Antares hits new system beneath Haquira

Vancouver — A deep hole exploring a new copper-molybdenum-gold porphyry system at the Haquira project, in Peru, returned good grades recently with the news pushing Antares Minerals (ANM-V, ANMFF-O) up 20%.

Antares drilled to a depth of 613.6 metres. The top 77 metres consisted of post-mineral colluvium, but the remaining 536.5 metres hit 0.55% copper, 0.01% molybdenum, and 0.07 gram gold per tonne. The middle 380.7 metres of the interval returned 0.67% copper, 0.013% molybdenum, and 0.08 gram gold, and a 94.7-metre segment within that hit 0.89% copper, and 0.11 gram gold.

The news bumped the company’s share price up 40 to close at $2.40. The company has traded in a 12-month range of 66-$2.50.

Hole 98A was the first drill core to test the depth extension of the Haquira East zone, discovered earlier this year. In February, infill drilling to define near-surface leachable copper at the east zone hit underlying high-grade primary copper-molybdenum mineralization. Antares then designed a 5,000-metre drill program to test the underlying system.

Antares geologists think they have located the bornite-rich core of the porphyry. At present, the system runs 750 by 450 metres, remaining open to the south where the current drilling campaign is focused. It also remains open at depth, with hole 98A halted at 613.6 metres in roughly 0.25% copper because a major fault zone presented difficult drilling conditions.

The top 42.4 metres of mineralization are primarily in situ secondary copper oxides and sulphides, while the remainder of the system consists of primary copper and molybdenum sulphides. Only the near-surface copper oxides and sulphides at Haquira East and West are included in the 2006 mineral resource estimate, which placed inferred resources at 156.3 million tonnes grading 0.49% copper amenable to solvent extraction-electrowinning heap-leach processing.

All resources were classified as inferred because average spacing between holes was 200 metres. Since the estimate, the company has completed 97 additional drill holes to move inferred resources to indicated and measured.

The Haquira project is located in the Andahuaylas-Yauri copper-gold porphyry-skarn belt in southern Peru. It is a remote part of the country and, if an economic deposit is outlined, improvements to access roads will be necessary. The nearest town, Chalhuahuacho, is 10 km east, and a power sub-station is roughly 16 km southeast.

Haquira is 100% owned by Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold (fcx-n) subsidiary Minera Phelps-Dodge Peru. Under an option agreement signed between Minera Phelps-Dodge Peru and Antares’ wholly owned Peruvian subsidiary, Antares Minerals Peru, in March 2005, Antares can earn a 100% interest in the project by paying US$15 million over five years.

Antares is also exploring in northwest Argentina, at the Rio Grande copper-gold porphyry project, in Salta province, and the Catua copper project, in Jujuy province, under option-joint venture agreements with Mansfield Minerals (MDR-V, MFMNF-O).