VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA, Apr 07, 2010 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) — Lumina Copper Corp. /quotes/comstock/11v!lcc (CA:LCC 1.30, +0.12, +10.17%) (the “Company”) is pleased to announce that it will begin a comprehensive exploration program at its 100% owned Taca Taca copper/molybdenum/gold deposit located in Salta province, Argentina in early May 2010. The program will begin with a deep ground penetrating geophysical survey followed by a diamond drilling program.
During the past six months, the Company has completed a strategic review to determine the appropriate development route for Taca Taca. This review included a number of mine planning studies that evaluated both open pit and underground mine development scenarios. The results of the review showed that significant additional value can be added in three areas:
1. expanding open pit mineable resources laterally where an area of higher grade mineralization remains open to the northeast;
2. expanding the high-grade copper, underground bulk-mineable zone identified by Rio Tinto’s 2008 drill program to depth; and
3. exploring an area to the south of the existing mineral resource that mirrors the surface expression of the drill-confirmed high-grade copper zone outlined by the Rio Tinto drill program.
The planned exploration program will include the use of Quantec Geoscience’s proprietary Titan24 Deep Earth Imaging System which has been used successfully to identify buried copper porphyry bodies. The Titan24 survey at Taca Taca will comprise approximately 30 line kilometres of survey work and will be used to evaluate the extent of the underground bulk mineable zone identified by Rio Tinto, to test the target area to the south of the existing mineral resource and to identify new drill targets.
The drill program will start upon completion of the Titan24 survey. The program, comprising one drill rig capable of drilling to depths in excess of 1.2 kilometres, will focus on expanding the known zone of higher grade copper mineralization to the northeast followed by drilling the targets identified by the Titan24 survey. The program is expected to last between 4 and 6 months but will be expanded should the Titan24 survey identify additional prospective targets.
The Taca Taca copper/gold/molybdenum project, comprising approximately 2,500 hectares, is located in the Puna region of north western Argentina in Salta Province, approximately 230 kilometres west of the provincial capital of Salta and 90 kilometres east of the world’s largest copper mine, Escondida.
On October 9, 2008, the Company announced it had received an independent National Instrument 43-101 (“NI 43-101”) compliant mineral resource estimate for the project that at a 0.4% copper equivalent cutoff contained inferred mineral resources of 841 million tonnes grading 0.64% copper equivalent, containing 8.71 billion pounds of copper, 2.97 million ounces of gold and 333.70 million pounds of molybdenum.
Additional information on Taca Taca, including the NI 43-101 technical report “Amended Taca Taca Technical Report” dated January 22, 2010 by Robert Sim, P.Geo., can be found on the Company’s website (www.luminacopper.com) and on SEDAR (www.sedar.com).
Leo Hathaway, P.Geo., Vice President, Exploration for the Company and the Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101 for the Taca Taca project has reviewed and approved the content of this press release.
LUMINA COPPER CORP.
David Strang, President & CEO
CAUTION REGARDING FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS: This news release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to the future price of gold, silver, copper and molybdenum, the timing of exploration activities, the estimation of mineral reserves and mineral resources, the results of drilling, estimated future capital and operating costs, future stripping ratios, projected mineral recovery rates and Lumina Copper’s commitment to, and plans for developing any of its projects. Generally, these forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as “plans”, “expects” or “does not expect”, “is expected”, “budget”, “scheduled”, “estimates”, “forecasts”, “intends”, “anticipates” or “does not anticipate”, or “believes”, or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results “may”, “can”, “could”, “would”, “might” or “will be taken”, “occur” or “be achieved”. Forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of Lumina Copper to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, including but not limited to: risks related to the exploration and potential development of the Company’s projects, risks related to international operations, the actual results of current exploration activities, conclusions of economic evaluations, changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined, future prices of gold, silver, copper and molybdenum, as well as those factors discussed in the sections relating to risk factors of our business filed in Lumina Copper’s required securities filings on SEDAR. Although Lumina Copper has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause results to be materially different from those anticipated, described, estimated, assessed or intended.
There can be no assurance that any forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Lumina Copper does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements that are incorporated by reference herein, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.
Contacts:
Lumina Copper Corp.
David Strang
President & CEO
(604) 646-1880
(604) 687-7041 (FAX)
SOURCE: Lumina Copper Corp.
mailto:dstrang@luminacopper.com
Copyright 2010 Marketwire, Inc., All rights reserved.
Leave a Reply
Want to join the discussion?Feel free to contribute!