Large Copper-Gold-Silver-Molybdenum Porphyry System Discovered in Ecuador

A large copper-gold-silver-molybdenum porphyry system was discovered by Ecuador - Australian miner SolGold at its Cisne Loja project in southern Ecuador, according to the Ministry of Natural Resources of the People's Republic of China.

The outcrop of the project's Celen prospect can indicate the presence of a new polymetallic porphyry system with an outcropping porphyry-style copper-gold-silver-molybdenum rich mineralized veining over an area of 2 by 1 km.

The Celen prospect is 7 km from the company’s Cuenca Loma gold-silver epithermal prospect.

Of the 72 rock samples collected by the company, 60 samples (83%) at 0.6% copper equivalent. The average content of molybdenum in 72 samples is 51.95 ppm. The highest grade respectively reaches copper 4.32%, gold 4.51%, silver 20.8 g per ton.

Jason Ward, the exploration manager of SolGold, said that the recent discovery of large copper-gold deposits in the Celen target area indicates the potential for large porphyry copper deposits.

Ecuador is a country in northwestern South America. The minerals are mainly oil that primarily distributed in the area of Guayaquil Bay, and the oil fields could also be found in the Amazon plain. Gold and silver are distributed in places such as Machachi and Zaruma. Copper is produced in Machachi. There are sulfur mines on the Cologne Islands, as well as iron, lead and so on.

In July, the first large-scale copper project of Ecuador - Mirador mining project, was announced to start production, it began to open copper, silver, gold and molybdenum deposits, and will open other mineral projects to replace the dependence on the country’s oil economy. The project is invested and operated by CRCC-Tongguan Investment Co., Ltd. (CRCC-Tongguan), a joint venture established by China Railway Construction Corporation Limited (CRCC) and Tongling Nonferrous Metals Group Holdings Co., Ltd.

After 16 years of preliminary exploration and research, the Mirador mining project will bring annual revenue of 90 million US dollars. The project plans to achieve 4% of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) by 2021, processing about 60,000 tons of rock per day, and extracting 2% of copper concentrate with other copper-gold-silver-molybdenum minerals.

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