Posted on 09 Jan 2023
Lion Copper and Gold says it has completed Stage 1 exploration at its Mason Valley copper project in Nevada with funds provided by Rio Tinto, Kallanish reports.
The British Columbia-based company says it has reached an agreement with Rio Tinto America subsidiary on the scope of the Stage 2 exploration with Nuton, a Rio Tinto copper venture, and on accelerating Stage 3 exploration work. Rio Tinto will provide $5 million for Stage 2 funding and an immediate advance of an additional $2.5m for Stage 3. The parties last March had signed an option agreement. Rio Tinto can acquire a 65% interest in the project.
The current work includes project permitting applications and baseline studies, Yerington engineering studies, and drilling about 17,000 feet at the Mason pass and Reno prospects, the Singatse target and the MacArthur and Bear deposits. Lion Copper says it plans to work closely with stakeholders and to deal with water issues.
Completed Stage 1 work identified 1,600 feet of continuous copper mineralisation beneath the historic Yerington Pit and the discovery of two copper-bearing veins at the Reno prospect. It identified ore-grade copper oxide mineralisation through trenching at the Mason Pass prospect and has confirmed ore-grade surface oxide mineralisation at the MacArthur deposit, it says.
Its engineers have been working to incorporate Nuton technologies into the Yerington and MacArthur projects. Those technologies rely on copper heap leaching methods to deliver greater copper recovery from mined ore and to access new sources of copper from low-grade ores.
The project is near Yerington, Nevada, and 50 miles southeast of Reno, Nevada. It covers 34,494 acres. The MacArthur project has measured and indicated resources of 676 million pounds of contained copper with an average grade of 0.21% and inferred resources of 980m lbs of contained copper at average grades of 0.20%.
Source:Kallanish
