TORONTO, ONTARIO–(Marketwire – Feb. 6, 2012) – Copper One Inc. (TSX VENTURE:CUO) (the “Company” or “Copper One”) is pleased to announce the results for the fall 2011 core drilling program for its 100% owned Lone Mountain Project, just outside of Silver City, Grant County, New Mexico, USA. These results are highlighted by hole LM-11-052, which intersected 135 meters of 0.36% copper, was drilled on a portion of the property that had never been tested and extends the known mineralization to the south, tripling its size. The Lone Mountain project lies between Freeport McMoran’s operating Chino and Tyrone Copper Mines.
The goal of the fall 2011 drilling program was to test the north-northwest trending mineralized zone, which lies along the western margin of the porphyry intrusion and was defined previously by only three vertical holes, LM-44, LM-03 and LM-32. The fall 2011 program utilized angle core drilling (one to the east and five to the west) because of the suspected high angle to vertical fracture control to the mineralization. Prior to the 2011 core drilling program, the Western Zone had dimensions of 79 meters wide and 545 meters long, and plunged steeply to the east. The 2011 core drilling clearly demonstrated strong high angle to vertical control to the mineralization and tripled its dimensions to 143 meters wide by 1,046 meters long.
The best intersections from the 2011 core drilling campaign on the Lone Mountain project are as follows:
Hole number | Width | Grade |
LM-11-049 | 45 meters | 0.34% copper |
LM-11-050 | 40 meters | 0.33% copper |
LM-11-051 | 75 meters | 0.25% copper |
LM-11-052 | 136 meters | 0.36% copper |
LM-11-53 | 44 meters | 0.17% copper |
LM-11-54 | 50 meters | 0.60% copper |
The true widths of the reported core intervals are estimated to be between 60 and 65 percent of these intervals.
An additional goal of the drill program was to determine the depth extent of the oxide copper mineralization at Lone Mountain. This most recent drilling revealed that copper oxide mineralization does penetrate deeper than expected, in excess of 380 meters deep. Copper One also found that the observed mineralized fractures in the porphyry are denser than modeled from previous shallow vertical drilling in the center of the intrusion.
The fall 2011 drilling program was performed under a first-of-its-kind state issued Part 4 Permit that allows Copper One the flexibility to drill up to 528 holes from up to 176 drill sites. In 2012, the Company plans to conduct reverse circulation drilling in the Western Zone. This will be followed by core drilling to potentially expand the Western and Eastern Zones and test the depths of mixed-oxide sulphide-chalcocite zones in the Eastern Zone.
Benoit Moreau, President and Chief Executive Officer of Copper One, stated: “The core drilling program was successful in expanding the Western copper oxide zone and confirmed the vertical to sub-vertical fracture control at Lone Mountain. A similar program is planned for 2012 on both the Western and Eastern Zones that are still open, with the objective to increase again the mineralization footprint. These drill programs are designed to lead to a National Instrument 43-101 compliant resource estimate.”
Quality Assurance/Quality Control
The Lone Mountain exploration program has been conducted under the supervision of Mr. Thomas Kilbey, a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. Copper One has implemented and adheres to a strict Quality Assurance/Quality Control program which includes mineralized standards and blanks for each batch of samples (averaging 1 for every 10). Assay samples are taken from drill core sawed in half with one half sent to a commercial laboratory and the other half retained for future reference. Several one half core samples were split into quarters for duplicate assaying. Core sawing slimes on 50 foot intervals were gathered for 2 holes during the program (one in skarn and one in porphyry) to verify that no variation of assays was produced by sawing. Four acid copper and trace element analyses were performed by Inspectorate Laboratories of Sparks, Nevada, an accredited laboratory, which is a division of Bureau Veritas Group Company.
Granting of Stock Options
Copper One also announces that it has granted 400,000 stock options to various directors, employees and consultants. Such options may be exercised at a price of $0.35 per common share for a period of five years from the date hereof and are subject to approval of the TSX Venture Exchange.
Qualified Person
The scientific and technical information in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Thomas Kilbey, Copper One’s Vice President Exploration, a certified professional geologist and a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101.
About Copper One Inc.
Copper One is focused on developing high-value copper deposits in leading mining jurisdictions. The Company is led by a diverse team of explorers, developers and operators with major company experience and a clear understanding of the business of mining. The newest additions to Copper One’s portfolio are the Rivière Doré copper-nickel project, located near Val d’Or, Quebec, and the Queylus copper-gold project, located in the Chibougamau mining district in Quebec. Copper One has six other properties which are located in the Arizona and New Mexico copper mining districts, including the Lone Mountain copper oxide project.
For more information about Copper One Inc., please visit: www.copperone.com.
On behalf of the board of directors of Copper One Inc.,
Benoit Moreau, President & Chief Executive Officer
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS: This document includes forward-looking statements as well as historical information. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to the Company’s planned drilling program for 2012, the continued advancement of the Company’s general business and research development and the Company’s development of mineral exploration projects. When used in this document, the words “anticipate”, “believe”, “estimate”, “expect”, “intent”, “may”, “project”, “plan”, “should” and similar expressions may identify forward-looking statements. Although Copper One Inc. believes that their expectations reflected in these forward looking statements are reasonable, such statements involve risks and uncertainties and no assurance can be given that actual results will be consistent with these forward-looking statement. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ from these forward-looking statements include the potential that fluctuations in the marketplace for the sale of minerals, the inability to implement corporate strategies, the ability to obtain financing and other risks disclosed in our filings made with Canadian Securities Regulators.
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