Valor Resources has secured crucial ministry approvals to start a 5000m maiden diamond drilling program to test four key targets at its Picha copper project in Peru.
The campaign, which is due to begin next month, will focus on targets known as Cobremani, Cumbre Coya, Maricate and Fundicion. The drilling permit for the program allows for up to 120 holes, comprising up to 40 drill platforms, with three holes planned per platform.
Picha is a copper-silver exploration project prospective for multiple styles of copper mineralisation, including epithermal, stratabound, carbonate replacement and porphyry-related. The company’s upcoming maiden drilling program follows surface work and induced-polarisation resistivity surveys conducted during the past 18 months that identified many significant targets.
Receipt of the all-important permit from the Peruvian Ministry of Energy and Mines follows an environmental approval in March, while community social agreements are also in place to allow drilling access for a four-year period. Final planning of the drilling program, including logistics and shortlisting contractor selection, is underway.
Valor has developed an incredible pipeline of large-scale, high-impact porphyry, epithermal and CRD targets across the Picha Project tenements – and we are very much looking forward to unlocking the enormous potential of this project through the maiden 5,000m drill program scheduled to commence in September. Valor Resources executive chairman George Bauk
Early last month, Valor announced that it was divesting up to an 80 per cent interest in the Picha project to Firetail Resources and that the planned drill program would be implemented by its partner. Assuming completion of the transaction, Valor will still retain significant exposure to the project via a shareholding of about 20 per cent in Firetail, in addition to having board representation, and a 20 per cent retained interest in the project.
Management says the decision to sell the Picha project to Firetail, having advanced it to drill-ready status, allows it to focus on its Canadian uranium portfolio.
“The new structure we have implemented through the Firetail transaction will ensure that we maximise the opportunity in Peru, while freeing up resources to focus on our high-potential uranium and rare earths assets in Canada’s Athabasca Basin,” Mr Bauk said.
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