GOLD/COPPER PORPHYRY
Exeter looking for 50% increase in big Caspiche gold/copper resource
Drilling at Exeter Resource Corp's Caspiche property in Chile continues to expand the project's resource potential with the company looking for a 50% resource base increase when a new estimate is made in September.
Author: Lawrence Williams
Posted: Tuesday , 28 Apr 2009
LONDON -
Exeter Resource Corporation, which has a number of exciting gold and copper prospects in Chile and Argentina has just announced new drilling results on the biggest of these - Caspiche in Chile. Caspiche is located almost midway between Refugio and Cerro Casale in the Maricunga District and looks like turning into a resource to match both of these major deposits.
The most recent NI 43-101 compliant interim inferred resource estimate for Caspiche - a gold/copper porphyry - is 449.9 million tonnes containing 8.7 million ounces of gold and 2.1 billion pounds of copper. The estimated resource is low grade at 0.6 g/t gold and 0.25% copper and the deposit is at altitude, but in this respect it is similar to its neighbours, but would require huge capital expenditures to make a mine. But even so what has been found at Caspiche to date is a major discovery by any standards.
Exeter's 's stated ultimate intention with regard to the Caspiche asset is thus to negotiate a transaction with a major mining company, which will enable it to realise all or part of the value of the Caspiche discovery for the benefit of shareholders.
The latest drilling to expand the size of the Caspiche porphyry has encountered significant economic tenor mineralization outside the interim mineral resource estimate noted above which was based solely on drilling to the end of 2008.
Exeter's Chairman, Yale Simpson, stated, "We are more than pleased with our ability to define new mineralization at Caspiche porphyry.
"These new results should positively impact the resource estimate, which is expected to be updated in September. We are targeting growth of the resource base by an additional 50%.
"The results provide material extensions to the mineralized system to the east and to depth.
"Currently, Exeter has 4 diamond drill rigs systematically testing the system limits of Caspiche. We plan to include all drilling data to the end of the current field season in an updated, National Instrument 43-101 compliant, mineral resources estimate in September 2009."
Exeter reports that additional results from other deep holes continue to return long widths of mineralized material in both the near surface, oxide gold only system, and the porphyry gold-copper system at depth. Significant portions of all these holes returned mineralized intercepts beyond the areas included in the current inferred resource estimate as ongoing drilling continues to both grow the system size and improve the Exeter's confidence in the continuity of mineralization.
But Exeter is not a one deposit company. It also is exploring the high grade Cerro Morro gold/silver property in Argentina's Santa Cruz province where it is concentrating on the Escondida vein where drilling has returned multiple intercepts of 12-18 g/t gold equivalent over potentially mineable widths. The results from drilling to December 2008 will be used to produce a NI 43-101 compliant resources estimate, expected during the second quarter of 2009. The company believes that Cerro Morro has the potential to be a low capital cost mine with similarities in structure to AngloGold Ashanti's Cerro Vanguardia mine.