BRISAS
A possible deposit analogy is of a copper porphyry forming over a magmatic source (yet to be discovered) that was very rich in boron. A peraluminous granite might fit the boron requirements and a sufficient volume of basaltic/andesitic rock could provide the copper. Thin lenses of high Cu and Mo extending away along bedding/foliation planes could be the result of periodic high confining pressures within the Blue Whale that forced mineralizing fluids outward along these planes. The fluids replaced crystals and lithic fragments, evidence of which can be viewed in drill core.

There are four distinct types of gold and copper mineralization present at Brisas, defined by geometry, associated minerals, and the gold-copper ratio. These zones are the Blue Whale body, disseminated gold + pyrite ± copper, disseminated high copper, and shear-hosted gold. Only the first three types are encountered within the proposed pit geometry.

The Blue Whale mineralized body is a discrete, sharply bounded, flattened, cigar-shaped feature that trends more or less parallel to the local schistosity and plunges approximately 35° southwest.

Mineralogically, the Blue Whale is a sericite- tourmaline-pyrite-chalcopyrite-quartz schist, with a smaller volume of quartz-tourmaline-sulphide breccia.

The bulk of mineralization occurs in disseminated, coalescing, lensoid bodies, and high in gold and in most cases low in copper. These bodies lie almost ex ........

The Siembra Minera Project is an open-pit gold- copper mining project. The mine will be a conventional truck and shovel open pit mining operation, which will utilize hydraulic shovels and 236-tonne trucks as the primary mining equipment. Ancillary activities will include, however not be limited to, road maintenance, road dust control, site dewatering, dump and stockpile maintenance, and grade control.

Brisas inter-ramp pit slopes based on Vector (2007) range from 22° to 30° in saprolite, 36.2° to 46.6° in the east wall, and 46.6° to 52° in the west wall. Cristinas pit slopes based on SNCLavalin (2005) are 31° for saprolite, 45° for east wall, and 50° to 55° for hard rock on the west and south wall.

The pit slopes used for RPA’s pit optimization were 36° for oxide saprolite, 46° for sulphide saprolite, and 48° for hard rock for the entire deposit.

The resource pit is approximately 6,000 m long and 1,900 m wide with a maximum depth of approximately 700 m. The total material including waste is 5,910 million tonnes. The pit slope on the east wall follows the mineralization with slopes from 36° to 38°; the west wall final pit has overall pit slopes ranging from 48° to 50°.

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