Location & Infrastructure & History
Elenita is located 110 km NE of Antofagasta and can be accessed by vehicle within 1.5 hours. The area's infrastructure and logistics are excellent, as electricity is very close, roads are well kept, and water can be supplied from the nearby Calama-Antofagasta pipeline or other options that exist in the project area.
The Elenita Project is 1,000 hectares in size with the historic resource contained within one claim (Elenita II/20) totaling 96 hectares. The property has been owned by the Céspedes Family since 1959. Between 1960 and 1990, the property was mined with low-scale production of high grade zones. In 1993, the Céspedes Family signed a deal with Princeton Mining Corp, who carried out 19,125m of RC drilling at Elenita claim and an additional 3,308m in the surrounding areas. In 1997 Princeton dropped the Elenita option.
In 2003, Minera Michilla (Antofagasta Minerals) carried out 818m of shallow RC drilling in the Elenita Claim. From 1997-2004 the mine had no production. Since 2004 the Cespedes Family has carried out small scale mining of high grade mantos with an average production of 2000 tons per month at an average grade of 2 to 3% Cu.
Mineralization is in manto type throughout, with some andesitic favorable beds of the Jurassic La Negra Formation. Mantos are NE/45ºSE. Mineralization, besides the manto structure, is also controlled by some fractures and faults. The copper mantos are 1-15 m wide. Mineralization is present in Cu oxides such as Brochantite, Atacamite, Chrisocole and Malachite within the first 80 -100m of depth. Below 100 -- 200m there is a leachable secondary enrichment zone with chalcosite. Mineralization is observed down to 300m deep with the presence of Bornite and Covellite.