Antares sizes up Haquira (July 13, 2005)

A second look at some 85 holes drilled by Phelps Dodge (PD-N) between 2001 and 2003 has allowed Antares Minerals (ANM-V) to pin down a National Instrument 43-101-compliant resource estimate for the Haquira project in southern Peru.

Total inferred resources are pegged at 209.7 million tonnes running 0.46% copper. That includes 120.5 million tonnes of secondary copper sulphides and oxides grading 0.49% copper. Antares says that material is amenable to processing via solvent extraction-electrowinning (SX-EW). Another 89.2 million tonnes of primary copper sulphides grade 0.43% copper, and would be subject to flotation/concentrate processing.

The resource estimates are based on some 7,921 metres worth of reverse-circulation drilling and 3,429 metres of core drilling, with holes drilled an average of 200 metres apart. The drilling tested to an average depth of 134 metres, with only ten holes exceeding 200 metres. A cutoff grade of 0.3% copper was also employed.

The secondary and primary resources remain open laterally, with the primary copper sulphides open at depth. The property is also home to several other untested targets.

“We are excited to report an initial resource estimate of over one billion pounds of leachable copper at Haquira, a new copper discovery immediately adjacent to Xstrata’s Las Bambas copper-gold project,” said Antares president John Black in a prepared statement.

Black says the shallow copper-oxide and secondary copper-sulphide mineralization could potentially be targeted by a low-strip, low-cost SX-EW operation, particularly given synergies with London-listed Xstrata‘s (XTA-L) nearby Las Bambas project.

Antares plans drilling aimed at delineating new resources, and obtaining bulk samples for metallurgical testing during the balance of the year.

The company can acquire the project by paying Phelps US$15 million over five years. If the project advances to the feasibility stage, Antares will have to fork over US1 for every pound of copper included in the resource in excess of 2.2 billion lbs.