Cristal
Prospective for: Porphyry Copper-Molybdenum.Location:
The 46 sq km Cristal property is located along the West Fissure in northern Chile, near the border with Peru. The West Fissure is host to the majority of Chile's large porphyry copper deposits, including the nearby Collahuasi, Ujina and Quebrada Blanca porphyry copper mines.
Ownership:
100% owned. The property was optioned in 2006 to a Canadian junior resource company which conducted a 10 km long, one-line conventional IP survey in November 2006 along the southern boundary of the claims and subsequently returned the project to Condor, without testing the large mineralized porphyry copper system.
Geology/Mineralization:
The Cristal target is covered by young volcanics (ignimbrites) which have been eroded by two deeply incised N-S trending valleys (quebradas), interpreted to be strands of the West Fissure fault system. Immediately to the south of the property, on the east side of the eastern-most valley, the Quebrada Palmani, is an exposure of a classic Chilean porphyry copper outcrop comprising altered quartz feldspar porphyry (QFP) intrusive rock exhibiting abundant stockwork quartz veining, at least 3 phases of brecciation, and limonites after pyrite and copper minerals. A 'relict sulphide' study conducted in the early 1990's on this outcrop (nicknamed the Red Wall) revealed abundant bornite and chalcopyrite along with pyrite encapsulated within quartz grains in the QFP. Exposures of propylitic alteration in the surrounding andesites, and a silver-lead-zinc vein district with historical small scale production are located to the southwest of the Cristal claims and in the western-most quebrada. All of this information points to the existence of an extensive mineralized porphyry copper system at Cristal.
Past drilling by others in the 1990's to the south of the Cristal claims encountered abundant disseminated pyrite along with uneconomic copper values. This area has been interpreted to be the pyritic halo surrounding a potentially enriched porphyry copper system, the centre of which is postulated to be located to the north of the Red Wall, under the ignimbrite cover on the Cristal claims. This project is contiguous with claims owned by Codelco to the east and Mantos Blancos (Anglo American) to the south.
On the Cristal property, the West Fissure undergoes an abrupt change in direction from N-S to N45W, precisely where it is intersected by a NE-SW regional structure. Condor geologists believe that the intersection of these deep seated structures is the centre of the target at Cristal.
Update:
Anglo American reportedly conducted geophysics on their contiguous property to the south of Cristal in 2008. Results of their work are unknown to Condor.
In early 2010, unconfirmed verbal information was obtained concerning a drill program conducted by another major company in the mid-1990's in what is now within or very close to the southern boundary of the Cristal claims. This source reported drill intercepts of 40 to 50m grading 0.7% to 0.8%Cu in one drillhole and approximately 80m of 1%Cu in another, with mineralization remaining open to the north under the ignimbrite cover. If true, this would confirm Condor's interpretation of the main mineralized target lying immediately to the north within Condor's Cristal claims.
It is doubtful that the aforementioned conventional IP survey line conducted along the southern border of the Cristal property in 2006 even reached the required depth to test for copper mineralization at Cristal. As a result, and with the unconfirmed information referred to above, Condor geologists recommend a 'deep-seeing' geophysical survey to check below the ignimbrite cover at Cristal, such as Quantec's Titan 24 system, followed by 2 to 3 vertical reverse air drillholes to a depth of between 400m to 600m to test the interpretation of the target. The Company is seeking a joint venture partner to conduct this program.