I don't think it was right for them not even to finish the drill program. This property still has a shot but it could be tuff finding someone new to bring in.
November 12, 1999 VSE Symbol : AMC
NEWS RELEASE
PORTUGAL FERRAGUDO PROJECT UPDATE
Abacus Minerals Corporation (the "Company") has been informed by its joint venture participant, Phelps Dodge Exploration Corporation ("Phelps Dodge"), that Phelps Dodge has declined to exercise its second year option on Abacus? Ferragudo project in Portugal. Abacus intends to continue exploring this exciting mineral concession and, as a result, has signed confidentiality agreements with several interested major mining companies to potentially form a new joint venture partnership on this strategically located property. Property visits by interested companies will begin next week.
In year one of the Joint Venture Agreement between Phelps Dodge and Abacus, Phelps Dodge spent in excess of U.S. $500,000 in connection with the Ferragudo project. Initially, work consisted of historical data compilation and interpretation, which identified at least seven medium to high priority target areas on the Ferragudo property. Phelps Dodge completed a rigorous UTEM deep penetrating geophysical survey over these seven areas. Based on the results of the UTEM survey, Phelps Dodge began a proposed 2,000 metre diamond drill program on August 4, 1999.
The first drill hole is located in the Cabeca Do Porco target area, where a deep, modeled, geophysical UTEM conductor in conjunction with a gravity anomaly existed. The hole was to be drilled to a maximum depth of 800 meters, however, the hole was stopped at 650 meters.
Two previously drilled holes, completed within several hundred meters of the Cabeca De Porco area by Billiton and Rio Tinto Ltd., intersected a mineralized horizon with semi-massive sulphide layers and nodular sulphide fragments. Drill hole logs had apparently ignored this mineralized section where it was described as chloritic felsic tuffs without mentioning the promising semi-massive sulphide layers. This section of drill core has not been split and sampled for base metal assay analysis.
Phelps Dodge brought a second drill rig onto the Ferragudo property in August in an attempt to speed up the drilling pace. The second drill-hole was located in the Cavandelas area to test a moderate gravity anomaly with a magnetically depressed signature. After intersecting over 300 meters of an overlying young sedimentary sequence, mafic volcanics were intersected at which point the hole was terminated at a depth of 400 meters.
A third drill hole was drilled in the Madruga area with a planned depth of up to 500 meters. This hole was stopped at 325 meters.
At the termination of the joint venture, Phelps Dodge drilled approximately 1,375 meters in total over three holes.
Approximately 35 historical holes have been drilled on the Ferragudo property with all of the core stored in nearby secured storage facilities. No systematic whole rock geochemical sampling has ever been completed on any of the drill core, and only limited base metal assay analysis has been performed. Further, outcropping gossan with high copper-lead-zinc-arsenic and locally rich samples in tin are reported by one major mining company at the Cova Dos Mouros target on the property.
The Ferragudo property ties onto the immediate northwest corner of Rio Tinto Ltd.?s Neves Corvo Mine which has reserves of 38,000,000 tons of 6% copper, 4,500,000 tons of 2.5% tin and 9% copper and 48,000,000 tons of 6.2% zinc and 0.5% copper. The gravity geophysical anomaly, which hosts the Neves Corvo ore deposits on its eastern edge, extends westward and continues onto Abacus? Ferragudo property for 2-3 kilometres.
On Behalf of the Board,
ABACUS MINERALS CORPORATION
"Steve L. Todoruk"
Steve L. Todoruk, P.Geo.
President |
