PERTH (miningweekly.com) – ASX-listed Avanco Copper has reported a maiden mineral resource of 20.8-million tonnes, grading 1.7% copper and 0.2 g/t gold at its recently acquired Pantera copper project, in Brazil.
The project is estimated to host some 350 000 t of copper and a further 140 000 oz of gold, and has pushed Avanco’s Carajas resource base to beyond one-million tonnes of contained copper.
The Carajas mineral resource now stood at 58.3-million tonnes, grading 1.7% copper and 0.3 g/t gold for 1.01-million tonnes of copper and 666 100 oz of gold.
“This maiden resource estimate marks a number of significant milestones for Avanco, propelling the company’s Carajas resource base beyond the one-million tonnes of contained copper, and just as importantly, making rapid progress on a project that has defined our first transaction with Vale in the Carajas, and introduced us to the Brazilian Development Bank,” said Avanco MD Tony Polglase.
Avanco in January took an option to acquire the Pantera project from major Vale, with the option providing the Australian company with the right to acquire Pantera by either completing 14 000 m of drilling within two years and subsequently agreeing Joint Ore Reserves Committee-compliant measured and indicated resources hosted within the whole of the historical mineralised zone, thereafter establishing the acquisition price calculated at $0.04/lb of contained copper.