Altius spins out copper play Aethon Minerals

Newly formed copper explorer Aethon Minerals (TSXV: AET) is adding to its already large Chilean land package with an option agreement to acquire full interest in the Llanos de Llahuin copper-gold project, located in Chile’s Region IV, close to the city of Illapel and 250 km north of Santiago. The property hosts the 4 sq. km Gomila copper prospect, which Aethon says may contain a buried porphyry intrusion. The property is 4 km southwest of Hudbay Minerals’ (TSX: HBM; NYSE: HBM) Llahuin copper project and 3 km northeast of Pucobre’s El Spino copper project, in an area rife with small-scale miners. Aethon is optioning the property from Sociedad Legal Minera la Florida de Canela for an initial US$100,000 payment. To acquire a 100% interest it will have to complete staged payments totalling US$6.3 million over four years. The optionor will keep a 2% net smelter return royalty that Aethon can buy back for US$4.5 million. The company says it will launch a first phase of exploration – including mapping, chip and channel sampling, and induced polarization surveys – to define targets for a 1,000-metre drill campaign it aims to complete in the first six months. It expects to drill four holes at 250 metres apiece spaced 300 metres apart in an east-west line across the known mineralized system. Continue reading at The Northern Miner.