International Enexco Extends Oxide Copper with Phase 1 Drilling at Contact Copper-Silver Project, Expands Land Holdings, Adds Second Drill Rig to Expedite Planned Pre-Feasibility Study
Vancouver, B.C. - International Enexco Ltd. (TSX-V, IEC) (“Enexco” or the “Company”)Mr. Arnold Armstrong, President and CEO of International Enexco reports that results of Phase 1 infill drilling at the Company’s 100%-owned
Contact Copper-Silver Project in northeastern Nevada, USA, indicate
broader zones of oxide copper mineralization than originally
anticipated. The successful Phase 1 infill drill results suggest that
an increase in net pounds of copper at Contact is likely, and that a
substantial part of the resource, from surface to a depth of 250
meters, is in the form of oxide copper. Dr. William Willoughby, Manager
of Engineering for the Project states “these results lend further
support to focusing the Pre-Feasibility Study on the Project as an
open-pit, heap-leach operation.”
An updated National Instrument 43-101 and JORC compliant mineral
resource document will be published by the Company later this year. The
previously reported estimates based on historical drilling were
reported in an independent National Instrument 43-101 and JORC
compliant Technical Report in July, 2006. At a 0.5% copper cut-off
grade, the Indicated Resource was estimated to be 4.4 million tonnes
with 1.35% copper and 12.2 g/t silver, plus an Inferred Resource of 6.0
million tonnes with 1.80% copper and 8.7 g/t silver, together
containing an estimated 371 million pounds of copper and 3.4 million
ounces of silver.
Enexco further believes there is potential to significantly expand
the known copper-silver resources, specifically along the margins of
the district-sized Contact intrusive body and also to depth. To this
end, an additional 389 hectares (960 acres) have been acquired
contiguous to the Company’s existing properties in addition to another
4,200 hectares (10,360 acres) staked regionally including new strategic
copper, gold, silver and molybdenum targets as outlined by
International Enexco geologists.
To help expedite a planned Pre-Feasibility Study for the Contact
Project, a second EF-50 diamond core drill rig was purchased by the
Company for the Project and is now fully operational. This second rig
will reduce by one-half the time required to complete the infill
drilling necessary for upgrading the resource and allow investigations
of open pit design and column leach tests to get underway earlier. The
Company hopes to have the Pre-Feasibility Study completed by year end.
The second drill rig will also allow Enexco to more quickly explore the
newly acquired mineral claims as well as examine the deeper
mineralization hit in 1972 by Phelps-Dodge in drill hole, PD-4. This
hole intersected 3.7 meters of 20.7% Cu with 207 g/t Ag and 14.2 meters
of 9.2% Cu with 144 g/t Ag. Gold up to 5.1 g/t and molybdenum up to
1900 ppm were also encountered in these intervals. Enexco plans a
number of deep holes (>750 meters) to examine targets near this high
grade discovery hole. Success in this drilling could significantly
increase the Contact Project copper resource.
The Contact Project is located approximately 80 kilometers north of
Wells, Elko County, in northeastern Nevada. The Project is well located
with respect to power and water, and lies adjacent to Nevada State
Highway 93. The Phase 1 infill drill program consisted of 18 core holes
totaling 5,000 metres in the eastern part of the Banner Zone, an area
within the Company’s 1,214 hectare (3000 acre) of primarily patented
claims where most of the historical drilling was focused. In the 2006
43-101 Technical Report, resources in the Banner Zone were modeled from
mineralized zones associated with quartz veins in the Jurassic-age
granodiorite host rock. The Banner Zone resource model covers an area
about 1500 meters long in east-west strike and dipping from 40 to 55
degrees south. Phase 1 drilling was confined to the eastern-third of
this Zone.
All Phase 1 infill drill holes encountered copper mineralization
consistent with the 2006 resource model and a 0.5% Cu cut-off grade.
However, the drilling also encountered broader zones of oxide-dominant
copper mineralization, providing further support for a bulk open pit
mining and heap leaching operation.
Table 1, below, provides significant intercepts from Phase 1 infill
drilling which are consistent with the 2006 resource model and a 0.5%
Cu cut-off grade; Table 2 provides significant intercepts at a cut-off grade of 0.1% Cu.
Table 1: Phase 1 Infill Drilling
Significant Intercepts @ 0.5% Cu cutoff
| DDH |
From |
To |
Meters |
% Cu |
Ag g/t |
|
EN-02 |
234.7 |
239.3 |
4.6 |
1.14 |
11.9 |
|
EN-03 |
41.8 |
45.1 |
3.4 |
1.37 |
62.1 |
|
|
115.5 |
120.4 |
4.9 |
2.57 |
42.2 |
|
EN-04 |
47.2 |
51.8 |
4.6 |
1.81 |
8.7 |
|
EN-05 |
87.5 |
90.5 |
3.0 |
1.50 |
4.7 |
|
EN-06 |
93.0 |
99.1 |
6.1 |
1.37 |
6.9 |
|
|
146.3 |
150.9 |
4.6 |
1.46 |
11.7 |
|
EN-08 |
1.5 |
4.0 |
2.5 |
3.20 |
29.0 |
|
|
57.9 |
65.5 |
7.6 |
1.11 |
9.7 |
|
EN-10 |
152.4 |
157.0 |
4.6 |
1.98 |
36.5 |
|
EN-11 |
112.8 |
118.9 |
6.1 |
2.74 |
26.4 |
|
EN-13 |
158.5 |
172.2 |
13.7 |
1.10 |
10.9 |
|
EN-15 |
48.8 |
53.3 |
4.6 |
1.21 |
24.9 |
|
|
77.1 |
87.8 |
10.7 |
1.82 |
21.6 |
|
EN-16 |
201.2 |
205.7 |
4.6 |
1.84 |
24.3 |
Table 2: Phase 1 Infill Drilling
Significant Intercepts @ 0.1% Cu cutoff
| DDH |
From |
To |
Meters |
% Cu |
|
EN-01 |
214.9 |
221.0 |
6.1 |
0.29 |
|
EN-02 |
80.2 |
102.1 |
21.9 |
0.22 |
|
|
116.4 |
152.4 |
36.0 |
0.35 |
|
|
213.4 |
245.4 |
32.0 |
0.29 |
|
EN-03 |
18.6 |
27.4 |
8.8 |
0.30 |
|
|
38.1 |
46.6 |
8.5 |
0.58 |
|
|
71.3 |
126.5 |
55.2 |
0.31 |
|
EN-04 |
0.0 |
70.1 |
70.1 |
0.31 |
|
|
152.4 |
173.7 |
21.3 |
0.30 |
|
EN-05 |
85.3 |
97.5 |
12.2 |
0.51 |
|
EN-06 |
18.3 |
39.6 |
21.3 |
0.12 |
|
|
68.6 |
161.5 |
93.0 |
0.34 |
|
|
240.8 |
246.9 |
6.1 |
0.40 |
|
EN-07 |
8.5 |
18.3 |
9.8 |
0.33 |
|
|
94.5 |
126.5 |
32.0 |
0.33 |
|
|
146.3 |
152.4 |
6.1 |
0.46 |
|
EN-08 |
1.5 |
65.5 |
64.0 |
0.45 |
|
|
172.2 |
181.7 |
9.4 |
0.45 |
|
EN-09 |
121.9 |
131.1 |
9.1 |
0.24 |
|
|
211.8 |
234.7 |
22.9 |
0.22 |
|
EN-10 |
22.9 |
32.0 |
9.1 |
0.33 |
|
|
152.4 |
166.1 |
13.7 |
0.72 |
|
|
237.7 |
259.1 |
21.3 |
0.25 |
|
|
277.4 |
283.5 |
6.1 |
0.47 |
|
EN-11 |
27.4 |
74.7 |
47.2 |
0.13 |
|
|
93.0 |
155.4 |
62.5 |
0.42 |
|
EN-12 |
93.0 |
99.1 |
6.1 |
0.56 |
|
|
205.7 |
222.5 |
16.8 |
0.17 |
|
|
256.0 |
262.1 |
6.1 |
0.28 |
|
EN-13 |
25.9 |
89.9 |
64.0 |
0.13 |
|
|
137.2 |
196.6 |
59.4 |
0.36 |
|
|
234.7 |
288.0 |
53.3 |
0.24 |
|
EN-14 |
3.0 |
9.1 |
6.1 |
0.42 |
|
|
61.0 |
115.8 |
54.9 |
0.12 |
|
|
144.8 |
150.9 |
6.1 |
0.25 |
|
|
201.2 |
207.3 |
6.1 |
0.32 |
|
EN-15 |
48.8 |
96.9 |
48.2 |
0.63 |
|
|
200.1 |
210.6 |
10.5 |
0.31 |
|
EN-16 |
4.6 |
15.2 |
10.7 |
0.42 |
|
|
64.0 |
114.3 |
50.3 |
0.14 |
|
|
179.8 |
205.7 |
25.9 |
0.44 |
|
|
268.2 |
283.5 |
15.2 |
0.30 |
|
EN-17 |
9.1 |
18.3 |
9.1 |
0.35 |
|
|
91.4 |
118.9 |
27.4 |
0.32 |
|
EN-18 |
80.8 |
146.3 |
65.5 |
0.12 |
The Contact project is under the supervision of International
Enexco’s Manager of Engineering, Dr. William Willoughby, PE, who is a
Qualified Person as defined in Canadian National Instrument 43-101, and
is responsible for the preparation of the technical information in this
News Release.
All intervals reported within this news release are drill core which
has been transported and logged at Enexco’s core logging facility
located in Filer Idaho, where it is split, bagged and transported to
American Assay Laboratories sample preparation facility in Elko,
Nevada. Analyses were performed at AAL’s facility in Sparks, Nevada.
A Quality Assurance and Quality Control Protocol is in place in which
blanks and standards are inserted into the sample stream and check
assays are performed by ACME Analytical Laboratories Ltd. in Vancouver,
B.C.
As of this publication, International Enexco Ltd. has 21,053,077
shares outstanding (23,495,927 fully diluted) and approximately CDN $16
million in working capital.
ABOUT INTERNATIONAL ENEXCO
Enexco is a Canadian based advanced exploration company headquartered
in Vancouver, B.C. In addition to its 100% owned Contact Copper-Silver
Resource Property, the Company also has a strategic alliance with
Cameco Corporation (35%), International Enexco (30%) and UEM Inc. (35%)
to jointly develop the High-Grade Mann Lake Uranium Project located in
the Athabasca Basin in Saskatchewan. Cameco is operator of the Mann
Lake Uranium Project.
For further information on all of Enexco's projects, visit our website at: www.enexco.ca
Paul McKenzie, Director, International Enexco Limited
Tel: (604) 669-8368 Fax: (604) 642-2629
