AQM Announces the Discovery of the New Victoria Porphyry System at its Zafranal Joint Venture-288 Metres of 0.35% CuT Intercepted at Victoria
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwire) -- 09/27/11 -- AQM Copper Inc. (TSX: AQM)(BVLAC: AQM) ('AQM Copper' or the 'Company') is pleased to announce the discovery of a new copper porphyry east of the Zafranal Main Zone resource area.
The 'Victoria' zone was originally interpreted to represent the eastern supergene tail of the East-West striking Zafranal Main Zone. Initial drilling focused on those areas with presence of weak phyllic alteration on surface. Subsequent step-out drilling to the north has since confirmed the presence of significant hypogene copper mineralization to depths exceeding 300 metres below surface and over a 300 metre strike length. These thicknesses had not been observed on the easternmost part of the Main Zone resource area and are now interpreted to represent a different porphyry system, separated from the Zafranal Main Zone by a 150 metre wide gap.
Hypogene copper mineralization at Victoria is hosted by a highly deformed diorite phase of the Coastal Batholith of Peru, as opposed to the younger Zafranal Diorite and Microdiorite of the Zafranal Main Zone, and occurs as chalcopyrite and local chalcocite. Weak surface propylitic alteration hides the main part of the Victoria porphyry. The supergene copper sulphide mineralization that occurs to the south of the Victoria porphyry may represent lateral transport of copper-rich solutions from the Zafranal Main Zone.
Table 1 shows the drill holes completed on the Victoria zone, including previously announced holes. Hole ZFDDH11-187 was collared 60 metres north of drill hole ZFDDH11-162, on section 795800E, and 120 metres southeast of drill hole ZFDDH11-176. Hole ZFDDH11-203 was drilled 50 metres north of previously reported drill hole ZFDDH11-176.
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From To Interval Au
Drill Hole (m.) (m.) (m.) Cu%T g/t Zone
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ZFDDH11-187 54 300 246 0.32% 0.04 Victoria Porphyry
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ZFDDH11-203 134 422 288 0.35% 0.06 Victoria Porphyry
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Incl. 332 374 42 0.64% 0.12
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Previously Reported Intercepts
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ZFDDH11-159 41 95 54 0.50% 0.04 Chalcocite Blanket
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And 129 149 20 0.28% 0.04
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ZFDDH11-160 24 192 168 0.46% 0.05 Victoria Porphyry
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Incl. 24 158 134 0.47% 0.04
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Incl. 165 192 27 0.51% 0.09
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ZFDDH11-162 39 76 37 0.34% 0.03 Chalcocite Blanket
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And 98 108 10 0.44% 0.05
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ZFDDH11-163 44 84 40 0.28% 0.01 Chalcocite Blanket
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ZFDDH11-164 16 33 17 0.50% 0.03 Chalcocite Blanket
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ZFDDH11-171 48 74 26 0.47% 0.02 Chalcocite Blanket
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ZFDDH11-172 52 72 20 0.32% 0.03 Chalcocite Blanket
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And 136 146 10 0.29% 0.04
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ZFDDH11-176 0 12 12 0.26% 0.14 Victoria Porphyry
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Incl. 30.3 308 277.7 0.46% 0.06
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Incl. 30.3 96.3 66 0.84% 0.05
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Incl. 38 56 18 1.23% 0.05
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Incl. 105 268 163 0.37% 0.06
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Incl. 274 308 34 0.30% 0.04
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Table 1: Full results from drilling completed on the Victoria Zone. All intervals, except those shown in italics, use a 6 metre maximum internal dilution.
Commenting on the results from Victoria, Bruce Turner, AQM's President and CEO, said, 'we are very pleased with the results obtained from this new porphyry target at Zafranal. The results indicate that this may be a significant new discovery, and our exploration efforts are now focused on growing this new zone further.'
The Victoria zone remains open to the east and to the north, where new road-cuts continue to encounter copper oxide mineralization. Furthermore, the zone appears to increase in thickness towards the north. Four diamond rigs are currently drilling at Victoria. A drill plan and two sections from the Victoria zone have been posted on the Company's website http://www.aqmcopper.com/s/Z_Maps.asp.
The Company has established a rigorous QA/QC program at Zafranal, which includes the insertion of blanks, duplicates and certified standards into the sample stream. Core is photographed on site and subsequently sawed in half, with one half sent for analysis and the other half stored for future reference and assay verification. RC chips are split twice on site using a riffle splitter, with 25% of the sample being sent to the laboratory for assay and the rest stored for future verification purposes. All Zafranal samples are shipped to ALS Chemex's sample preparation facility in the city of Arequipa, where they are crushed and pulverized. Prepared samples are shipped to ALS Chemex's certified laboratory in Lima where they are analyzed for gold, copper and multi-element ICP.
Alvaro Fernandez-Baca, P.Geo, Vice President Exploration for AQM Copper Inc. and the Company's Qualified Person for the purposes of NI 43-101, has approved the information contained in this news release.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Bruce Turner, President and CEO
ABOUT AQM Copper: AQM Copper (formerly Apoquindo Minerals) is a Canadian based mineral exploration company developing copper deposits in South America. Through its wholly owned Peruvian subsidiary, Minera AQM Peru SAC, the Company is developing the Zafranal Copper-Gold Porphyry Project located in Southern Peru. Minera AQM Peru SAC is the operator of a 50/50 JV with Teck Resources Limited through a sole purpose Peruvian company formed for Zafranal as announced in its press release on July 8, 2010. Management and directors have extensive experience working for the world's largest mining Copper producers. Please refer to the Company's website for further information regarding the Company and its projects.
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Contacts:
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