Far West hits copper at Candelaria (August 01, 2005)

Vancouver — Drilling by Far West Mining (FWM-V) on its Candelaria project, near Copiapo in northern Chile, has cut significant copper intercepts.

Testing of the 4a3 target on the Santo Domingo project intersected a mantos structure, or feeder zone, hosting iron-oxide copper-gold (IOCG) style mineralization. Reverse-circulation (RC) drill hole 22 cut 56 metres from 14 metres below surface grading 0.8% copper, including 14 metres averaging 1.3% copper.

Target 4a3 exhibits stacked, manto-style mineralization, including a deeper intercept of 22 metres from 186 metres below surface grading 0.7% copper.

The 10-sq.-km anomaly was identified through a Falcon airborne gravity-gradiometric-magnetic survey.

Hole 22 was positioned about 2.5 km southeast of the main east-west Santo Domingo fault in an area now called Santo Domingo Sur. Five other RC holes in the area, during Far West’s latest 6,000-metre program, intersected numerous 20- to 150-metre intercepts averaging 0.7-1.1% copper.

The company recently completed its 100% earn-in on the Candelaria project, including the 4a target area, from BHP Billiton (BHP-N), which elected not to contribute to further exploration. The major now holds a 2% net smelter return royalty.

Far West entered into the agreement with BHP Billiton in 2002-03 to explore for IOCG deposits in northern Chile’s Candelaria copper belt (also known as the Chilean iron belt). Use of BHP Billiton’s proprietary Falcon airborne system has proved effective in the region, identifying many targets for follow-up exploration.

After being halted for almost three weeks, Far West gained 80, or 67%, to close at $2.00 per share on a volume of 800,000 shares.