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Summo Minerals Corporation changed its name to Constellation Copper Corporation on July 19, 2002. The company's goal is to become a mid-tier copper producer focused on low cost SX-EW technology.

Constellation Copper Corporation      [CCU:TSE] 

Terrazas Cu-Zn Oxide Deposit, Chihuahua. Signed a letter of intent to option to purchase the Terrazas copper-zinc oxide skarn deposit located 40 km N of Chihuahua City. Terms call for a seven year option period with a buyout of 100% of the property upon commencement of production, or anytime prior to expiry of the option period, for a price of US$3 million. Summo is required to carry out at least US$2 million in work on the property during the option term. The underlying owner will retain a 1.5-2% net sales royalty, indexed to copper prices.

The Terrazas property contains a previously announced drill-indicated resource of 58.3 million tonnes grading 0.353% Cu and 0.570% Zn, within a fully engineered pit, potentially minable at a low strip ratio of 0.62:1. Jacobs Engineering Group completed a thorough pre-feasibility study on the project in February 2002, indicating anticipated cash operating costs of $0.35/lb. of copper cathode and $0.25/lb. of SHG zinc ingot produced, at an annual production capacity of 18,000 tonnes of copper and 27,000 tonnes of zinc.

The Terrazas deposit is located about 40 km. northwest of Chihuahua City in north-central Mexico in an area with atypically well developed infrastructure.  The deposit lies along a northwest trending zone that separates the Laramide-aged Mexican Thrust Belt to the east from the Tertiary volcanic plateau of the Sierra Madre Occidental to the west.  The Terrazas deposit has some similarities to larger deposits in the vicinity such as Naica and Santa Eulalia.  A sequence of Cretaceous limestones in the deposit area was subjected to low angle faulting, erosion and development of karst features.  The erosion led to the local deposition of basin-filling, Tertiary-aged conglomerate.  Contemporaneous with the deposition of the conglomerate was the onset of predominantly rhyolitic volcanic activity in the area manifested by flows, dikes, sills other subvolcanic intrusions.

Significant alteration in the area affected both the limestone and the overlying conglomerate and resulted in the development of several areas of extensive skarn, two of which host copper and zinc mineralization.  Skarn development is most closely related in time and space to the area of the rhyolitic volcanics, but a non-outcropping intrusive is inferred. The mineralized skarn forms two half-mooned shaped areas separated by the north-trending Verde Fault and with both areas of skarn truncated  at depth by a low angle fault from an underlying intrusive.  Mineralogy of the skarn is mostly green, andradite garnet with lesser quartz, and with some retrograde(?) calcite.

Copper and zinc mineralization is generally confined to the skarn, with higher grades, and most past mining, often in close association with the marble front.  The skarn is generally completely oxidized, with only minor remnants of the sulfides pyrite, chalcopyrite and sphalerite.  Oxidation has led to only minor remobilization of copper and zinc and the generation of malachite, chrysocolla, hemimorphite, willemite and Cu- and Zn-bearing iron oxides. Areas of higher copper and zinc grades are not generally coincident.  The deposit has been subject to several periods of drilling, with the latest conducted by Summo in 2000.  Based on the drilling results, a geologic resource exceeding 110 million tonnes has been estimated, grading 0.26% Cu and 0.36% Zn, and which is open to expansion.      

Economic related criteria, including the extraction of copper and zinc from numerous column leach tests, were developed and used to generate a potentially mineable resource estimated at 58.3 million tonnes grading 0.35% Cu and 0.57% Zn with a strip ratio of 0.62/1.0.  A hydrometallurgical flowsheet was also developed utilizing heap leach extraction with recovery of copper via conventional SX-EW and zinc via solution reduction and direct EW.  A recently completed pre-feasibility study proposes an operation with an 11 year life with average co-product basis cash operating costs of $0.35 per pound copper and $0.21 per pound zinc.   

March 11, 2002: The Terrazas SX-EW Cu-Zn Project passes an economic evaluation in a detailed feasibility study. The oxide Cu-Zn orebody would be mined at a daily rate of 15,000 to 20,000 tonnes as an open pit. The resource figure of 58.3 million tonnes at 0.35% Cu and ).57% Zn would cover an 11 year mine life. The pit design has a stripping ratio of 0.62:1. The expected annual production would be 18,000 tones of cathode Cu and 27,000 tonnes of Zn ingot. 

NMN V88#3, Mar. 11-17, 2002

January 29, 2001: Summo Minerals Corporation has completed its in-house evaluation of the results of Phase 1 drilling completed in 2000 on the Terrazas copper-zinc oxide deposit, located in Chihuahua, Mexico. The in-house evaluation includes a new global resource calculation, review of anticipated copper and zinc recovery via heap leach based upon acid soluble analytical data, review of the anticipated acid consumption based upon laboratory tests on drill cuttings and bulk samples, a new mineable resource contained within a fully engineered pit with ramp access, and a new cash flow model for development of the project as an open pit heap leach SX-EW operation with a minimum 10-year mine life. The in-house study is precedent to commissioning a third-party pre-feasibility study, for which Requests for Proposals have been solicited, Proposals received, and selected engineering firms short-listed. The successful candidates for ore reserve/mine planning and engineering will be selected and announced later. 

Incorporation of the data from investigations completed in 2000 reveal the global resource has expanded to 99 million tonnes grading 0.33% Cu(T) and 0.40%Zn(T). Median/mean acid soluble total ratios for copper and zinc above cut-off values of 0.15% Cu and 0.20% Zn are 87%/77% and 77%/74%, respectively. Actual extractions under heap leach conditions are expected to be similar or higher than the above, based on preliminary bottle roll test results. Acid consumption tests on drill cuttings and bulk ore samples at different crush sizes suggest the average acid consumption under heap leach conditions at a crush size of -1.5 inches will be less than originally anticipated, and average nominally 40 kgs/tonne. 

Preliminary mineable resource calculations, based upon 3D IDS independent grade block modeling of copper and zinc, indicates the presence of an un-optimized minimum minable resource of 61 million tonnes grading 0.355% Cu(T) and 0.579% Zn(T), at a cut-off grade of 0.15% Cu(T) and with an overall strip ratio of 0.69:1 within a fully engineered pit with ramp access at 8% grade. Average pit slopes of 50 degrees were used, although steeper slopes will be considered during independent engineering to access additional ore grade material outside of the preliminary pit limits. 

The current conceptual plan calls for development of an open pit mine, acid heap leach, and SX-EW recovery of both copper and zinc to produce nominally 40 million pounds of copper and 60 million pounds of zinc annually at an average cash operating cost of US$0.43/lb. Cu and US$0.40/lb. Zn on a co-product basis. Crediting the forecasted revenue from the sale of zinc to the cost of copper production generates a forecasted total cash operating cost of US$0.29/lb. Cu, and a total cost, including capital, of $0.53/lb. Cu, using an average zinc price of US$0.50/lb. The project has a forecasted NPV@10% of US$32.4 million and a pre-tax IRR of 35% at a copper price of US$0.85/lb. 

Summo will proceed with assembly and packaging of the data for delivery to the independent engineers for preparation of a third-party pre-feasibility study during the first and second quarter of 2001. Summo anticipates commencement of Phase 2 RC drilling to complete resource/reserve definition on 75 meter spacing, and large diameter core drilling for metallurgical sampling purposes, in the second quarter of 2001. Column leach tests on prepared drill core are scheduled to commence the third quarter of 2001, for completion in early 2002. All of the data gathered in 2001 will be incorporated into the project data base for preparation of a full Feasibility Study in 2002.  

The project data base currently consists of a total of 89 drill holes totaling 12,796 meters and 1,320 meters of underground channel samples, and contains 4,091 copper assays, 2,970 zinc assays, 2,459 acid soluble copper assays, 1,288 acid soluble zinc assays, and 1,772 acid consumption determinations. Summo has spent over US$750,000 on the project to date, anticipates spending US$250,000 to complete the pre-feasibility study by mid-2001, and plans an expenditure of US$1.25 million to complete a full Feasibility Study in 2002. 

The Terrazas copper-zinc oxide skarn deposit is located
approximately 40 kilometers north of the City of Chihuahua, Chihuahua, 5 kilometers east of the 4-lane highway to El Paso, Texas. A total of 7700 meters of drilling in 55 holes (core and RC) and channel sampling along 2500 meters of accessible underground workings outline a drill-indicated resource of 68 million tonnes grading 0.44% Cu(T) and 0.41% Zn(T) within a fully engineered pit with ramp access at a strip ratio of 0.5:1. The resource calculation was performed by Summo's President Gregory A. Hahn, C.P.G. #7122. This resource is roughly one third measured, one third indicated, and one third inferred. The resource remains open in three directions to possible expansion. Acid soluble analyses average (plus) 85% of total for both copper and zinc throughout the deposit, with higher acid soluble/total ratios in the upper two-thirds of the deposit. Summo is incorporating Minera Terrazas S.A. de C.V. in Mexico to hold the option. A drilling program totaling roughly 20,000 meters to define the above resource on 50-meter centers is being planned for 2000 and will be permitted with the appropriate Mexican agency responsible for mine project permitting. Drilling  is anticipated to commence in the second quarter of 2000.

The Terrazas property represents the third-largest known undeveloped copper oxide deposit in Mexico, and has excellent logistics and infrastructure. Aside from being located within one hour of Chihuahua, the property has a 115 kv power line and substation located 4 kilometers to the west, a 220 kv powerline across the east end of the property, a railroad and siding two kilometers to the west of the property, and abundant groundwater in the valley 2 kilometers to the west. Also, initial discussions are underway with a local producer of sulfuric acid. Summo will commence preliminary engineering and metallurgical studies simultaneous with drilling to be able to complete a pre-feasibility study on development of the project by early 2001.

Initial indications are the property should be able to produce 30-40 million pounds of cathode copper annually, and an equivalent amount of zinc metal either as a precipitate or as cathode, at very competitive costs. Together with the Lisbon Valley (Utah) Project, the two deposits can propel Summo towards its goal of producing (plus) 100 million pounds of cathode copper annually at cash costs of less than $0.50/lb.

Press Release 29Dec99