AusAmerican confirms copper mineralisation in Arizona

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THE DRILL SERGEANT: Australian-American Mining Corporation (ASX: AIW) kicked off its first exploration program over the company’s recently-acquired Bluebell and De Soto VMS projects located in Arizona, United States of America.

After acquiring the projects in August 2012 AusAmerican commenced work in October, which included geological mapping, channel sampling, the purchase of a data package, and the staking of new ground.

 The October 2012 sampling program included 15 channel samples, which the company said outlined surface mineralisation in the Yavapai Schist which is host to the Bluebell mine.

The sampling returned zones of gold and silver mineralisation as well as copper mineralisation the company anticipated to see.

The best intercepts included:

–    38 metres at 1.2 per cent copper, 0.51 grams per tonne gold, and 22.9 grams per tonne silver;

–    22m at 0.45 per cent copper and 2.9g/t silver; and

–    13m at 0.86 per cent copper and 4.6g/t silver.

 

38m wide outcrop of copper/gold/silver mineralisation at Bluebell. Source: Company announcement

 

The company also purchased a data package containing maps, reports, and cross sections of previous work in October 2012, which included a good deal of information for the projects, including:

–    83 drill holes for 3747.8m (75 underground and 8 regional);

–    Underground mine plans and sampling information;

–    799 soil samples;

–    Ground magnetic surveys;

–    EM profiles and interpretations; and

–    Geological mapping.

“To be able to access this amount of data, much of it over 80 years old, is quite rare with resource projects in the USA and has provided invaluable information to our technical team as they review the material,” AusAmerican Mining said in its ASX announcement.

“The review continues to greatly assist the company in planning the initial drilling program.”

AusAmerican indicated it has been able to identify a new copper VMS target from the data package on the ground it has recently staked one kilometre north of the Bluebell mine.

The soil samples show a 700m long anomaly of over 100 patrs per million copper.

The average copper grade within the anomaly is 413ppm with a highest value of 1,262ppm and the anomaly is open towards the south.

The company’s 2013 program will follow-up on the results of the 2012 surface exploration with 5,000m of RC drilling planned to test the stock work zones of the Bluebell mine.

The drilling contract has been signed and the drill rig is expected to arrive on site late January.