New World Resources (ASX: NWC) has entered into an agreement providing it with a five-year option to purchase a 100% interest in the high-grade Pinafore Copper Deposit in northern Arizona, USA.
The acquisition of the high-grade mineralisation at Pinafore complements the company’s strategy to develop its 11.4Mt Mineral Resource at the high-grade Antler Copper Deposit, located 75km away.
The key drivers for the acquisition are:
(i) The 134 acres of new mineral rights subject to this agreement are contiguous with New World’s circa 5,000 acre Javelin VMS Project, where the company is actively exploring, hence there are considerable synergies in consolidating ownership in this district;
(ii) Pinafore hosts high-grade mineralisation which could potentially be mined and trucked to the processing plant the company intends constructing at Antler;
(iii) Mining at Pinafore could result in a higher production profile and/or a longer mine life for the Antler Project; and
(iv) The mineralisation at Pinafore is open in all directions, and therefore provides another compelling exploration opportunity which could result in further expansion of the company’s high-grade resource base.
“We are very pleased to have secured the right to acquire 100% of the very high-grade Pinafore Copper Deposit, which is located only 75km from our flagship high-grade Antler Copper Deposit in northern Arizona,” Managing Director, Mike Haynes, said.
“This is yet another positive development as we implement our strategy of expanding our high-grade resource base – as we expect that a larger resource base will further enhance the already very robust economics of developing the Antler VMS Deposit.
“The proposed acquisition of 630,000 tonnes of very high-grade mineralisation – at average grades of 3.4% copper and 7.1% zinc – is a very value-accretive development.
“We are very encouraged that only nine holes have ever been drilled at Pinafore previously and that the mineralisation remains open in all directions. We are therefore confident we can increase our resource base by undertaking additional drilling at Pinafore.
“Because of the very high-grades, the shallow nature of mineralisation and the fact that the deposit is located on private land, Pinafore now becomes one of our highest priority immediate exploration targets, amongst our multitude of other very high-priority exploration targets.
“Accordingly, we plan to mobilise a drilling rig to Pinafore within the coming weeks – as we currently have a diamond core rig drilling at the Discus Target, located 5km to the north-east within our Javelin Project.
“It’s important to note that, while we are confident we can discover extensions of the mineralisation at the Pinafore Deposit, even if we can only delineate around 630,000 tonnes, we could still have a very valuable development proposition on our hands as we could use the processing plant we intend building at Antler.
“For an upfront option payment of only US$300,000 – we think we’ve got a very good option!”