Oct 20 2010
AQM Copper Inc. (TSX VENTURE:AQM)(BVLAC:AQM) has announced more significant drill results from the Zafranal project located in the northwestern extension of the Southern Peru Copper Porphyry Belt near the city of Arequipa. Today, the company reports drill results from 16 diamond drill holes.
Hole ZFDDH10-102 was drilled 80m north of previously reported drill hole ZFDDH10-070 (156.5m @ 0.28% Cu) and shows that mineralization remains open to the north along this section.
Hole ZFDDH10-103 was drilled 80m north of previously reported drill hole ZFDDH10-101 (no significant results) and was aimed at testing a possible deep extension of primary copper mineralization towards the north.
Hole ZFDDH10-104 was drilled 80m south of previously reported drill hole ZFDDH10-082 (98m @ 0.43% Cu) and shows that mineralization remains open to the south along this section.
Hole ZFDDH10-105 was drilled 80m north of previously reported drill hole ZFDDH10-099 (71m @ 0.30% Cu) and confirms the existence of higher grade copper mineralization in the eastern portion of the Zafranal Main Zone.
Hole ZFDDH10-106 was drilled 100m northeast of drill hole ZFDDH10-105 and represents the first drill hole along a new section which extends the Zafranal Main Zone a further 100m to the east. This hole encountered potentially economic mineralization, though drilling problems prevented it from reaching its target depth of 350m. A further two diamond drill holes were completed along this section: Hole ZFDDH10-108 was drilled 80m south of ZFDDH10-106 and hole ZFDDH10-112 was drilled 80m south of ZFDDH10-108. Both of these holes encountered significant copper mineralization and show that the Zafranal zone remains open to the east, north and south.
Hole ZFDDH10-107 was drilled 80m south of previously reported drill hole ZFDDH10-077 (130m @ 0.43% Cu) and shows that mineralization remains open to the south along this section.
Hole ZFDDH10-109 was drilled 80m north of previously reported drill hole ZFDDH10-079 (86m @ 0.29% Cu) and confirms the northern limit of copper mineralization along this section.
Hole ZFDDH10-110 was drilled 80m south of previously reported drill hole ZFDDH10-061 (78m @ 0.58% Cu) and shows that copper-gold mineralization remains open to the south along this section.
Hole ZFDDH10-111 was drilled 90m southeast and 80m northeast of drill holes ZFDDH10-079 (86m @ 0.29% Cu) and ZFDDH10-087 (106m @ 0.31% Cu) respectively. This hole ended in mineralization and shows that the zone remains open at depth in parts of its eastern extension.
Hole ZFDDH10-113 was drilled from the same pad as previously reported drill hole ZFDDH10-037 (28.85m @ 0.32% Cu) and was aimed at testing deep hypogene copper mineralization along the northern extension on this section.
Hole ZFDDH10-114 was drilled sub-vertically from the same pad as previously reported drill hole ZFDDH10-009 (56m @ 0.90% Cu) and was aimed at testing the continuity at depth of the central part of the Main Zone.
Hole ZFDDH10-115 was drilled at a -85 degree angle towards the north from the same pad as previously reported drill hole ZFDDH10-005 (92.5m @ 0.62% Cu) and was aimed at testing the continuity of the copper mineralization at depth on the western part of the Zafranal Main Zone.
Hole ZFDDH10-116 was an infill hole drilled between previously reported drill holes ZFDDH10-12 (144m @ 0.68% Cu) and ZFDDH10-17 (127.2m @ 0.61% Cu).
Hole ZFDDH10-117 was drilled 60m north of previously reported drill hole ZFDDH10-059 (48.5m @ 0.42% Cu) and bottomed in mineralization, showing that the Main Zone remains open to the north and at depth along this section.
Drilling through October has focused on a 2.4km long segment of the 3.5+km east-west trending intensely mineralized Main Zone, one of six porphyry copper-gold targets within the Zafranal project. The Company continues an aggressive drill program at Zafranal having now completed more than 63,000m of diamond and RC drilling this year. The Company plans an additional $4M expenditure at Zafranal for 2010 and a NI43-101 compliant resource estimate in Q4. AQM is the operator of a 50/50 JV with Teck Resources Limited through a sole purpose Peruvian company being formed for the Zafranal Project, as announced in its press release dated July 8, 2010.
The Company has established a rigorous QA/QC program at Zafranal, which includes the insertion of blanks, duplicates and certified standards into the sample stream. Core is photographed on site and subsequently sawed in half, with one half sent for analysis and the other half stored for future reference and assay verification. RC chips are split twice on site using a riffle splitter, with 25% of the sample being sent to the laboratory for assay and the rest stored for future verification purposes. All Zafranal samples are shipped to ALS Chemex's sample preparation facility in the city of Arequipa, where they are crushed and pulverized. Prepared samples are shipped to ALS Chemex's certified laboratory in Lima where they are analysed for gold, copper and multi-element ICP.
Dr. Tom Henricksen, consultant geologist of the Company and Chief Geologist for AQM Peru, the Company's Qualified Person for the purposes of NI 43-101, has approved the information contained in this news release.