Lumina buys Relincho deposit

Vancouver — Lumina Copper (LUM-V) has inked a deal with Andes Pacific Development to acquire the Relincho copper property, 630 km north of Santiago, Chile.

The 195-sq.-km property contains several porphyry copper hydrothermal centres, one of which has been explored extensively. Lumina has already commissioned AMEC to produce a mineral resource estimate.

To acquire Relincho, Lumina must pay US$6 million in the form of US$750,000 cash and US$250,000 in cash or Lumina shares upon signing and US$5 million in cash or Lumina shares over the following three years.

“Relincho is an outstanding copper property in an excellent location and is our third major copper property acquisition in Chile,” says Lumina President Anthony Floyd. “Five porphyry centres have been discovered at Relincho, but only one has been drilled in any detail. Lumina looks forward to an aggressive exploration program and review of its economic potential.”

Finnish-based Outokumpu discovered copper and molybdenum mineralization at Relincho in 1993. Exploration continued until 1997, when Outokumpu ceased all exploration in Chile.

Five porphyry centres have been discovered to date: Los Amarillos, Relincho, Las Guias, Marja and Soledad. All occur within a 5-km corridor of hydrothermal alteration. Outokumpu drilled 150 diamond and reverse-circulation drill holes totalling 43,028 metres, mostly into the Relincho porphyry.

The Relincho porphyry covers a surface area of 700 by 500 metres. Copper mineralization occurs mostly as primary sulphides, which are overlain by a 10-to-70-metre-thick leached oxide cap. Primary sulphide mineralization consisting of bornite and chalcopyrite has been traced to a maximum depth of 700 metres. Associated with this mineralization are varying amounts of molybdenite, pyrite, digenite and covellite. Oxide mineralization consists mainly of malachite and chrysocolla.

Lumina hopes to find additional copper mineralization on the property. Main targets include:

— extensions to the known hypogene mineralization at the Relincho, Marja, and Las Guias porphyries;

— oxide copper mineralization hosted along the entire 5-km-long Relincho-Soledad porphyry system; and

— supergene porphyry copper enrichment zones beneath the leached stockwork zone at Los Amarillos.

Says Floyd: “Relincho is our most significant acquisition to date, and is an excellent addition to our other two Chilean copper deposits, Vizcachitas and Regalito. In addition to its acquisition of Relincho and its interest in Vizcachitas, Lumina Copper now has ownership of, or rights to acquire, nine other copper deposits and a major interest in a tenth. All are in the mining-friendly countries of Chile, Argentina, Peru and Canada. With the recent strengthening of the copper price, our focus will now expand to enable advancement of these deposits and evaluation of their potential for commercial development.”