Element 29 Completes Validation of Flor de Cobre Historical Drilling and Will Proceed with Mineral Resource Estimation
Element 29 Completes Validation of Flor de
Cobre Historical Drilling and Will Proceed with
Mineral Resource Estimation
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - July 6, 2022) - Element 29 Resources Inc. (
TSXV: ECU
)
(
OTCQB: EMTRF
) ("
Element 29
" or the "
Company
") announces results of the final four twinned holes
from the recently completed 4,500 metre ("
m
"), twelve-hole drill program at the Flor de Cobre Copper
Project ("
Flor de Cobre
" or "
the Project
") located in southern Peru (
Figure 1
). The Company is
awaiting results from the last three angled drill holes of the program that tested the primary copper
sulphide mineralization potential below the supergene enrichment blanket to depths of more than 500 m.
Flor de Cobre Drilling Highlights
The twin drill hole program recently completed by Element 29 has demonstrated the reliability of
the historical drill hole results such that this historical information can be considered sufficiently
accurate to be reliable.
Mineralization intersected in the Element 29 core holes verifies the mineralization that was
intersected in the historical Rio Amarillo and Phelps Dodge drill holes.
Historical information can be incorporated into a drill hole database used for a mineral resource
estimate that meets the current CIM best practice guidelines.
Steve Stakiw, Element 29's President and CEO comments, "These latest Flor de Cobre drill results,
combined with the previously released results, demonstrate the reliability of historical drilling data and
confirm it can form part of the database that will be used for our planned mineral resource estimate
allowing us to meet CIM best practice guidelines. We look forward to our next step of undertaking this
mineral resource estimate incorporating all available data from the Candelaria portion of the Flor de
Cobre project."
The objectives of this latest drill program were to confirm the reliability of the historical drill holes
completed by Rio Amarillo Mining and Phelps Dodge in 1994 and 1995 and to explore for primary
copper ("
Cu
") sulphide mineralization underneath the enrichment blanket to depths of over 500 m on the
Candelaria portion of the Flor de Cobre property. Nine historical drill holes were selected for twinning
based on cumulative grade times thickness and representing approximately 70% of the total cumulative
grade thickness intersected on the property. This would allow Element 29 to use the historical
information as part of a drill hole dataset for the estimation of mineral resources that meets the CIM best
practice guidelines.
Table 1
. Results of drill holes FDC006, FDC007, FDC008, and FDC009. Grades are length-weighted
averages of samples within the intervals shown.
Hole
From
(m)
To
(m)
Length
2
(m)
Cu
(%)
Mo
(%)
Ag
(ppm)
As
(ppm)
CuEq
1
(%)
FDC006
92.45
160.00
67.55
0.27
0.003
0.7
45
0.29
enriched
92.45
110.00
17.55
0.47
0.001
0.8
36
0.48
primary
110.00
160.00
50.00
0.20
0.004
1.0
48
0.22
FDC007
114.50
183.00
68.50
0.45
0.008
0.7
16
0.48
enriched
114.50
134.00
19.50
0.92
0.019
0.7
13
0.99
primary
134.00
183.00
49.00
0.26
0.004
1.0
17
0.28
FDC008
30.50
160.00
129.5
0.29
0.008
0.9
32
0.33
oxide
30.50
112.00
81.50
0.26
0.009
0.7
7
0.30
enriched
112.00
123.70
11.70
0.73
0.007
0.8
15
0.77
primary
123.70
160.00
36.30
0.21
0.006
1.6
93
0.25
FDC009
62.25
108.00
45.75
0.29
0.003
0.6
19
0.31
enriched
62.25
74.00
11.75
0.54
0.002
0.9
11
0.55
primary
74.00
108.00
34.00
0.21
0.004
0.4
32
0.44
1
Copper equivalent grades (CuEq) are for comparative purposes only. Calculations are uncut and recovery is assumed to be 100% as
metallurgical data is insufficient to allow for estimation of metal recoveries. Copper equivalence (CuEq %) is calculated as: CuEq (%) = Cu (%) +
[3.55 × Mo (%)] + [0.0095 × Ag (g/t)], utilizing metal prices of Cu - US$3.34/lb, Mo - US$11.86/lb and Ag - US$21.87/oz. Metal prices are based on
a 2-year average of monthly LME metal prices.
2
Intervals are downhole drilled core lengths. Drilling data to date is insufficient to determine true width of mineralization. Assay values are uncut.
The Company's drill program consists of approximately 4,500 m of diamond drilling centred on the
Candelaria porphyry complex
(Figure 2)
. A total of 2,180 m was allocated to twin nine historical drill
holes to verify the accuracy of existing historical geochemical assays and drill logs (
Table 2
). The first
five drill holes of the 2022 Flor de Cobre drill program included 349 m of 0.77% Cu, including 123 m of
1.42% Cu (refer to
April 19, 2022
and
June 1, 2022
press releases).
The remaining 2,320 m in three drill
holes was allocated to test the primary copper sulphide mineralization potential below the supergene
enrichment blanket to depths of more than 500 m. Results for these three holes are pending.
Table 2
: List of twelve drill holes forming the 2022 Flor de Cobre drilling program. Nine of the twelve drill
holes are designed to twin historical drill holes. The coordinates, depth, orientation, and hole type of the
historical holes are shown. Drill holes FDC001 through FDC012 are complete, with results pending for
FDC010 through FDC012.
Hole ID
Hole ID
(historical)
East
North
Elev
(m)
Length
(m)
Azimuth
(degrees)
Dip
(degrees)
Historical
Hole Type
FDC001
K-008
245889
8148407
2769
700.2
0
-90
DDH
FDC002
CAR-188
245812
8148416
2790
527.5
0
-90
RC
FDC003
CAR-190
246002
8148314
2781
394.0
0
-90
RC
FDC004
CAR-189
245912
8148319
2782
272.8
0
-90
RC
FDC005
M-008
245893
8148215
2777
225.3
0
-90
DDH
FDC006
K-006
245719
814358
2821
250.0
0
-90
DDH
FDC007
K-010
246091
8148396
2800
260.0
0
-90
DDH
FDC008
I-008
245934
8148572
2735
176.0
0
-90
DDH
FDC009
CAR-186
246212
8148417
2756
249.0
0
-90
RC
FDC010
NA
246121
8148485
2774
400.9
210
-55
NA
FDC011
NA
245717
8148360
2821
601.3
44
-55
NA
FDC012
NA
246000
8148313
2781
475.0
300
-55
NA
Coordinates are in WGS84 zone 18S UTM
All drill holes intersected a sub-horizontal, secondary copper sulphide enrichment zone dominated by
chalcocite located at the base of strongly leached porphyry and siliciclastic host rocks.
Enriched copper
oxides represent a minor component of the enrichment zone and where present, are situated above the
secondary copper sulphide enrichment zone. The best mineralization is centred on the Candelaria
porphyry complex, which is characterized by strong potassic alteration overprinted by quartz-sericite-
pyrite (phyllic) alteration. Sections containing the drill holes are shown in
Figures 3 - 6
.
Comparison with Historical Data
The primary objective of the drilling program was to verify results from historical drilling, which was a
combination of core and reverse circulation drilling completed in the mid-1990's by Rio Amarillo and
Phelps Dodge. Materials from these drilling programs are unavailable and prevented a Qualified Person
from verifying copper geochemical results. Therefore, twinning selected holes is required to verify results
from historical drilling such that it can be used in future resource estimation. Furthermore, analysis of
other elements of interest such as molybdenum and silver were incomplete in the historical database.
Multi-element analysis from twinned holes provides an opportunity to investigate a possible economic
contribution of these constituents.
Results from this last batch of holes were very similar to their historical twins both in Cu grades and the
position and thickness of the enrichment zone (
Table 3
). Graphic representations of the twin and
historical drilling results are plotted in
Figures 7 and 8
.
Table 3.
Comparison of intervals from the historical drill holes K-006, K-010, I-008, and CAR-186 with
twinned holes FDC006, FDC007, FDC008 and FDC009.
FDC006
K-006
From
To
Length
Cu%
From
To
Length
Cu%
Zone
92.45
230.00
137.55
0.22
94.10
230.56
136.46
0.22
Total
92.45
110.00
17.55
0.47
94.10
111.55
17.45
0.46
Enriched
110.00
230.00
120.00
0.19
111.55
230.56
119.01
0.18
Primary
FDC007
K-010
From
To
Length
Cu%
From
To
Length
Cu%
Zone
114.50
258.00
143.50
0.29
114.75
257.05
142.30
0.24
Total
114.50
134.00
19.50
0.92
114.75
137.15
22.40
0.64
Enriched
134.00
258.00
124.00
0.19
137.15
257.05
119.90
0.17
Primary
FDC008
I-008
From
To
Length
Cu%
From
To
Length
Cu%
Zone
30.50
146.50
116.00
0.30
32.00
146.80
114.80
0.31
Total
30.50
112.00
81.50
0.26
32.00
106.00
74.00
0.24
Oxide
112.00
123.70
11.70
0.73
106.00
124.00
18.00
0.65
Enriched
123.70
146.50
22.80
0.23
124.00
146.80
22.80
0.26
Primary
FDC009
CAR-186
From
To
Length
Cu%
From
To
Length
Cu%
Zone
62.25
212.00
149.75
0.19
66.00
211.00
145.00
0.27
Total
62.25
108.00
45.75
0.29
66.00
118.00
52.00
0.45
Enriched
108.00
212.00
104.00
0.15
118.00
211.00
93.00
0.17
Primary
To assess how well the Element 29 twin drill holes compare with the historical Rio Amarillo Mining core
holes and the Phelps Dodge reverse circulation drill holes, CGK Consulting Services Inc. used a series
of statistical and graphical summaries. The statistical summaries include the mean, the standard
deviation, the linear correlation, the average coefficient of variation, the reduced to major axis linear
model, and the two-sample t-test (
Table 4
).
The graphical summaries include drill hole profile plots,
scatter plots of sample pairs, cumulative grade times thickness plots, relative difference plots, and down-
the-hole correlograms.
In addition to the above statistical and graphical summaries for the twin hole comparisons, CGK
Consulting Services Inc. also reviewed the historical re-sampling carried out by Phelps Dodge, an
assessment of the reliability of the drill hole collar locations, and an assessment of the quality control and
quality assurance results for the Element 29 drill hole sample assays to demonstrate the reliability of this
data.
Table 4.
Summary of selected statistics for the twin drill hole comparisons. The "Mean" for each
historical drill hole and its E29 twin are length-weighted averages of the two sets of copper assays.
"Correlation" is a summary statistic that measures how close the two sets of copper assay grades fall
along a straight line. The "t-statistic" is a two-sample t-test used to determine if the samples belong to
the same statistical population. If the t-statistic is between -2 and +2 the samples come from the same
population.
Historical
Hole
E29
Twin
No. of
Pairs
Historical
Mean
E29
Mean
Correlation
t-statistic
Comparison
Type
K-008
FDC001
117
0.864
0.864
0.845
-0.080
Core-Core
CAR-188
FDC002
100
0.583
0.642
0.592
-0.830
RC-Core
CAR-190
FDC003
111
0.459
0.401
0.195
0.830
RC-Core
CAR-189
FDC004
18
0.257
0.296
0.811
-0.780
RC-Core
M-008
FDC005
118
0.249
0.247
0.663
0.080
Core-Core
K-006
FDC006
141
0.150
0.152
0.640
-0.110
Core-Core
K-010
FDC007
156
0.159
0.178
0.874
-0.730
Core-Core
I-008
FDC008
49
0.284
0.293
0.684
0.200
Core-Core
CAR-186
FDC009
88
0.229
0.169
0.446
1.98
RC-Core
The Company continues to progress drill permitting on the Atravesado porphyry target ("
Atravesado
") in
preparation for initial drill-testing of a priority porphyry target supported by coincident outcrop geology,
surface geochemistry, and geophysical responses. Atravesado is located approximately 2 kilometres
("
km
") northwest of Candelaria and is a 1.5 km x 1.6 km circular zone characterized by outcropping
copper oxide mineralization in association with quartz vein stockworks and potassic alteration (
Figure
9
). Late-mineral porphyry dikes are also mapped within the target area.
Analytical Quality Control & Quality Assurance
Candelaria Resources S.A.C., a wholly owned subsidiary of Element 29 Resources Inc., supervises
drilling and carries out sampling of HQ and NQ core. Logging and sampling are completed at a secured
Company facility situated on the Flor de Cobre project site. Sample intervals are nominally 2 m long. Drill
core is cut in half using a rotary diamond blade saw and samples are sealed on site before
transportation to the ALS Peru S.A.C. sample preparation facility in Arequipa by Company vehicles and
staff. Prepared samples are sent to Lima by ALS Peru S.A.C. for analysis. ALS Peru S.A.C. is an
independent laboratory. Samples are analyzed for 35 elements using an Aqua Regia digestion and ICP-
AES analysis (ME-ICP41). Samples reporting over limits are analyzed by Aqua Regia digestion with
ICP-AES finish (ME-OG46). ALS meets all requirements of International Standards ISO/IEC
17025:2005 and ISO 9001:2015 for analytical procedures.
Element 29 employs an independent, internal quality assurance/quality control program that includes
insertion of duplicate, blank, and certified reference samples at the field site. The Company is not aware
of any drilling, sampling, recovery, or other factors that could materially affect the accuracy or reliability of
the data reported.
Qualified Person
The scientific and technical content of this press release has been reviewed and approved by Paul J.
Johnston (PhD, P.Geo), Vice President of Exploration for Element 29 and is a "Qualified Person" as
defined in National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Service Provider (as that term is defined
in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or
accuracy of this press release.
About Flor de Cobre
Flor de Cobre is a porphyry copper exploration project that contains the Candelaria and the recently
outlined Atravesado porphyry copper targets. The property is in the Southern Peru Copper Belt and is
five km northwest of Nexa Resources' Chapi mine and 26 km southeast of the Cerro Verde mine owned
by Freeport-McMoRan, Sumitomo Metal Mining, and Compañía de Minas Buenaventura. Candelaria is
a classic Andean porphyry system with primary copper sulphide mineralization associated with a multi-
phase quartz monzonite porphyry complex. Weathering redistributed primary mineralization into a sub-
horizontal enrichment blanket containing secondary copper oxide and sulphide minerals at the base of a
hematitic leached cap. Remnants of the upper jarositic component of the leached cap overlying the
hematitic cap are preserved on the higher hill tops around the Candelaria prospect. Atravesado is a
porphyry copper exploration target located about 2 km northwest of Candelaria. An IP/Resistivity
geophysical survey completed in 2020 outlined a core of moderate resistivity measuring 1.5 x 1.6 km
that coincides with widespread copper oxide mineralization, strong copper geochemistry, and late-stage
quartz monzodiorite porphyry dikes. The resistive core is surrounded by a high-chargeability halo
corresponding with weathered quartz-sericite-pyrite alteration.
About Element 29 Resources Inc.
Element 29 Resources Inc. is an emerging copper exploration and development company focused on
advancing its portfolio of Peruvian projects towards development in one of the world's lower-risk mining
jurisdictions. Element 29's growth strategy is led by our strong board and management, who have a
proven track record of discovery and delivering significant value to our shareholders.
The Company's principal objective is to explore and develop its flagship Flor de Cobre porphyry Cu-Mo
project located in southern Peru, 26 km southeast from Freeport-McMoRan's Cerro Verde Cu-Mo mine.
At the same time, the Company intends to build on its potential copper inventory with continued
exploration of its Flor de Cobre project as well as its remaining 22,000 hectares of mining concessions
in Peru, including the recently discovered Elida porphyry copper-molybdenum-silver system located 85
km from the coast in central Peru. Both projects are well located for potential mine development and will
benefit from nearby infrastructure including roads, powerlines, ports, water, and a skilled workforce.
More information is available at
www.e29copper.com
.
For more information:
David Jan
Investor Relations
1-888-246-7881
Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains certain forward-looking information and forward-looking statements within
the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation (collectively, "
Forward-looking
Statements
"). All statements, other than statements of historical fact, constitute Forward-looking
Statements. Words such as "will", "intends", "proposed" and "expects" or similar expressions are
intended to identify Forward-looking Statements. Forward looking Statements in this press release
include statements related the Company's resource properties, and the Company's plans, focus and
objectives.
Forward-looking Statements involve various risks and uncertainties and are based on certain factors
and assumptions. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, and actual
results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Important
factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Company's expectations include
uncertainties related to fluctuations in copper and other commodity prices, uncertainties inherent in the
exploration of mineral properties, the impact and progression of the COVID-19 pandemic and other risk
factors set forth in the Company's prospectus under the heading "Risk Factors". The Company
undertakes no obligation to update or revise any Forward-looking Statements, whether as a result of new
information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required by law. New factors emerge from time
to time, and it is not possible for Element 29 to predict all of them or assess the impact of each such
factor or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause results to differ materially
from those contained in any Forward-looking Statement. Any Forward-looking Statements contained in
this press release are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement.
Figure 1.
Regional setting of the Flor de Cobre Project is in the Southern Peru Copper Belt, between
the Cerro Verde and Chapi mines. The project is at a moderate elevation of less than 2,700 m, is road
accessible, and is close to excellent infrastructure for mine development and operation.
To view an enhanced version of Figure 1, please visit:
https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/7414/130068_78e8fd7b34374acc_001full.jpg
1
The source of the historical resource estimate is a press release issued by Rio Amarillo Mining Ltd. dated November 15, 1996 (Rio Amarillo Mining
Ltd., November 15th, 1996: Aija Property Drill Results). This historical resource is relevant to Flor de Cobre as it suggests supergene-enriched
mineralization of interest may be present at Candelaria. However, the Company cautions that the parameters, assumptions, and methods used to
calculate the historical estimate are unknown. Additionally, the historical estimate does not use resource categories described in CIM Definition
Standards for Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves (2014). It is also unclear what portion of this historical resource estimate is within the
current Flor de Cobre property configuration. A Qualified Person has not done sufficient work to classify the historical estimate as a current mineral
resource, and it is unclear what work might be required to confirm the resource. For these reasons, the historical resource has not been verified by
the Company and the Company is not treating the historical estimate as a current mineral resource.
Figure 2.
Simplified geology map of the southeastern end of the Flor de Cobre concessions illustrating
the Candelaria porphyry complex. Drill hole locations of the 2022 drill program and historical drill holes
are shown. The positions of sections containing holes FDC006, FDC007, FDC008, and FDC009 are
indicated with white dashed lines.
To view an enhanced version of Figure 2, please visit:
https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/7414/130068_78e8fd7b34374acc_002full.jpg
Figure 3.
Section A-A' showing the position of FDC006, which twins historical hole K-006. Both holes
were collared vertically and intersected an enrichment zone with secondary Cu sulphide (chalcocite)
beneath strongly leached inter-mineral porphyry that is part of the Candelaria porphyry complex.
To view an enhanced version of Figure 3, please visit:
https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/7414/130068_78e8fd7b34374acc_003full.jpg