VANCOUVER, June 18 /CNW/ - Ascendant Copper Corporation ("Ascendant" or the "Company") (TSX:ACX) is pleased to announce that through a wholly-owned subsidiary it has recently acquired a comprehensive metallurgical data package pertaining to its Zonia copper project located in Yavapai County, Arizona. This metallurgical data, developed over a period of almost a year, was commissioned by another mining company conducting technical due diligence of the Zonia property prior to Ascendant's acquisition of it.
The data and descriptive report, generated by Metcon Research, Inc. ("Metcon") of Tucson, Arizona in 2007-2008, consists of information developed in column tests performed on several tons of material collected from four trenches cut within the existing Zonia open pit, and bottle roll tests on both the same material and numerous samples of previously collected drill cuttings from lower depths within the Zonia deposit. All tests were directed at determining the mineralized material's response to treatment by heap leaching and solvent extraction/electro-winning (SXEW) recovery of copper. Indicated recoveries, based on various material sizes and leach times, were between 71% and 81%.
"Metallurgy, and correct metallurgical testing, are paramount to the success of any SXEW operation," said Gary E. Davis, CEO and President. "While much metallurgical data already exists on the Zonia project as developed for an existing feasibility study prepared in 1995, this Metcon data, coupled with proposed additional testing of deeper material within the existing mine pit boundaries and in areas of probable pit expansion, will solidify this important technical component for advancing the project feasibility study."
Tetra Tech Inc., responsible for the coordination and assembly all information necessary for completion of definitive feasibility study covering the Zonia project, will incorporate this recently acquired data into the planning of final metallurgical testing for Zonia. The target date for Tetra Tech's feasibility study is the first quarter of 2009.
The Zonia project consists of 3,222 acres of patented and unpatented mining claims in the Walnut Grove Mining District with easy access to power and paved roads. The property was operated between 1966 and 1975 producing approximately 33 million pounds of copper using heap leaching followed by a cementation process. In October 2006, Scott Wilson Roscoe Postle Associates Inc. prepared a National Instrument 43-101 compliant inferred resource estimate of 63 million tons of material at a copper grade of 0.37% (using a 0.25% cut-off grade).
About Ascendant
Ascendant Copper Corporation is a mineral exploration and development company focused on advancing a portfolio of copper exploration projects with a primary emphasis on the development of its near-term producing copper properties in the Americas. The Company intends to continue to expand its existing resource base in the Americas through acquisition of additional properties of merit.