Summo hits copper at Champion

Drilling on the Champion property in Taos Cty., N.M., has turned up oxide copper values for Summo Minerals (VSE).

Ten holes were drilled on a 150-by-200-ft. pattern, with the first seven holes returning an average intercept of 134 ft. grading 0.48% copper, based on a cutoff grade of 0.2% copper.

Based on a cutoff of 0.1% copper, the average intercept increased to 201 ft. grading 0.37% copper.

Copper mineralization consisted primarily of malachite and chrysocolla, and Summo is convinced the copper oxides are stratabound, occurring in fractures throughout a thick, quartzite sequence.

Previous drilling, including 100 holes, outlined 18 million tons grading 0.4% copper within the core of the anticline.

The mineralized quartzite remains open to expansion, and a copper anomaly in soils extends for more than 2,600 ft. of strike beyond the 1995 drilling.

Moreover, the southern limb of the anticline was not tested in 1995, and copper-mineralized outcrops of the same quartzite unit have been identified 2-3 miles along strike from the area drilled that year.

Summo is designing a 30-40-hole drill program to test the mineralized quartzite unit over the next half-mile of strike, and 300 ft. of dip from the recent drilling.