McEwen Mining drills 0.97% copper over 231 metres at Los Azules, Argentina

McEwen Copper Inc., 52%-owned by McEwen Mining Inc. [MUX-TSX, NYSE], has released the latest assay results from Los Azules, where a continuing infill drilling program continues to delineate copper mineralization in the core of the deposit. Infill drilling serves several purposes: providing better data density to upgrade confidence in the mineral resources, providing material and data for metallurgical, geotechnical and hydrological studies, and potentially defining higher-grade mineralization by drilling inclined holes across vertical structures (such as breccias).

Located in San Juan, Argentina, the Los Azules project has many features comparable with world-class copper-gold deposits in South America, including a thick blanket of higher-grade enriched mineralization.

Highlights: Hole AZ22182A intercepted an enriched zone of 231 metres of 0.97% copper (estimated true thickness) and a primary zone with mineralization that remains open at depth.

Hole AZ23196 returned an overall intercept of 550 metres of 0.50% copper (estimated true thickness) and included 216 metres of 0.72% copper within the enriched zone portion.

There were also minor gold and silver credits.

Drilling completed during the current season to April 30 stands at 32,758 metres in 125 holes, having exceeded the 25,000 metres initially planned. Drilling will continue until the end of the field season in May and will resume in October at the end of winter in Argentina.

“It is remarkable to think that 30% of the total number of metres drilled into our Los Azules deposit were completed in the past seven months,” commented Michael Meding, vice-president and general manager of McEwen Copper. “It’s a credit to our dedicated team from San Juan.”

McEwen is a gold and silver producer with operations in Nevada, Canada, Mexico and Argentina. In addition, it has large exposure to copper through its 52% ownership of McEwen Copper, which owns the large, advanced-stage Los Azules copper project in Argentina. The company’s goal is to improve the productivity and extend the life of its mines with the objective of increasing its share value and price and providing a yield.

Rob McEwen, chairman and chief owner, has personal investment in the company of US$220-million. His annual salary is US$1.