Altai claims copper-gold find

The Peruvian operating unit of Altai Resources (TSE) has acquired a copper-gold porphyry deposit in the southwestern department of Arequipa.

The title to three of the five claims has, however, been claimed by a private Peruvian company supported by a Canadian multinational mining corporation.

The deposit, which is intermittently exposed, comprises 4.5 km by 1.6 km on surface. In 1974, sampling over a small portion returned copper values ranging from 0.01% to 0.3%.

A pit dug to a depth of 11 metres returned low copper values in the first 2.5 metres below surface, but assays from 2.5 to 11 metres below surface ranged from 2.4% to 12.7%. More recently, in 1993, an independent consultant took 17 random samples which averaged 0.22 gram gold per tonne.

Altai will continue to evaluate this and 10 other copper and gold properties in the South American country.