Toronto-based Chariot Resources has published an updated resource model for its Mina Justa project, in Peru, comprising measured and indicated resources of 5,57-billion pounds of copper at a 0,3% total copper cut-off, and inferred resources of 1,19-billion pounds.
The new numbers compare with a 2006 resource estimate of 5,42-billion pounds of measured and indicated resources and 1,69-billion pounds inferred.
"Although on the surface the global numbers are similar, at the model level there are differences between the 2006 version and 2008 version as our emphasis in 2007 was to update our geological interpretations, and to improve the modeling of controls of the mineralisation as well as to focus on improving grades,” president and CEO Ulli Rath said in a statement.
Indicated tons, at 331,6-million, now comprise 80% of the total tons, compared with 73% in the 2006 estimate, the company pointed out.
Further, the grade of the indicated resource has increased by about 7%, to 0,76%, while the grade of the inferred resource has increased by some 11,7%.
"It should be kept in mind that much of our drilling in 2007 was infill drilling, which has now given us more confidence in the resource base,” Rath added.
When drilling was halted in December 2007, the deposit still appeared to be open in at least two directions.
The company has drilled an additional 258 holes since then, although the assay data from these holes were not available in time to be included in the new resource model.
Chariot was now working on completing a mine-planning model, which was taking longer than expected, Rath said in a statement on Wednesday.
The firm expects to have completed the model by the end of July, with the final mine plan, production schedule and capital and operating costs scheduled for completion by September.
If this timetable is met, the feasibility study on Mina Justa, which has been pushed forward a number of times, in order to account for the project's expanding resources, could be released early in the fourth quarter, Chariot said.
The project, which was the first 300-million-ton-plus copper discovery in South America's Cordillera region in over a decade, could produce up to 240-million pounds of copper a year, Rath said in January.
Chariot Resources and its joint-venture partners, Korea Resources Corporation (owned by the Korean government) and LS-Nikko Copper, bought the Marcona property, on which Mina Justa sits, from diversified-miner Rio Tinto in 2005.
http://www.miningweekly.com/article.php?a_id=137695
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