Capstone Mining Corp. is pleased to announce that it has entered into an 18-month access agreement to conduct drill and metallurgical test work at BHP Copper Inc.'s ("BHP") Copper Cities project ("Copper Cities") located 10 km east of the Pinto Valley Mine ("Pinto Valley").
Darren Pylot, Capstone's CEO commented, "I am excited that we have started test work on a property neighbouring our flagship Pinto Valley operation." Mr. Pylot added, "Historic drill data from over 300 holes suggest a shallow copper target and a potentially low strip ratio pointing to a significant development opportunity."
Brad Mercer, Capstone's SVP Strategic Projects and Exploration said, "We believe Copper Cities is geologically a mirror image of Pinto Valley with the same host rocks and age. Our plan currently underway calls for a $6.7 million two phase drill program aimed at twinning historical drill holes and to select a portion of these for metallurgical testing. Discussions between Capstone and BHP are at an early stage."
About Copper Cities Project
Copper Cities was developed in the 1950s as a part of America's national effort to increase copper production to support the war effort in Korea. The operations included open pit mining, concentrating and leaching of copper ores. The mining and milling concluded in 1978 while leaching continued until 1982 when the site closed. Over the mine life according to USGS records, a total of 68.7 million tonnes of ore was milled at an estimated feed grade of approximately 0.66% with production of 895 million pounds of copper including 75 million pounds of copper cathode.
Source: http://capstonemining.com/home/default.aspx