Ezenet blossoming into an advanced Chile copper gold explorer

Ezenet (ASX: EZE), which is soon to change its name to Oro Verde Limited, has acquired the rights in Chile to two prospective copper and gold opportunities in established and successful mining areas of the country.

Previously, Ezenet was focused on the marketing and selling of technology.

The potential of the Chuminga Copper/Gold Project was identified by major international mining companies, AUR Resources (now part of Teck Cominco) and Rio Tinto Zinc Mining and Exploration.

Recently, Ezenet announced that it was continuing technical due diligence on the advanced Chuminga Copper/Gold project which has an exploration target of 50-60 million tonnes at 1.0-1.1% copper ,0.40-0.50 g/t gold and 1% zinc.

Ezenet will use a portion of existing financial resources to meet the costs of the due diligence work and expect to have available the results of the magnetic survey by late September together with results from the initial drilling programme in early October.

Completion of technical due diligence will enable the Company to confirm the potential of the Chuminga Project recognised by AUR Resources (Teck) and Rio Tinto.

Alliance

Ezenet has forged an alliance with the well established local Errazuriz – Hochschild group of mining companies in Chile.

The purchase of the project from the Errazuriz-Hochschild group will establish close links with one of Chile’s highly respected business family groups.

The Errazuriz-Hochschild group intends to exercise their right in the sale agreement to acquire 19.9% ownership of Ezenet.  This ensures that Ezenet will have a highly respected Chilean partner to assist developing Chuminga.

Chuminga Copper Gold Project

Chuminga  is located in the coastal area of northern Chile, 60 kilometres north of the regional mining town of Taltal and 115 kilometres south of the port of Antofagasta in a region with excellent infrastructure  which hosts several world class copper mines such as Mantos Blancos, Chuquicamata and Escondida. It is well placed with infrastructure.

The project includes 2 Mining Concessions and 1 Mining Application that covers a total of 900 hectares.

Ezenet acquired the option to purchase a 100% interest in the advanced Chuminga Project by way of a cash payment of US$1.0 million and issuance of $300,000 in shares of Ezenet at $0.05 cents per share.
Shareholder approval will be sought for exercise of option, issuance of shares and change to mining boards, and confirmation of an initial 20% interest in the project.

The partners have agreed to a due diligence period of 18 months, which will allow a significant exploration effort to confirm prospectivity. The remaining 80% interest can then be acquired by Ezenet through a mix of shares and cash for a total of US$5 million, converting the vendor’s interest into a significant shareholding in Ezenet.

The project area contains an exploration target of 50 to 60 million tonnes of ore grading 1.0 to 1.1% Cu, 0.40 to 0.50 g/t Au, and 1% Zn.

This target is contained within a well mineralized copper and gold stock work breccia that has been identified over a width of from 60 to 150 metres, and a strike line that extends up to 1,200 metres.
This target was evaluated by Gordo Engineering in 1987, RTZ Mining in 1996, AUR Resources in 2007, and confirmed by Rojas & Associates in 2009. RTZ carried out a field review and review of all historical data and defined an exploration target of between 50-60 million tonnes at 1.1-1.2 % Cu, 0.30-0.40g/t Au, and 0.9-1.0% Zn.  This was inferred within a mineralized breccia system that extends over 1,200 metres and width of up to 100 metres, and to depths that may exceed 300 metres.

The Chuminga Project is thought to be an iron-oxide copper gold (IOCG) style mineralised hydrothermal copper-gold stockwork breccia. It is located within the 2000km long “Chilean Iron Belt” that runs down the western coast of Chile south from Antofagasta along the Atacama Structural Zone.
This highly mineralized belt contains large copper mines such as Freeport-McMoran’s Candelaria IOCG deposit (470 Mt at 0.95 % Cu, 0.22 g/t Au).

Exploration

Exploration to date consisted of three surface trenches and two adits into the hillside. The trenches were across an area of outcrop measuring 250 x 100 metres between 550 - 600 metres above sea level. The weighted average assay results of the three trenches were 1.21% Cu, 0.41g/t Au and 3 g/t Ag.

The trenching led to prospecting into the mineralised breccia by two tunnels, one at 520 metres above sea level and the second 460 metres below the outcrop area. The tunnels did not transect the full width of the mineralized breccia. The weighted average assay results returned were 115 metres @ 0.90% Cu and 0.48g/t Au for the upper level. Subsequent re-sampling by AUR Resources Inc has suggested an increase in the weighted mean assay values to 1.4% Cu, 0.40g/t Au and 1% Zn.

The Exploration Target was indentified from both surface exploration (trenching and grab sampling) and underground exploration. RTZ Mining (Rio Tinto) designated Chuminga to be a “significant mineralized body”, but did not meet RTZ’s Tier 1 criteria for projects.

Ezenet will now complete a ground geophysical program along with Induced Polarization (IP) and Magnetic Surveys over the entire project area, with particular attention directed at the mineralized breccia system, which will lead to the production of detailed 3D imaging to define potential drilling targets.

An initial drilling program of approximately 1,400 metres is planned to commence in the 4th quarter of 2011, and is expected to cost US$1.2 million.

Infrastructure

About 30 kilometres south of Chuminga is the Monte Christo copper processing plant that has excess operating capacity that may be available to process ore from the Chuminga project. The closest port of Taltal, a mining and mineral processing centre, is around 60 km south of the project area.

Access road construction

As part of the technical due diligence at Chuminga,  Ezenet has commenced construction of a 1.4 kilometres access road to the proposed drill sites and  is about to commence  an electromagnetic (EM) survey followed by  an induced polarization (IP) survey.

An initial drilling program of 6 holes is scheduled to start in late September with first results expected in early October.

Vega Gold Project

The Vega Project is located in the Andes about 500 kilometres north of Santiago and 15 kilometres west of the Argentinean border and 135 kilometres from La Serena.

Consideration for the purchase of the Vega Project includes payment of US$20,000 in June of 2011, second payment of $20,000 in August of 2011, and a third payment of US$50,000 plus US$50,000 in cash or shares on the anniversary date of the executed agreement. The vendor retains a 3% royalty that can be bought out for a payment of US$3 million.

The 28 square kilometre Vega project area is surrounded by tenements owned by Barrick.  Vega is about 20 kilometres north of the famous, now closed, El Indio Gold Mining Centre owned by Barrick Gold Corporation (NYSE: ABX).  El Indio produced 4.5 million ounces of gold, 25 million ounces of silver and 472,000 tonnes of copper from underground and open pit operations in its 23 year life from 1979 to 2002.   Barrick mined 16.8 million tonnes of ore at an overall recovered grade of 8.33 g/t gold, 46.3 g/t silver and 2.81% copper.  It attests to the high grade nature of a classic, high sulphidation epithermal deposit
El Indio was famous for its production of direct shipping ore in the beginning of its mining life, when 190,000 tonnes of ore produced 1.2 million ounces of gold at an overall average grade of 196.4 ounces of gold per tonne.

Vega is located immediately to the south of Barrick’s Pascua and Lama Projects, which host reserves of 17.8 million ounces of gold and 671 million ounces of silver, and are being developed to produce an annualized 750-800,000 ounces of gold. Barrick also operates the nearby Veladero Mine with reserves of 11.3 million ounces of gold, currently producing 1.12 million ounces of gold per year.

Immediately to the south of Vega is the El Indio Mining District which hosted mines at Rio Del Medio, El Indio and Tambo with historical production and resources of 5.8 million ounces of gold.  A CSAMT Survey has been completed at Vega, employing a low cost geophysical technique that provides deep geologic information based on lateral and vertical resistivity contrasts.

This work has identified 5 drilling lines across an epithermal volcanic system that is emplaced within the Sancarron caldera ring fault that is similar to the mineralization at El Indio. A number of high priority targets will be drilled in a multi month campaign starting in October of 2011.

Track record

Dr. Wolf Martinick serves as Executive Chairman and Managing Director, and is supported by Dr. Brad Farrell, who is Technical Director.

They were responsible for the development of Basin Minerals Ltd that was sold to Iluka for $280 million in 2002. Martinick also helped established Weatherly International PLC (AIM: WTI) as a Namibian Copper Miner in 2007, carrying a current valuation of £46 million, with Ezenet retaining a significant equity interest valued at approximately A$2.75 million.

Chilean operations are managed through Green Mining Limitada, headed by Juan Jose Gutierrez Velez who is an engineer with over 20 years experience in Chilean project management, construction, exploration, and mining.

Green Mining also retains Juan Pablo Errázuriz- Hoschild as a consultant, who is a senior member of the well known Errázuriz – Hochschild Group of Mining Companies, developers of significant Chilean gold and copper operations and vendors of the Chuminga Project to Ezenet.

Chile produces 35% of the worlds copper, and is a major producer of molybdenum, gold, silver, zinc and nitrates, with operations that include Rio Tinto, Barrick Gold, Anglo and BHP Billiton.

The region supports many mines, including the world-class Mantos Blancos, Chuquicamata and Escondida copper mines.   About 30 kilometres south of Chuminga is the Monte Christo copper processing plant that has unused operating capacity and may be available to process ore from Chuminga.

The country has excellent mineral prospectivity, low sovereign risk, financial security, favorable tax regime along with good infrastructure and services, which allows Ezenet to quickly establish highly prospective exploration programs through a long established mining culture.

Investments

Ezenet vended copper prospects it had identified in Zambia into AIM listed Weatherly International PLC (LSE: WTI) in return for 18.2 million shares in Weatherly.  This holding is worth A$2.1 million.

Capital Raising

Ezenet will seek to raise up to 25,000,000 shares at an issue price of $0.20 per share to raise up to $5,000,000 though a prospectus offer.

The acquisition of the Chilean projects will result in a significant change in the nature and scale of the company’s activities from the industrial to the mining board, which requires approval of its shareholders under Chapter 11 of the ASX Listing Rules.

The Company has convened an annual general meeting to be held on 8 November] 2011 to seek shareholder approval for, amongst other approvals, the acquisitions pursuant to the Acquisition Agreements and the change in the nature and scale of the Company’s activities.  The Offer under this Prospectus is conditional on receipt of such Shareholder approval.

The Company’s securities will remain suspended from trading on ASX and will not be reinstated until satisfaction of the conditions to the Offer and ASX approving the Company’s re-compliance with the admission requirements of Chapters 1 and 2 of the ASX Listing Rules.

Analysis

When reviewing the project, RTZ considered Chuminga to be a “significant mineralised body” that did not meet RTZ’s investment criteria of finding exceptionally large Tier 1 projects – providing Ezenet with an advanced and highly prospective copper/gold project. This provides a lead as to the prospectivity and potential upside to Ezenet.  As Eznet advances exploration and to transform the exploration target into a resource, there are likely to be catalysts for increases in valuation.

Further, the known gold copper resources currently in development by major mining companies in the vicinity of the Ezenet’s concessions is another positive pointer to current valuation potential.  As well, the lack of modern exploration techniques and drilling to the projects provides promise of exploration upside.

For the Chuminga Project, Ezenet plans an exploration program in 201.  For the Vega Project, the maiden drill program will be instrumental in determining the tenor of the project’s potential.

Subject to the successful re-compliance with Chapter 1 & 2 ASX Listing Rules in November this year, Ezenet shareholders will gain exposure to an advanced copper gold play as well as another highly prospective copper/gold play in Chile.

The managing director of Ezenet, Wolf Martinick and technical director Brad Farrell have a solid background, previously lifting the valuation of Basin Minerals Ltd that was ultimately sold to Iluka Resources for $280 million in 2002.  This is also a positive sign.

The Company has cash and investments of $4.73 million, and is currently capitalized at approximately $9.62 million, which provide investors with very substantial upside in the event of exploration success.

Ezenet carries a low valuation relative to its peer group; sub <$10m and has extremely competent management, and two highly prospective properties that are located within extremely prospective terrain.

Originally published at: http://www.proactiveinvestors.com.au/companies/news/19332/ezenet-blossoming-into-an-advanced-chile-copper-gold-explorer-19332.html