Two continents, one copper mission for EV Resources

ASX-listed EV Resources’ two-continent copper pursuit is gaining momentum, with a recent diamond drill campaign at its flagship Parag project in Peru also highlighting the multi-mineral prospectivity of the site.

The company has its hands on two major sites in the South American nation at its Parag and Don Enrique operations and also holds a strong tenement area at its prospective La Cienega iron oxide-copper play in the North American State of Arizona.

EV Resources has recorded impressive copper and molybdenum results from drilling at its Parag project in Peru.

In March this year, a maiden diamond drilling program at Parag produced impressive copper figures, in addition to high-grade molybdenum results, close to surface. Assay highlights returned an 18m hit at a peak grade of 1.7 per cent copper and 0.4 per cent molybdenum from just 11m contained within a wider 32m section going 1.2 per cent copper and 0.4 per cent molybdenum from only 3m below surface.

The seven-hole campaign covered 1980m at Parag where the company is testing for mineralisation associated with a porphyry-type system.

Results from a second hole at the site also delivered a wide hit from near-surface grades, with 258.8m at 0.4 per cent copper and 0.14 per cent molybdenum from just 1m. The intercept contained several higher-grade sections peaking at 58m going 0.9 per copper and 0.3 per cent molybdenum from just 23m.

‘Our flagship project Parag is a copper-molybdenum porphyry system remarkable for the amount of high-grade outcropping mineralisation.’

EV Resources managing director Hugh Callaghan

The first hole sunk at the project gave the company significant insight into the potential depth of mineralisation at Parag, with a 44m hit going 0.644 per cent copper and 0.309 molybdenum from just 3.2m including 24m grading 0.811 per cent copper and 0.426 per cent molybdenum from 3.2m.

The grades were contained within a whopping 476m hit that returned 0.31 per cent copper and 0.14 per cent molybdenum from 3.2m including 348m at 0.4 per cent copper and 0.2 per cent molybdenum from 3.2m. EV says the “exceptional” molybdenum grades recorded at Parag project will make a significant contribution to the operation’s economics as a key by-product of potential copper production.

Following the analysis of historic data from 76 holes covering 18,170m, the company returned a peak molybdenum grade of 0.62 per cent within an 89.4m hit from just 6.5m that also returned 0.39 per copper. A second historic hole also delivered positive results, with a 72m section going 0.26 per cent copper and 0.36 per cent molybdenum from surface.

Management says its near-surface molybdenum grades at Parag are comparable to the highest-grade pure molybdenum mines in the world, including the Henderson and Climax mines operated by major copper producer Freeport McMoran in Colorado.

EV Resources managing director Hugh Callaghan said: “EVR is exploring two large and fully drill-permitted copper projects in Peru, at a time of few recent discoveries and a looming supply side problem in the copper industry. Our current flagship project Parag is a copper-molybdenum porphyry system remarkable for the large amount of high-grade outcropping mineralisation drilled from surface in the 20,000 metres of diamond drilling to date, which suggests potential for a very shallow, high-grade open pit operation prior to exploring more fully the evident deeper lying porphyry system.”

The Parag project takes in some 1399 hectares about 145km north of the Peruvian capital of Lima. Management says drilling, mapping and sampling programs have established mineralisation at the operation in breccia and porphyry through a 1200m strike and a typical width of up to 500m.

EV Resources has recorded assays as high as 1.7 per cent copper from drilling at Parag.

In addition to positive copper and molybdenum results, assays have also shown a handful of gold and silver credits in the majority of holes drilled.

EV says about 90 per cent of molybdenum is produced as a by-product of copper and contributes to the industry dominance of Chilean, Peruvian and American copper miners. It says the Climax and Henderson mines host molybdenum grades of between 0.15 and 0.18 per cent, compared to the 0.02 per cent and up to 0.63 per cent discovered so far at Parag.

Sitting about 260km east of Lima is EV’s Don Enrique copper-silver project. The operation is made up of 14 licences, covering a total area of 1800ha.

A recently-completed geophysics program consisting of 28.8 line kilometres of inverse polarisation and 46.8 line kilometres of magnetics was completed. Management says the surveys confirmed a substantial sulphide orebody through a strike of up to 1200m, with two parallel structures of up to 30m in width for much of the strike, to an interpreted depth of 500m.

Importantly, the chargeability high identified increases at depth and dips to the west.

The main breccia zone at Don Enrique shows elevated copper results for a strike length of about 550m. A recent sampling campaign at the site showed that 28 of the 108 samples returned copper values of more than 0.3 per cent and reached an impressive peak of 3.22 per cent.

A further 17 samples delivered silver results exceeding 30 parts per million and up to a peak of 585ppm.

Just last month, the company extended the licence area to the north-west of Don Enrique by 1000ha after picking up what it will call the Quero operation. Management believes the new licence covers an extension of the anomaly identified at the neighbouring project and offers a further target for planned exploration.

EV has its eyes set on a mapping and sampling campaign on the Quero licence, which is expected to be followed by a geophysical survey later this year as it applies for a drill license for the area. It already has plans in place for a 2000m diamond drill campaign at Don Enrique, which is expected to kick off within the coming months.

In addition to its Peru holdings, EV is also on the search for copper in North America where it holds 145 unpatented lode mining claims for a total of about 1212ha in Arizona’s Cienega District. Multiple copper outcrops, in addition to several old copper mine workings, have been identified across a 2.5km strike.

The majority of the underground developments were completed before 1910 and minimal reporting was required. However, the company says it has accessed some records of underground development and sampling.

Arizona is considered a prime area for mining exploration, with the last year’s Fraser Institute annual survey of mining companies ranking the US State as the seventh-best jurisdiction in the world for investment attractiveness and the third best in the country.

Following a recent dip in the past 24 months, copper has re-emerged to be one of the best-performing metals this year, with futures up 16 per cent on the London Metal Exchange. In fact, just last month the commodity recorded an all-time high of more than $US11,000 (AU$16,656) a tonne.

In terms of worldwide copper production, Peru sits only behind neighbouring Chile and is believed to hold about 12 per cent of the world’s copper reserves.

Management is also bullish about the price of molybdenum, which it says has climbed to US$21.89 (AU$32.99) per pound or US$48,259 (AU$72,733.50) per tonne.

If both metals can maintain their current trajectory, the market is likely to keep a close eye on what EV can produce as it continues to develop what appears to be a pair of budding porphyry projects in Peru, in addition to another prime prospect in Arizona.

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