Bell Resources looks for copper in them thar Red Hills
Bell is building a large portfolio of Copper projects. (see also stockwatch.com This will be the fifth property with potential for large scale copper mines with exploration at the preliminary stage.
2007-08-08 07:54 ET - News Release
Mr. W. Glen Zinn reports
BELL INTRODUCES NEW PORPHYRY COPPER PROJECT IN ARIZONA
Bell Resources Corp. has introduced a new porphyry copper project, the Red Hills property, into its portfolio of base metal projects.
This announcement follows the addition of the Mesa Well project, the first designated project from the agreement Bell formed with Bronco Creek Exploration on April 25, 2007. Drilling at Red Hills is expected to commence during the first quarter of 2008.
"The addition of Red Hills continues to expand our footprint in Arizona, one of the world's most prolific copper-producing regions," said W. Glen Zinn, president and chief executive officer, Bell Resources.
Bell has arranged to carry out a surface electrical geophysical survey over the Red Hills land position during the third quarter of 2007. These data will help determine:
Depths to the basement rocks that contain copper mineralization;
The positions of individual fault blocks.
The geophysical program will be followed by a phase I drilling program.
Red Hills project
Introduction and location
The Red Hills porphyry copper target is located southeast of Florence in Pinal county, Arizona. The land position at Red Hills consists of 1,200 acres of state mineral leases and 185 unpatented federal mining claims. The target lies within a broad belt of porphyry-copper mineralization that stretches from Globe-Miami (Phelps Dodge -- BHP-Billiton) westward through the deposits at Ray (Asarco), Florence-Poston Butte (permitted by BHP-Billiton in the 1990s), and beyond.
Bell believes that a large rotated and dismembered porphyry Cu-Au deposit lies beneath shallow gravel cover in the Red Hills area.
History
The upper portions of a porphyry copper deposit can be seen cropping out at the surface of Red Hills. Veins with copper oxide minerals and intense quartz-sericite-pyrite (QSP) alteration are developed throughout the area, and Red Hills inherits its name from red, hematite-stained outcrops, which contain an abundance of oxidized pyrite.
In past years, numerous companies have explored the zones of Cu-bearing quartz-sericite-pyrite alteration, hoping to encounter stronger mineralization at deeper levels. Vertical holes were drilled to intersect potassic alteration and chalcopyrite mineralization that would be expected beneath QSP alteration in typical porphyry copper deposits.
New work in the area has demonstrated that the crustal blocks that contain the alteration and mineralization have been rotated approximately 90 degrees. This new realization has profound implications for exploration: instead of the core of the Red Hills system lying directly beneath the zones of QSP alteration, it is now understood that the porphyry copper system has been turned over on its side and deeper levels (including the core of the system) lie to the west of Red Hills, where they have been covered by adjacent gravel deposits.
Geology/exploration target
The outcropping part of the Red Hills area displays a portion of a large rotated and dismembered porphyry copper system. Only the upper levels of the system are exposed in the Red Hills, where swarms of porphyry dikes are seen cutting Precambrian granites and diabasic rocks. The dikes are spatially associated with zones of quartz-sulphide-iron oxide veins that contain copper oxide minerals (oxidized chalcopyrite). The veins are enveloped by halos of intense quartz-sericite-pyrite alteration, and appear consistent with the styles of alteration and mineralization seen in the uppermost and distal levels of porphyry copper deposits. Also seen in the area are "pebble dikes," which contain rounded cobbles of a variety of rock types, including some with strong copper mineralization and magnetite-rich styles of alteration.
Geologic mapping shows evidence for several episodes of dike emplacement (including both felsic and mafic varieties of porphyry dikes) and hydrothermal activity. There is also evidence indicating multiple rotated fault blocks in the area, each of which likely represent different levels of exposure in the hydrothermal system. Fault blocks to the east generally expose shallower levels of mineralization and alteration, and it is assumed that deeper levels lie to the west under gravel cover.
Interpretation
The abundance of copper in the zones of QSP alteration at Red Hills, and the presence of mineralized fragments in the pebble dikes are especially compelling. The pebble dikes are likely late-stage hydrothermal features which ripped up mineralized fragments of rocks from deeper levels in the porphyry system and transported these samples up to the level of present-day outcrops. The fact that many fragments are seen to contain copper mineralization serves as evidence that zones of copper mineralization were present at deeper levels in the system, which have now been rotated and lie to the west of the Red Hills, in the direction of the company's land position.
We seek Safe Harbor. |
