공시 • Nov 18
Azucar Files Technical Report for Initial Mineral Resource Estimate for the Norte Zone at the El Cobre Project, Mexico
Azucar Minerals Ltd. provided notice that a National Instrument 43-101 technical report (“NI 43-101” or “Technical Report”) has been filed with Canadian securities regulators to support the initial mineral resource estimate (“MRE”) with respect to the Norte Zone of the El Cobre porphyry copper-gold project (“El Cobre Project”, or the “Project”) in Veracruz State, Mexico. The Norte Zone is one of five copper-gold porphyry zones identified to date within the El Cobre Project and has been the focus of the majority of exploration work conducted at the El Cobre Project since 2016. Highlights: IndicatedMineral Resource of 1.2Moz AuEq (million ounce gold equivalent) using the base case NSR (net smelter return)cutoffofUS$12/tonne, comprised of 47.2 million tonnes grading at 0.77 g/t AuEq (0.49 g/t Au, 0.21% Cu and 1.4 g/t Ag); Inferred Mineral Resource of 1.4MozAuEq using the base case NSR cutoff of US$12/tonne, comprised of 64.2 million tonnes grading at 0.66 g/t AuEq (0.42 g/t Au, 0.18% Cu and 1.3 g/t Ag); Amenable to an open pit mining method; Potential for resource expansion at depth within the NorteZone as well as at other significant porphyry bodies identified across 5km strike length at the Project. The Technical Report, dated effective November 13, 2020, is titled “NI 43-101 Technical Report Mineral Resource Estimate on the El Cobre Copper-Gold-Silver Property Veracruz State, Mexico” and is available under the Company's profile on SEDAR (www.sedar.com). The Technical Report was authored by Kris Raffle, P.Geo. of APEX Geoscience Ltd., and Sue Bird, M.Sc., P.Eng. of Moose Mountain Technical Services both of whom act as independent consultants to the Company, are Qualified Persons (QPs) as defined by National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101") and have reviewed and approved the contents of this news release. The El Cobre Project has a total area of approximately 11,860 hectares and is located adjacent to the Gulf of Mexico, about 75 kilometres northwest of the major port city of Veracruz, Mexico in an area of excellent infrastructure. The Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) and NSR cut-off sensitivities are presented in Table 1 with the base case cutoff at $12.00 NSR highlighted. The favorable infrastructure at the El Cobre Project suggests that the threshold for economic mineralization will be low relative to many other deposits. Copper and gold mineralization at the Norte Zone is associated with a multiphase variably potassic-phyllic altered porphyritic diorite intrusive complex that is cut by late mafic and intermediate dykes and post mineral feldspar porphyry. The Norte Zone is approximately 0.6 km x 0.4 km along an E-W strike. Sulphide mineralization, which extends up to 900 metres depth, consists of disseminated and vein-hosted chalcopyrite and trace bornite (Cu mineralization) exposed in surface outcrops and intersected in drill core. There are no other known factors or issues known by the QP that materially affect the MRE other than normal risks faced by mining projects. The El Cobre Project is subject to the same types of risks that large base metal projects experience at an early stage of development in Mexico. The nature of the risks relating to the Project will change as the Project evolves and more information becomes available. The Company has engaged experienced management and specialized consultants to identify, manage and mitigate those risks. The El Cobre Project is located in a general region where Pre-Columbian archaeological sites are known. To date exploration programs on the project have been conducted in consultation with Mexico’s Federal Agency for Archeology, INAH, which resulted in the identification of several small areas for further study and classification, including one area lying within the MRE pit outline. As is standard practice in Mexico, areas required for development and mining activity would require a clearance from INAH following the implementation of more detailed archaeological investigations and an archaeological salvage program, if necessary. The Company is committed to working with INAH as part of its future exploration and development plans. Mineral Resource Estimate Details: The drillhole database used to calculated the MRE is comprised of 45 exploration diamond drillholes completed between 2008 and 2019 totalling 28,448 metres, containing a total of 27,173.12m of drill core analyzed for gold and copper by fire assay and Inductively Coupled Plasma – Atomic Emission Spectroscopy (“ICP-AES”), with four acid digestion. Sample intervals within the mineralized domains ranged from 0.45m to 3.81m in length, with 98% of the intervals having a length of 3.0 metres or less. The Norte Zone 3D geological model created by Azucar integrates assay and geological data collected from diamond core drilling; surface geologic mapping; soil geochemical; and geophysical surveys. Based on these data, the Norte Zone is modelled as an east-west elongate 600 metre x 400 metre subvertical zone of porphyry copper-gold mineralization extending to a maximum depth of approximately 900 metres vertically below surface. Mineralization is constrained by 3D geological solids representing host diorite intrusive, and peripheral andesite and dacite tuff volcanic rocks. Length-weighted averaged composites of 3 metre core length, restricted to each rock type, were calculated and used for exploratory data analysis and resource estimation. Assays were capped by zone and domain based on cumulative probability plots to remove outliers. The modelled variograms from each domain were used for resource estimation. A block model with a regularized cell size of 20 m by 20 m by 10 m was used to estimate grade for each metal using Ordinary Kriging (OK). The percentage of each block below the overburden surface and within each domain is used for interpolation and the resource calculations. A total of 489 density measurements have been collected at site. Based on this data, the specific gravity (sg) within the sulphide material is consistent with a mean value of 2.68. The final grade estimates are validated visually by comparing each block’s metal estimates to the raw downhole assay data and statistically by comparing the modelled grades to the de-clustered composite grades (NN model), by swath plots and by grade-tonnage curves.