MARI : new high grade extensions at MOD, thoughts ...Same contact. Some useful simple commentary.
Good luck,
B
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Hello, Last Thursday (October 14th) Marimaca Copper announced a number of new high grade drill results, intersecting mineral extensions below the current Marimaca Oxide Deposit (MOD). For the full news release please Click Here. Thoughts:
- The drill results were very positive - the 12 hole re-entry program was targeting historic drill holes on the southern portion of the MOD. All the holes were designed to target further mineralisation below the currently-defined pit. There where numerous strong results, for both wides and grades. Standout results included MAR-78 returning 234m at 1.15% CuT, MAR-17 returning 488m at 0.48% CuT (including 284m at 0.63% CuT, and 126m at 1.13% CuT), and MAR-70 returning 416m at 0.56% CuT (including 206m at 0.73% CuT).
- Positive leach mechanics, more work to come - as these drill holes have pushed below the pure oxide section of the MOD, into a zone of mixed and enriched oxides, with some primary sulphide mineralisation, there will obviously be questions around how well this material will react to aid leaching (our primary route to production). The initial results are very promising. The sequential copper analysis carried out on all samples yielded an average leaching potential of 58.7%. This suggests that more than 50% of copper will be recoverable using the flowsheet envisaged in the PEA.
- Results from Robles, larger district wide shallow oxide resource coming into view - we also received drill results from Robles. Although the results were not outstanding, they did return several results above the theoretical mining cut-off grade. When we add in the new discoveries made at Cindy and Mercedes, I believe we will be heading towards a new district wide resource for the shallow oxides of close to 200mt (currently 113mt at the MOD).
Summary - It's very simple really, both the Marimaca Oxide Deposit and the district wide tonnage of shallow oxides continue to grow in size. Both of these will drive significant additional value for the Company. I believe both of these developments will ultimately lead to an increase not only in the production capacity of the asset, but also its mine life. p.s. ... in the background the physical copper market is starting to heat up again. This week Bloomberg reported that LME copper stocks dropped 88% last month to levels not seen since 1974. The market feels increasingly tight.