Yerington District of Nevada |
The Yerington district, with historical copper production of approximately 1.8 billion pounds of copper, is presently one of the most active base metal exploration areas in the USA. The PacMag acquisition, combined with the existing option agreements on the Roulette and Blackjack properties, gives Entrée a significant presence in one of the major copper camps in North America. The combination of excellent location, excellent infrastructure, significant resources and long mining history makes Yerington an attractive investment location.
The most advanced asset at Yerington is the Ann Mason copper-molybdenum deposit containing an NI 43-101 compliant Inferred Resource of 810.4 million metric tonnes grading 0.40% copper (using a 0.30% copper cut-off). Accompanying molybdenum is estimated at 165.9 million metric tonnes at a grade of 0.01% molybdenum. Based on these figures, the Ann Mason deposit contains approximately 7.1 billion pounds of copper.
PacMag Land Package in the Yerington District
In November 2009, Entrée entered into a definitive agreement with PacMag Metals Limited to implement Australian Schemes of Arrangement to acquire all of the issued shares and options of PacMag (See news release: November 29, 2009 – Entrée-PacMag Busniess Combinatin Doubles Copper Resources). The transaction is expected to close on June 30, 2010.
PacMag holds the rights to a sizeable tract of land that is contiguous with the Blackjack and Roulette properties and hosts the Ann Mason copper-molybdenum deposit. The PacMag properties include other significant, relatively untested copper prospects such as the Blue Hills (copper) and Shamrock (high-grade copper) targets.
Ann Mason Deposit
The first National Instrument 43-101 compliant resource estimate prepared for the Ann Mason copper- molybdenum deposit was released in January 2010. Ann Mason is estimated to contain an Inferred Resource of 810.4 million metric tonnes grading 0.40% copper, using a 0.30% copper cut-off (see table below). Accompanying molybdenum is estimated at 165.9 million metric tonnes at a grade of 0.01% molybdenum. Based on these figures, the Ann Mason deposit contains approximately 7.1 billion pounds of copper. (See news release: January 26,2010 - First National Instrument 43-101 Compliant Resource Estimate for Ann Mason)
Ann Mason Inferred Resource – January 2010
|
Cut-off |
Tonnage |
Cu |
|
Cu
% |
(million t) |
% |
|
>0.4 |
315.22 |
0.485 |
|
>0.3 |
810.39 |
0.399 |
|
>0.2 |
1409.96 |
0.336 |
Entrée commissioned Wardrop Engineering Inc. to prepare the independent NI 43-101 Compliant Technical Report and Resource Estimate of the Ann Mason copper-molybdenum project.
The Wardrop 2010 Inferred Resource is confined within an optimized 25 year Whittle pit shell. Using the same pit shell, the 2010 Inferred resource estimate represents a 10.6% increase in tonnes from the 2006 model (724.7 million tonnes at 0.40% copper) with a negligible increase in grade at a 0.30% copper cut-off. The increase in tonnage is largely due to the inclusion of additional information generated by drilling after the 2006 calculation was made.
Blue Hills Prospect
Significant copper oxide and deeper sulphide mineralization has been intersected at Blue Hills, approximately 2.2 kilometres to the northwest of Ann Mason. The oxide copper target covers an area of 1.5 kilometres by 350 metres, and includes near-surface intercepts of 21.3 metres of 0.46% copper, 36.3 metres of 0.46% copper and 39.6 metres of 0.26% copper The surface copper in soils anomaly appears to extend to the west onto adjoining ground held by Honey Badger Exploration Inc., which is under option to Entrée. Deeper porphyry-style copper and molybdenum sulphide mineralization was also confirmed by PacMag’s drilling in 2008. Alteration and sulphide zoning suggest the possible presence of a large porphyry system at depth.
Shamrock Prospect
At the Shamrock skarn prospect, located 5 kilomtres to the southeast of Ann Mason, drilling by PacMag has confirmed the presence of high grade near surface copper mineralization in altered limestone
Blackjack Property
In July 2009, the Company entered into an agreement with Honey Badger Exploration Inc. to explore for and develop porphyry copper targets in the Yerington porphyry copper district of Nevada. Under the terms of the agreement, Entrée may acquire up to an 80% interest in the Blackjack Property.
The Blackjack Property consists of 484 claims covering approximately 4,250 hectares (10,500 acres) of prospective ground centred about 13 kilometres (8 miles) west of the town of Yerington.
Entrée may exercise its first option to acquire 51% after incurring minimum expenditures of US$900,000 in the first year of exploration and issuing 37,500 shares and reimbursing Honey Badger for up to $206,250 of expenditures previously incurred on the property. If results from the initial exploration program are encouraging, the Company may increase its interest by a further 29% (to 80% in total) by making payments of US$375,000 and issuing 375,000 shares within 3 years. Entrée has committed to carry Honey Badger through the completion of 10,000 metres of drilling, including any done within the first year.
Work to date on Blackjack includes an extensive soil geochemical and geological program completed in 2009 followed by geophysical surveys carried out in early 2010 consisting of nine lines of induced polarization totaling approximately 43 line kilometers. Results from the programs were used identify drill targets which will be tested in the second and third quarters of 2010.
Roulette Property
In September 2009, Entrée entered into an agreement with Bronco Creek Exploration Inc., a private exploration company based in Arizona (and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Eurasian Minerals Inc), to explore for and develop porphyry copper targets in the Yerington district of Nevada. Bronco Creek has assembled a land package of 214 claims covering over 1,760 hectares (4,350 acres) known as the Roulette Property.
Under the terms of the agreement with Bronco Creek, Entrée may acquire an 80% interest in the Roulette Property by incurring expenditures of $1,000,000, making cash payments of US$140,000 and issuing 85,000 shares within three years. The minimum expenditure required in Year 1 is US$300,000, along with cash payments totaling US$90,000 and issuance of 72,500 shares.