Monday, 18th July 2005 (2894 views)

International mining group Tethyan Copper Company has extended its resource at its Reko Diq Copper Project in Balochistan, Pakistan, after discovering new reserves.

The company has lifted its inferred resource level to 7.1 million tonnes of copper and 10.9 million ounces gold.

It now means the global resource inventory at the mine has exceeded one billion tonnes for the first time.

Tethyan also believes it may the first of several regional porphyry systems within the broader Reko Diq Complex and if this is the case the site may be upgraded to 'resource' status over the coming months.

Tethyan's managing director, David Moore, said the new resource estimate for the H8 Complex highlighted the Reko Diq Complex as a potential major supplier of copper and gold during the 21st century.

"While the H8 copper grades can be regarded as 'bread-and-butter' rather than 'cream', this has to be seen in the context of a satellite orebody located close to an operating mine at the Western Porphyries," he explained.

"The H8 mineralisation is near-surface, would require little pre-strip and could provide solid feed to an existing operation for many years."

At present, Tethyan's is waiting on drill results to see if it can elevate the site to resource status.

"The scale of the existing Reko Diq resources already ranks this project as significant in global terms," concluded Mr Moore.

 

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