BHP drills Dragoon copper project

Vancouver – A drill program by BHP Billiton (BHP-N) is testing a buried copper system at the Dragoon property optioned from General Minerals (GNM-T). The project is situated north of the Dragoon Mountains near Tucson, in southern Arizona.

BHP plans to drill 3-to-5 holes totaling between 1,200 and 2,500 metres — depending on initial results — to test an enriched porphyry copper system buried beneath valley-fill gravels. The holes will test the system to depths of up to 640 metres.

BHP optioned the Dragoon project in the spring of 2005, and can earn an initial 51% interest by spending US$3 million on exploration and making staged option payments over five years. This interest can be increased to 60% by spending another US$1 million on exploration, and to 70% by spending at least US$15 million on a feasibility study.

The property covers areas of an exposed ‘leached cap’ that has never been drill-tested in one portion of the property, and the larger adjoining area of porphyry-related rocks beneath valley-fill and other cover being tested in the current drill program.

The buried porphyry system has been tested by other operators in the past. This limited drilling is reported to have intersected altered porphyry-style rocks with minor mineralization.

BHP has focused its recent efforts on expanding geophysical surveys and refining targets for the present drill program.

General Minerals has five other mineral properties in the United States, three in Bolivia, one in Chile, and six in Mexico. Four of these have been optioned to major companies. The properties are being explored for their potential to host copper, silver and gold deposits.