2021 Resources

Please see News Release Mar 22, 2021 reporting New 2021 Mineral Resource Estimate by clicking here 

Altar Mineral Resource Estimate Highlights

Altar Central & Altar East:

• Measured & Indicated resource of 1,198.2 million tonnes grading 0.43% copper, 0.09 g/t gold and 1.00 g/t silver.
• Inferred resource of 189.2 million tonnes grading 0.42% copper, 0.06 g/t gold and 0.80 g/t silver.
• Resource was estimated utilizing a higher cut-off grade (0.30% CuEq) than in previously reported 2018 estimate with a resulting 41% decrease in tonnage and a 29% increase in copper grade for Measured & Indicated resources and a 66% decrease in tonnage and a 48% increase in copper grade for Inferred resources.
• Sizeable supergene resource in Altar Central and Altar East, providing a potential pathway for a smaller, lower capital option for the project.
• Decrease in arsenic grades when compared to the 2018 mineral resource estimate:
  • 39% arsenic reduction in Measured & Indicated resources
  • 67% arsenic reduction in Inferred resources
  • Separation of supergene copper (secondary sulphide) and hypogene copper-gold (primary sulphide) mineralization within Altar Central and Altar East shows that a high percentage of arsenic is located within the supergene portion of the deposit, which can potentially be processed utilizing SX/EW technology where arsenic is not recovered.
• Significant potential to expand the higher-grade, copper-gold hypogene zones within both the Altar East and Altar Central deposits, which could provide further grade improvements in the future.
• Amenable to open pit mining.

QDM Gold

• Measured & Indicated resource of 20 million tonnes grading 0.78 g/t gold, 3.62 g/t silver and 0.06% copper.
• Inferred resource of 1.2 million tonnes grading 0.58 g/t gold, 5.34 g/t silver and 0.03% copper.
• Stand alone deposit not associated with other reported resources.
• Approximately 90% sulphide mineralization and 10 % oxide mineralization.
• Potential to expand QDM Gold resource through additional drilling.
• Amenable to open pit mining.

The open pit constrained Mineral Resources are summarized below in Table 1 and Table 2.

1. All figures are rounded to reflect the relative accuracy of the estimate and therefore numbers may not appear to add precisely.

2. Mineral Resources for Altar East, Altar Central and QDM Gold are based on prices of US$3/lb copper, US$1,500/oz gold and US$20/oz silver.

3. There are no reserves currently at the Altar project.

4. Altar East and Altar Central use a 0.3% CuEq (US$13.99 NSR/t) cut-off grade.

5. QDM Gold utilizes a 0.33 AuEq (US$13.17 NSR/t) cut-off grade for sulphide mineralization and a 0.7 AuEq (US$13.17 NSR/t) cut-off grade for oxide mineralization.

6. NSR value for Altar East and Altar Central material is as follows: NSR (US$/t) = 28.241 x Cu% + 20.294 x Au ppm + 0.311 x Ag ppm -0.482.

7. NSR value for QDM Gold material is as follows: NSR (US$/t) = 18.733 x Au ppm + 0.311 x Ag in oxide and 39.808 x Au ppm + 0.311 x Ag ppm in sulphide.

8. AuEq and CuEq values are based on prices of US$3/lb copper, US$1,500/oz gold, US$20/oz silver, and account for all metal recoveries and smelting/refining charges. CuEq = Cu% + 0.4207 x Au ppm + 0.0064 x Ag ppm, AuEq = Au ppm + 0.0166 x Ag ppm in oxide and Au ppm + 0.0078 x Ag ppm in sulphide.

9. Mineral Resources are reported in relation to a conceptual constraining pit shell in order to demonstrate reasonable prospects for eventual economic extraction, as required by the definition of Mineral Resource in NI 43-101; mineralization lying outside of the pit shell is excluded from the Mineral Resource.

10. Details of NSR and Equivalent calculations are in the Technical Report.