VANCOUVER (miningweekly.com) – Junior explorer Corboda Minerals, in collaboration with High Power Exploration (HPX), a private mineral exploration company indirectly controlled by billionaire mining entrepreneur Robert Friedland's Ivanhoe Industries, have announced a maiden resource estimate on the Alacran copper/gold project, in Colombia.

According to a statement published Thursday, the partners have defined an initial, pit-constrained inferred mineral resource of 53.52-million tonnes at 0.7% copper and 0.37 g/t gold, or 0.95% copper equivalent (CuEq), including 7.37-million tonnes at 2.14% copper and 0.41 g/t gold above 1% copper (Cu) cut off.

Corboda explained that the inferred resource is contained within a shallow, north-south trending mineralised corridor that is about 1.3 km long and up to 355 m wide.

Mineral resources are reported within a conceptual openpit shell that extends for the full length of the 1.3 km corridor and to a depth of 220 m below surface. The broad horizontal widths of mineral resource zones from surface are considered favourable for potential openpit development at relatively low potential strip ratios, subject to the demonstration of economic viability, Corboda said.

The exploration team has intercepted copper/gold mineralisation in drill holes below the conceptual pit shell and at depths greater than 220 m below surface; however, this ore was not included in the initial resource owing to insufficient drilling at the mineral resource cut-off date. This mineralisation provides the joint venture with immediate drilling targets that could materially expand the inferred resource, according to Corboda.

The Alacran mineralised system remains open to depth. Surface copper/gold geochemical anomalies also indicate significant potential for more mineralised zones to the east and west of the current resource.

The partners believe there is strong potential to discover the mineralising source for the high-grade copper and gold deposit at Alacran. Drill targets have been identified and will be aggressively tested by the joint venture this year.