VANCOUVER,
Aug. 12, 2013 /CNW/ - Copper Fox
Metals Inc. ("Copper Fox" or the "Company") (TSX-V: CUU) is
pleased to provide an update on corporate activities. The corporate
activities are intended to reflect the operations and requirements
of Copper Fox on a going forward basis.
On formation of the Schaft Creek Joint Venture
with Teck Resources Limited ("Teck"), Teck assumed operatorship of
the Schaft Creek project resulting in a reduced level of activity
at Schaft Creek for Copper Fox. The reduced level of activity
at Schaft Creek combined with other corporate activities has
resulted in the following highlights:
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a) |
A tax free cash distribution of $0.0275/share as a return of
capital has been declared to shareholders of record on Tuesday,
August 20, 2013 (the "Record Date"). In general terms, a
return of capital is not included in income by shareholders but
does reduce the cost of a share for income tax purposes. The
ex distribution date for this distribution is Friday, August 16,
2013. The distribution is expected to be paid to shareholders
on or before Thursday August 29, 2013, |
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b) |
The Company's wholly-owned subsidiary to be named "Desert Fox
Copper Inc." has been established as the primary operating vehicle
responsible for acquisitions, and exploration and development
activities on the Van Dyke copper deposit and the Sombrero Butte
copper project; |
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c) |
Copper Fox management and personnel have now been assigned to
Desert Fox to support Desert Fox's new role as the primary
operating vehicle for the Company, re-aligning overhead and
providing savings and cost efficiencies; |
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d) |
Desert Fox plans to immediately commence activities on its Van
Dyke and Sombrero Butte copper projects (see news release dated
Tuesday, July 9, 2012) located in Arizona. Activities include
compilation and review of over 6,000 boxes of core and samples from
72 drill holes, diamond drilling, environmental and geotechnical
studies on the Van Dyke copper deposit and a surface and
geophysical exploration program on the Sombrero Butte copper
project, |
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e) |
Desert Fox intends to acquire and invest in advanced
polymetallic copper projects within North America to take advantage
of unprecedented current market value opportunities, |
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f) |
The Company will hold its annual general meeting of
shareholders on Wednesday, October 16, 2013. |
Mr. Elmer
Stewart, President of Copper Fox stated "The formation of
the joint venture with Teck on the Schaft Creek project provides
Copper Fox the opportunity to reward it's shareholders and at the
same time retaining sufficient cash resources going forward to work
on establishing the value of the Van Dyke copper project through
Desert Fox. The formation of Desert Fox provides maximum
flexibility to Copper Fox in determining its future dealings with
its 25% interest in the Schaft Creek Joint Venture, and segregating
internal operating activities and costs to Desert Fox Copper.
Through Desert Fox Copper, we want to take advantage of the market
opportunities now available, to actively pursue investment in and
acquisition of advanced polymetallic copper projects located in
North America".
Schaft Creek 2013 Drilling program:
Teck, as operator of the Schaft Creek Joint Venture, has advised
Copper Fox that mobilization for executing the drilling program has
commenced.
Arizona Assets and Projects:
Desert Fox plans to immediately commence operations on its Van Dyke
and Sombrero Butte copper projects located in Arizona. Approximately 6,000 boxes of
core and samples from the historical drill holes completed on the
Van Dyke project are available for re-logging and sampling.
The objective of the 2013 work is to compile a
data base to determine what, if any, additional drilling needs to
be completed to establish a current resource. Additional activities
include the commencement of baseline environmental studies,
preliminary engineering and geotechnical studies to determine the
optimal method to extract the copper mineralization, and additional
metallurgical testwork to determine average copper recovery
rates. The metallurgical testwork will be dictated by the
results of geotechnical and engineering studies. The majority
of the work to be completed in 2013 is planned for the Van Dyke
copper project. A brief summary of the historical results of
the Van Dyke project is outlined below.
Historical Results Van Dyke Project:
The 1,100 acre Van Dyke project is located in the Globe-Miami
Mining district of Arizona, 90
miles east of Phoenix,
Arizona. In the early 1900s, a shaft was sunk to
a depth of 1,692 feet and the mine is reported to have produced
11.8 million pounds of copper between 1929 and 1945 from copper
oxide mineralization at a reported grade of 5.0 % copper.
Between 1968 and 1973, Occidental Minerals
Corporation ("Occidental") and a number of other companies drilled
70 exploration holes (sixty-two of which encountered measureable
copper mineralization) on the Van Dyke property of which 46 holes
were used to complete an historical estimate of 112,000,000 tons at
a grade of 0.52% copper (estimated to contain 1.2 billion pounds of
copper). Occidental used a polygonal method to complete the
historical estimate. The parameters used to complete the
historical estimate are: mineralization was extrapolated a maximum
distance of 400 feet from a drill hole and copper grades were
capped at 2.5% with a tonnage factor of 12.5 cubic feet per
ton. The minimum mineralized interval used in the historical
estimate was 15 feet depending on trend, geology and grade of
adjacent mineralized intercepts. The historical estimate is
set out in a report entitled "Report and Recommendations for the
Van Dyke Copper Project, Arizona",
dated December 12, 1973 prepared by
Mr. J. A. Johnston, geologist.
Copper Fox cautions that a Qualified Person
has not done sufficient work to classify the Van Dyke historical
estimate as a current resource estimate. Copper Fox is not
treating the Van Dyke historical estimate as a current resource
estimate. The work completed by Occidental has not been
verified by Copper Fox and is not considered reliable when compared
with National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101") standards.
Additional diamond drilling, assaying,
confirmation of the extent and grade of the mineralization reported
in the core holes used in the historical estimate, density
measurements, updated metal prices and additional metallurgical
testwork is required to either upgrade or verify the Van Dyke
historical estimated as a current mineral resource.
Occidental also completed preliminary
metallurgical testwork to determine if the copper mineralization in
the Van Dyke deposit was amendable to in-situ leaching, with a
pilot program of two 1,000 foot deep holes, 75 feet apart.
The reports on the Insitu leaching metallurgical testwork indicated
copper recoveries up to 80% using hydrofracturing to improve fluid
circulation.
Sombrero Butte Property:
The Sombrero Butte property consists of 2,887 acres located in the
Bunker Hill Mining District 44 miles northeast of Tucson, Arizona. The project is located 9
miles east of the San Manuel Mine (14 billion lbs Cu), and 2 miles
south of Redhawk Resources' Copper Creek project (7.75 billion lbs
Cu).
Desert Fox's objective in 2013 on the Sombrero
Butte project is to locate the source of mineralized breccia pipes
located on the property. To achieve this objective, a program
of surface mapping and sampling followed by a deep penetrating
geophysical survey (Induced Polarization) to identify
chargeability/resistivity anomalies indicative of porphyry copper
systems is planned.
Previous exploration on this project located 25
breccia pipes which elsewhere in the district overlie associated
porphyry copper systems. The source of the mineralized breccia
pipes is interpreted to be one or more underlying porphyry copper
systems. Between 2006 and 2008, 29 of 34 holes drilled to test 8
breccia pipes intersected significant copper mineralization over
core intervals ranging from 2m to 72m with average copper grades
ranging from 0.37% to 5.85% for these intervals (see table
below). The mineralization in these breccia pipes remains
open at depth. Some of the mineralized intervals from the 34
holes completed are as follows:
Breccia Pipe |
Drill Hole ID |
From (m) |
To (m) |
Interval (m) |
Copper (%) |
Magma |
SB-02 |
286 |
334 |
48 |
1.06 |
Campstool |
SB-03 |
272 |
294 |
22 |
0.58 |
Sunset |
SB-05 |
18 |
40 |
22 |
4.74 |
Rattler |
SB-09 |
96 |
110 |
14 |
0.83 |
Audacious |
SB-14 |
20 |
86 |
66 |
1.45 |
Victor's |
SB-29 |
4 |
70 |
66 |
0.61 |
The mineralized intervals listed in the above table do not
represent true widths.
Corporate Overhead Reductions:
Copper Fox has commenced a program to reduce its general and
administrative expenses to reflect the change in operatorship in
its 25% owned Schaft Creek joint venture. The corporate
target is a 40% reduction in general and administrative expenses on
an annualized basis.
Future Acquisitions:
Desert Fox plans to take advantage of the current state of the
mineral industry to acquire either working or equity interest in
large polymetallic copper projects located in North America.
Elmer B. Stewart,
MSc. P. Geol., President of Copper Fox, is the Company's nominated
Qualified Person pursuant to National Instrument 43-101, Standards
for Disclosure for Mineral Projects, has reviewed the technical
information disclosed in this news release.
About Copper Fox
Copper Fox is a Canadian resource development company listed on the
TSX-Venture Exchange (TSX-V: CUU) with offices in Calgary, Alberta and Vancouver, British Columbia. In addition
to Copper Fox's interest in the Schaft Creek Joint Venture, Copper
Fox holds, through Desert Fox and its wholly-owned subsidiaries,
mineral tenures located in Pinal County,
Arizona (the 'Sombrero Butte Copper Project') and in
Miami, Arizona (the 'Van Dyke
Copper Project'). For further information on these projects,
please refer to the July 9, 2012 and
April 12, 2013 news releases found at
the Company's website at www.copperfoxmetals.com.
On behalf of the Board of Directors
Elmer B.
Stewart
President and Chief Executive Officer
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its
Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the
policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for
the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking
Information
This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the
meaning of Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking
information is generally identifiable by use of the words
"believes," "may," "plans," "will," "anticipates," "intends,"
"budgets", "could", "estimates", "expects", "forecasts", "projects"
and similar expressions, and the negative of such
expressions. Forward-looking information in this news release
includes statements about further exploration and the timing and
scope of drilling for the 2013 summer program at Schaft Creek,
formation of an operating subsidiary company, expected payment of a
cash distribution; objectives and work planned for the Sombrero
Butte and Van Dyke copper project in Arizona, management changes and the company's
intention to pursue the acquisition of either working or equity
interests in large polymetallic copper project in North America.
In connection with the forward-looking
information contained in this news release, Copper Fox has made
numerous assumptions. While Copper Fox considers these
assumptions to be reasonable, these assumptions are inherently
subject to significant uncertainties and contingencies.
Additionally, there are known and unknown risk factors which could
cause Copper Fox's and/or Desert Fox's actual results, performance
or achievements to be materially different from any future results,
performance or achievements expressed or implied by the
forward-looking information contained herein. Known risk
factors include: the timing and scope of the 2013 summer drilling
program at Schaft Creek may not be initiated or completed as
expected; the payment of the cash distribution may not occur on or
prior to the date expected; the objectives and results of the 2013
exploration activities planned for the Sombrero Butte and Van Dyke
copper projects may not be implemented, completed or achieve the
intended objectives; the management changes may not be implemented
as stated and the work required to identify acquisition of either
working or equity interests in large polymetallic copper projects
in North America may not identify
a suitable project or that if a suitable project is identified, the
project may not be available for acquisition on terms suitable to
the Company.
A more complete discussion of the risks and
uncertainties facing Copper Fox is disclosed in Copper Fox's
continuous disclosure filings with Canadian securities regulatory
authorities at www.sedar.com. All forward-looking information
herein is qualified in its entirety by this cautionary statement,
and Copper Fox disclaims any obligation to revise or update any
such forward-looking information or to publicly announce the result
of any revisions to any of the forward-looking information
contained herein to reflect future results, events or developments,
except as required by law.
SOURCE Copper Fox Metals Inc.