Picha Copper- Silver Project

Overview

The Picha Copper-Silver Project is located within the prolific Tertiary Volcanic Arc of Southern Peru, host to various important low and high sulphidation epithermal systems as well as large skarn-porphyry deposits like Tintaya.  The Company’s 6,000 hectare Picha Copper-Silver Project is adjacent to the joint-venture properties of Gold Fields Limited and Compañía de Minas Buenaventura S.A., where they have recently discovered the Chucapaca Gold-Copper Deposit with reported mineral resources of 5.6 million gold equivalent ounces. Mineralization at Chucapaca is hosted by a diatreme-breccia body at the sediment-intrusive contact.  This contact is an important regional feature, which is also host to past silver producer San Antonio de Esquilache and the currently producing Tucari-Santa Rosa epithermal gold-silver district.

Exploration

To date Lara has completed two reconnaissance field campaigns, comprising geological mapping and collection of a total of 111 rock, 43 soil and 8 stream samples in follow up to work by the previous owner of the property that comprised 308 rock, 12 soil and 13 stream samples. The positive copper results from this sampling, along with the widespread alteration, brecciation and vein stockworking, are indicative of the presence of a porphyry system at depth. In the past several mineral occurrences at Picha were mined on a small scale from adits, shafts and small open pits, but the project has never been systematically explored and has never been drilled.  

The most promising occurrences are Cobremani, Maricate, Timillo, Fundicion, Huancune and Cumbre Coya, which are all located in a three square kilometre area in the northern part of the property. Mineralization at Maricate and Cobremani is structurally controlled, while that at Cumbre Coya is stratabound; the other occurrences are as yet undefined. The oxidized mineralization sampled from the old workings comprised secondary copper minerals; predominantly malachite, azurite, chalcocite, chrysocolla, and chalcopyrite.  Mineralization is associated with propylitic alteration, small zones of argillic alteration and opaline-quartz veining, stockworks and concordant replacements zones (“mantos”).

A total of 419 rock samples have been collected during recent field campaigns, with 11 reporting values over 3% copper; 37 reporting values over 1% copper; 53 reporting values over 0.5% copper; 69 reporting values over 0.1% copper; 85 reporting values over 500 parts per million (“ppm”) copper; and 174 reporting over 100 ppm copper.  Molybdenum values were generally low, with anomalous values where present correlating with anomalous copper values. Silver values were also mostly low, but a total of 58 samples (or 19%) reported anomalous values, with good correlation with copper. Barium values were found to be high, with lead, zinc and arsenic also related with copper anomalism.