Copper-Gold Project, New Mexi
11 November 2009
VANE Minerals plc (AIM:VML)
('VANE' or the 'Company')
Copper-Gold Porphyry Project, New Mexico, USA
Property package established from the Freeport data base, comprising:
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49 federal lode mining claims and 640 acre New Mexico State Lease
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1,650 acres within the Banner Mineral District, New Mexico
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Lordsburg West : undrilled covered area target
VANE announces that its wholly-owned subsidiary, AVEN Associates LLC, has established a land package within the Banner Mineral District of southwestern New Mexico, covering approximately 1,650 acres, about 2.5 square miles. The land package, 100% owned by AVEN Associates LLC, consists of 49 federal lode mining claims and a 640 acre New Mexico State Lease and lies to the west of the productive copper-gold Banner Mine.
The target, Lordsburg West, is an undrilled covered area adjacent to the productive Banner Mine. The Banner Mine, an underground copper/gold vein that operated into the 1960's produced 4.3 million tons of ore averaging 2.3% copper, 0.055 opt gold and 1.5 opt silver (Briggs, 1994). The Banner Mineral District has many of the geologic characteristics typically associated with the outer margins of a porphyry copper system. VANE believes the wide distribution of recent cover rocks in this area has left portions of this target untested. The southwest porphyry copper province that includes southern Arizona and southeastern New Mexico accounts for over 60% of U.S. copper production. Examination of the geologic maps of Arizona and New Mexico reveals that about 70% of the copper province is obscured by younger alluvial and/or volcanic rocks that were deposited after the copper deposits formed some 58 to 62 million years ago. Geologically, the density of porphyry copper occurrences should be the same throughout the province whether they occur in outcropping pre-mineral rocks or beneath post-mineral rocks. Plans are to drill up to 10, 500-foot rotary holes, with spot cores which is expected to be completed by the end of 2009.
The porphyry copper experience of VANE's exploration team combined with the databank continues to allow VANE to identify a number of new porphyry copper targets.
The Freeport databank Agreement
The Freeport databank which covers over 7,000 files (each containing between one and ten projects), has been accumulated over the period 1907-2000 and continues to be a valuable part of VANE's ongoing exploration strategy. Under the terms of the Agreement, Freeport has the option, either at the time when a project's reserve announcement is made or when a property goes into a bankable feasibility, to acquire an equity interest of up to 25% in a project. This is made through the payment of twice the exploration costs incurred by the Company on that particular project. The Agreement does not include any active exploration permits or mining rights but gives VANE access to a large, global information portfolio.
Freeport's exploration files by regions includes USA 4,689 files, Canada 1,230, Mexico 505, South America 300, Central America 100, Australia 200 and the rest of the world 285.
Matthew Idiens, Director of Corporate Development commented: "This property package, which grew out of the Freeport data base, is an exciting untested target in the historic Banner Mineral District. We are looking forward to evaluating the Lordsburg West target; starting with up to 10 rotary holes by the end of the year. We will update shareholders on the results of this initial drilling programme in due course."
For further information, please contact:
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VANE Minerals Plc |
+44 (0) 20 7667 6322 |
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Matthew Idiens |
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Arbuthnot Securities |
+44 (0) 20 7012 2000 |
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John Prior /Richard Johnson |
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Threadneedle Communications |
+44 (0) 20 7653 9850 |
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Laurence Read/ Beth Harris |
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This information is provided by RNS
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