ALTA COPPER PROJECT UPDATE, MET WORK, COMMUNITY, DRILLING/24Alta Copper is clearly moving at a pace not seen from this company in many years. They are on track to prove and move Canariaco to the next stage, selling the asset.
ALTA COPPER ANNOUNCES START OF METALLURGICAL TESTWORK AND PROVIDES UPDATE ON PERMITTING & COMMUNITY
Alta Copper Corp. has commenced metallurgical test work for the Canariaco Sur deposit to be used in the optimized preliminary economic assessment (PEA) and has provided a progress update on drill permit application and community.
Joanne C. Freeze, President and Chief Executive Officer of Alta Copper, commented: "We are very pleased that we have identified potential further benefits to the overall Canariaco project by way of blending the Canariaco Sur copper and gold resource with some of Canariaco Norte mineral resources. The Canariaco Sur deposit has a higher gold content and has no deleterious elements such that blending Sur and Norte is expected to increase gold content while reducing impurities in the mineral concentrates to be shipped. We are also very pleased with our new community relations team's efforts whom in coordination with the executive of Energy and Mines of the Regional Government of Lambayeque contributed to a successful participatory workshop in the community. Approximately 300 people attended the workshop held to explain the various details in our drill permit application, environmental aspects and further exploration and development activities (see photo). The number of participants, and topics discussed demonstrates the interest in our project, the environment and applicable laws. We would like to express our gratitude to all community attendees, Yaku Consultores, our Peru based environmental consultant, the Lambayeque government and our team."
Metallurgical Testwork
Transmin Metallurgical Consultants of Lima have been engaged to oversee the initial metallurgical test work program on mineralized drill core samples collected from the Canariaco Sur deposit. The objective of this testwork is to assess the deposit mineralogy, copper-gold metal recoveries and grindability characteristics of the deposit. Collectively, this test data plus other data to be collected from the testwork are expected to lead to the inclusion of the Canariaco Sur deposit in an updated mine plan for the optimized PEA.
A total of 1,100 kg in 35 samples were collected from core from previous drilling at Canariaco Sur and delivered to Plenge Labs in Lima last week. The metallurgical testwork will include comprehensive Chemical Analysis, Bond Work Index determination (hardness of ore/grindability), QEMscan mineral analysis to assess mineral associations, flotation tests to determine copper and gold recoveries as well as bulk densities, specific gravities, pH levels (acidity).
Alta Copper's NI 43-101 Technical Report on Preliminary Economic Assessment, prepared by Ausenco Engineering Canada Inc. with an effective date of February 8, 2022, did not include the Canariaco Sur mineral resource in the mine plan. Inclusion of the Sur resource in the updated PEA is expected to enhance the Canariaco project economics. The previously disclosed Canariaco Sur mineral resource is presented below:
Canariaco Sur Inferred Resource **
Contained Metal
Cu Tonnes Au Ag Moly Copper Gold Silver Moly CuEq
Cut-Off (Mt) Cu Eq* Cu (g/t) (g/t) (ppm) (B lbs) (M Ozs) (M Ozs) (M lbs) (B lbs)
0.10% 433.2 0.30% 0.25% 0.09 1.2 22 2.36 1.26 16.39 20.80 2.43
0.15% 384.5 0.32% 0.26% 0.10 1.2 22 2.22 1.18 15.02 18.91 2.93
0.20% 290.0 0.35% 0.29% 0.11 1.3 22 1.85 0.98 11.88 14.25 3.12
* Copper equivalent includes contributions from gold, silver and molybdenum, were estimated using metal prices (Copper US$3.50/lb., Gold US$1,650/oz., US$21.5/oz and US$11.00/lb. Mo), metal recoveries (Copper 88%, Gold 65%; Silver 57% and molybdenum 60%) and smelter payables (Copper 96.5%: Gold 93%; Silver 90% and Molybdenum 100%). Copper grade equivalent calculation: Cu Eq% equals Cu % plus (Au grade x Au price x Au recovery x Au smelter payable%) plus (Ag grade x Ag price x Ag recovery x Ag smelter payable %) plus (Mo grade x Mo price x Mo recovery x Mo smelter payable%)/(22.0462 x Cu price x 31.1035 g/t x Cu recovery x smelter payable %)** The Qualified Person for purposes of the Mineral Resource Estimate was David Thomas of DKT Geosolutions Inc.
Community and Permits
Recently, the community of San Juan de Canaris elected a new Electoral Committee to organize and conduct an election for a new Community President who are expected to take office in early 2024. While there are other regional stakeholders in the Canariaco project, the Canaris community lives closest to the project and owns the surface rights related to it.
In addition, 16 Certificates of Non-Existence of Archaeological Remains ("CIRA") have now been received for the Canariaco Sur and Quebrada Verde areas, such that together with the previous CIRA certificate received in 2007 for the Canariaco Norte area, all copper resources known in Canariaco have now been determined not to contain archeological remains.
As required for purposes of the Declaracion de Impacto Ambiental ("DIA") drilling permit application, a citizen participation workshop was held in the community on October 28, 2023 to explain the environmental studies by the executive of the Energy Management and Mines of the Regional Government of Lambayeque.
While a total of 185 persons registered at the meeting, closer to 300 people were estimated to have attended the workshop which covered legal and environmental aspects of exploration and development activities and our drill permit application. The number of participants, including residents and authorities from the different hamlets of the community, demonstrates the interest in learning about environmental aspects, details of our planned drilling program for 2024 and further exploration and development activities. This is one of the last stages remaining to be completed before the DIA permit application can be submitted, which is currently targeted for submission by November 30, 2023. The expected timeline for approval remains on schedule with respect to the DIA permit application which would allow for approximately 47,000 meters to be drilled in 95 drill holes. Alta Copper intends to initially drill approximately 20,000 meters in two separate phases commencing in 2024.
An updated geological model for the Canariaco Project recently completed based on the re-interpretation of district-scale and project-specific geology, has enabled the Alta Copper geological team to identify numerous high priority drill targets which will provide the foundation for the 2024 drilling program. The new geological modelling has identified several high-grade copper zones with previously untested potential depth extension. In addition to resource expansion laterally in Canariaco Sur and Quebrada Verde, deeper zones in Canariaco Norte will be targeted with the goal of further enhancing the current mineral resource already defined at Canariaco Norte. The next phase will also include the first drilling of the Quebrada Verde porphyry target. Quebrada Verde is on trend with Canariaco Sur and Norte, while possessing similar surface geochemical signature and supportive geophysics.
About Alta Copper
Alta Copper is focused on the development of its 100% owned Canariaco advanced staged copper project. Canariaco comprises 97 square km of highly prospective land located 150 km northeast of the City of Chiclayo, Peru, which include the Canariaco Norte deposit, Canariaco Sur deposit and Quebrada Verde prospect, all within a 4 km NE-SW trend in northern Peru's prolific mining district. Canariaco is one of the largest copper deposits in the Americas not held by a major.