As of December 29, 2022, Three Valley Copper Corp. (TVC) no longer controlled Minera Tres Valles SpA (MTV).
On February 17, 2023, TVC announced that MTV, the Company’s 95.1% Chilean copper mining subsidiary, received from the Civil Courts of Santiago, the declaration of the bankruptcy liquidation. The public company, TVC, is expected to continue as a going concern.
On Apr 24, 2025, Austrian investor Cevdet Caner, through NIU Group acquired 100% of Minera Tres Valles, marking a full ownership transfer.
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Summary:
The Tres Valles Project have two deposits named Don Gabriel and Papomono.
Papomono Deposit
The Papomono deposit has been divided into four major areas, some of which have sub-zones.
Papomono Masivo
This zone is the most complex of the Papomono areas, due to the mineralization having three separate geological controls:
• A fault zone, the Papomono fault zone, acted as a feeder zone
• Mantos-hosting strata
• A swarm of narrow north–south/45°E oriented chalcocite veins.
Papomono Mantos
The Papomono Mantos area includes the Manto Norte, Papomono Mantos Conexión, and Papomono Sur zones. Mineralization in these areas is mantos in style, stratabound, and associated with the Papomono fault zone as feeder zone. The Manto Norte, Papomono Mantos Conexión and Papomono Sur zones have the same orientation (N27°W/15°SW), a strike extent of about 1.5 km, and along dip extensions of about 240–340 m. The Papomono Mantos Conexión and Papomono Sur zones extend updip to the northeast from the Papomono fault zone.
Papomono Cumbre
Mineralization in this zone consists of disseminated chalcocite and bornite or sheeted sulphide-rich veinlets associated with the presence of an intrusive plug ranging from dioritic to gabbroic composition. Mineralization can also be found in fractures and small faults along the intrusive contact with the andesitic wallrock. Copper grades are generally low, although some higher grades (1.0–1.8% Cu) occur in brecciated zones (magmatic breccia).
Epitermal
This zone consists of a number of well-defined, epithermal sugary quartz–alunite veins, containing enargite and chalcocite, striking N40°W.
Mineralization
The dominant hypogene sulphides in the deposit are in decreasing order: chalcocite– covellite (~85%), bornite (~6%), enargite (~5%) and chalcopyrite (~4%). Supergene chalcocite is not common. In places where intense fracturing and faulting occurs, the action of oxidizing agents generates oxide copper minerals including chrysocolla, malachite, brochantite and atacamite. For this reason, the traditional vertical zonation of oxides on the top of a deposit and sulphides at depth does not occur at Papomono.
The most common deposit geometry within the Papomono deposit is manto-type (stratiform). The individual “mantos” have a thickness that ranges from 2–50 m, strike extents of as much as 500 m and lengths along dip that can be as much as 600 m. Examples of this type of deposit geometry are the Papomono Sur, Papomono Mantos Conexión, and the Manto Norte zones.
The second most common deposit geometry is vein-type, with a thickness that can range from 2–15 m, a strike length that can vary from 100–420 m and dip extensions of 100–250 m. The dip angle is generally steep, between 80° and 90° to the west. There are also sets of tens of centimetre-thick north–south-oriented veins that typically dip at about 55° to the east. These vein sets occur in clusters of about 10 to 30 narrow, massive chalcocite veins, and can reach as much as 50 m in length.
The Papomono Masivo zone, due to the complex geometry, has a rough inverse triangle or a truncated rhomb shape. The zone has a strike extent of about 440 m, and can be as much as 190 m wide and 190 m high.
The Papomono Cumbre zone has a vertical extent of about 400 m, extending 310 m below the oxide mineralization that was mined in the Cumbre open pit, and a diameter of about 180 m. The remaining mineralization consists of disseminated chalcocite and bornite.
The main epithermal vein is about 420 m long and range from 8–14 m in thickness. Two significant veins occur on either side of the main vein and are 210–260 m long and 1–3 m thick. The main and secondary vein vertical extents are estimated at 160 m. Two smaller veins, 110 m in length, occur to the northwest of the main vein.
Don Gabriel Deposit
Don Gabriel Manto
The mantos occur in a 110 m thick package of andesites. The mantos are continuous along strike and dip but the thickness can vary from 20–60 m. The mantos can merge and split: typically, there are two main mantos that may join up to form a single manto, and there may be minor mantos adjacent to the main mantos. The mineralized zone is outlined by a 0.2% Cu isograd.
Don Gabriel Vetas
The mineralization is not vein hosted, but has a vein-type shape, with high-grade copper mineralization following the contacts of sub-vertical microdioritic dikes with the host andesite. These dikes range in thickness from 1–8 m, in general have a strike of N45°W strike, dipping 50° to 85° to the northeast or southwest. A minor, low-grade manto has also been identified.
Mineralization
The Don Gabriel deposit consists of two main zones, a manto and a vein zone.
The 100 m thick upper manto zone consists of stratabound, finely disseminated chalcocite mineralization dipping to the south–southwest at 30°. The mineralized zone is developed in amygdale andesites.
The lower, vein-shaped zone consists of high-grade stockwork or sheeted veinlets, and sulphide-bearing knots and disseminations. The primary copper minerals include chalcocite, digenite and some bornite. The host rock to mineralization is a medium- to coarse-textured porphyritic andesite and/or dioritic to microdioritic dikes.
The sandstone lithologies are used as separators between the two mineralized zones, and form the boundaries between the Don Gabriel Mantos and Don Gabriel Vetas geological models.