at a cost of $43 million (C$60.2 million).

“The latest round of drilling at Morelos continued to yield excellent results, providing further optimism for ongoing resource expansion and mine life additions,” CEO Andrew Snowden said in a July 13 statement.

Haib

Hole HM153 cut 714 metres grading 0.26% copper, 101 parts per million (ppm) molybdenum and 0.018 gram gold per tonne from surface for a width x grade score of 186. It included 68 metres grading 0.43% copper, 263 ppm molybdenum and 0.021 gram gold from 294 metres, and 82 metres at 0.32% copper, 204 ppm molybdenum and 0.023 gram gold from 386 metres.

Koryx reported HM153 among 15 holes totalling 5,351 metres from its infill and expansion program at Haib in southern Namibia. More than 140,000 metres have been drilled into the copper-molybdenum porphyry since the 1970s. Koryx plans to complete a prefeasibility study by year-end.

“Very wide intersections at good grades exceeding 0.3% CuEq, and mostly starting from surface, indicates the potential for further improvements of our mineral resource,” CEO Heye Daun said in a June 29 release.