Abacus expands Afton project

Vancouver — Halfway through a second phase of drilling at the Afton project in south-central British Columbia, Abacus Mining & Exploration (AME-V) continues to cut significant widths of copper-gold mineralization.

The company is testing continuity of mineralization at the northern end of the property, along a 5-km structural corridor encompassing the DM, Audra and Crescent zones.

Drilling along the western margin of the Audra zone encountered mineralization similar to that found in the adjacent DM zone, suggesting the two may be associated and part of the same system. Hole 17 intersected a broad breccia zone that returned 98 metres (from 168 metres) grading 0.45% copper and 0.6 gram gold per tonne, including a higher-grade section of 33 metres grading 0.68% copper and 0.8 gram gold.

Abacus is examining the open-pit potential of a 2.5-km section of the DM-Audra-Crescent trend. The area is just east of the Afton pit, where DRC Resources (DRC-T) is preparing to carry out underground development. The Afton pit deposit has a measured and indicated resource of 68.7 million tonnes grading 1.68% copper-equivalent.

Copper mineralization in the DM, Audra andCrescent zones occurs as disseminations and in fractures in the breccia zones. Also, zones of gold enrichment have been encountered in the core and appear to be related to a series of north-trending faults.

Abacus has completed half of its planned 15,000-metre drill program on the project.

The junior has 34.4 million shares outstanding, giving the company an $11-million market capitalization at the current trading range of 30-35 per share.