McEwen Copper Inc. announced “significant” further new assay results from infill drilling at its Los Azules copper project in San Juan, Argentina.
The company, which is 52 per cent owned by McEwen Mining Inc. (NYSE: MUX) (TSX: MUX), said on Friday two drill holes contained significant intercepts of copper mineralization within the deposit’s core.
Hole AZ22182A intersected 231 metres of 0.97 per cent copper, including 188 metres of 1.09 per cent copper. Hole AZ23196 returned 550 metres of 0.50 per cent copper, including 216 metres of 0.72 per cent copper.
Los Azules has comparable features to other major South American copper-gold deposits, the company said, including a “thick blanket” of higher-grade enriched mineralization.
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The new results are part of an ongoing infill drilling program to upgrade resource estimates, provide material for metallurgical and technical studies and potentially find higher-grade mineralization.
Drilling has exceeded the initially planned 25,000 metres, reaching 32,758 metres in 125 holes so far. Drilling will continue until the end of May and resume in October after the Argentine winter.
Plan view location of cross-sections and drill holes in the deposit. Photo via McEwen Copper.
McEwen Copper president and CEO Stephen Lynn said the results “are confirming our expectations for the deposit. These results reinforce that Los Azules can potentially become a large, low-cost copper producer in the future.”
Los Azules has been receiving interest from car makers and other large firms looking to secure a copper source. McEwen Copper recently received a US$15 million investment from vehicle maker Stellantis (NYSE: STLA) (Euronext Milan: STLAM) (Euronext Paris: STLAP) and around US$30 million from Rio Tinto Ltd. (ASX: RIO) (LON: RIO)’s latest venture Nuton LLC.
McEwen Copper has full ownership of Los Azules, which has an estimated 10.2 billion pounds of copper resources at a grade of 0.48 per cent Cu (indicated) and an additional 19.3 billion pounds at a grade of 0.33 per cent Cu (inferred).
In January, its assay results revealed that Los Azules is a substantial porphyry copper-gold-silver deposit with significant potential for expansion.
