Subject: Stockwatch: Abacus Minerals Corporation - News Release
Date: Fri, 02 Oct 1998 08:28:04 -0700
From: newsout@canada-stockwatch.com
Portugal mining property contract to be signed
Abacus Minerals Corporation AMC
Shares issued 21,590,405 Oct 1 close $0.27
Fri 2 Oct 98 News Release
Mr. Steve Todoruk reports
Abacus Minerals Corporation and Phelps Dodge Explorations Corporation have
been informed by the companies' legal counsel in Portugal that the
Portuguese Minister of Mines has set a tentative date of Oct. 7, 1998 to
formally sign and grant the Abacus/Phelps Dodge's Ferragudo concessions.
Abacus initially applied for these mining concessions from the Portuguese
Minister of Mines on June 20, 1997. Subsequently, Abacus has brought in
Phelps Dodge as a joint venture partner to assist in the continuing
exploration and development of this strategically situated mining property.
The Ferragudo concessions total 190.5 square kilometres in size and adjoin
the northwestern corner of the Neves Corvo mine property which is owned by
Somincor (49 per cent Rio Tinto Ltd. and 51 per cent Portuguese
Government). Reserves at Neves Corvo include 38,000,000 tons of 7.5 per
cent copper, 4,000,000 tons of 2.5 per cent tin and 50,000,000 tons of 6.2
per cent zinc. The Ferragudo lies approximately 3,500 metres from Neves
Corvo's ore bodies and directly along the northwestern trend.
The Ferragudo property occurs within the Iberian pyrite belt which trends
across Portugal and into Spain. This belt hosts numerous world class sized
deposits that range from 100,000,000 tons up to 500,000,000 tons as
evidenced by the Rio Tinto deposit, a 500,000,000 ton deposit owned by Rio
Tinto Ltd.
One of the most recent discoveries in the Iberian pyrite belt is RTZ's Las
Cruces deposit in 1996. Reserves at Las Cruces have been reported to
contain 15,000,000 tons of 6 per cent copper, 1,000,000 tons of 6 grams per
ton gold, and 20,000,000 tons of zinc-lead mineralization. The entire
resource occurs within one lens. In the Iberian pyrite belt, lenses always
occur in clusters and exploration is considered excellent for the discovery
of more lenses in the immediate vicinity. Las Cruces was discovered in
close proximity to a previously mined plus 100,000,000 deposit.
Elsewhere, recent investigations indicate much more gold may be associated
with the Iberian pyrite belt deposits as evidenced by gold rich drill hole
intersections at Auspex Resource's Aljustrel property. Drilling at
Aljustrel include drill hole FS99806 grading 41 metres true width of 1.17
g/t gold, 125.0 g/t silver, 0.15 per cent copper, 2.87 per cent lead, and
8.18 per cent zinc. Also, RTZ's Lagoa Salgada has reported gold rich drill
holes as evidenced by drill hole LS-22 grading 1.35 g/t gold, 94.7 g/t
silver, 0.35 per cent copper, 4.79 per cent lead, and 7.52 per cent zinc
over 78.55 metres.
To earn a 70 per cent interest in the Ferragudo project, Phelps Dodge must
carry out the first $7,000,000 (U.S.) in exploration which would consist
primarily of diamond drilling. Phelps Dodge will carry out a minimum of
$500,000 (U.S.) in the first year of the agreement with $1,000,000 (U.S.)
contingently scheduled for year two, dependent upon encouraging results.
(c) Copyright 1998 Canjex Publishing Ltd. canada-stockwatch.com
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