I was in this stock for Serra Misteriosa initially, and didn't...

I was in this stock for Serra Misteriosa initially, and didn't get hugely excited about the Salobo Project until today.

Prospects SW1-A and SW1-B soil geochemistry are elevated, but in my opinion not indicative of a surface expression of an ore-grade copper deposit (Salobo 3A has an average grade of 0.8-1.3% Cu depending on which cut-off you use).  In these environments, copper is leached from the soils but not to the extents seen elsewhere in the world (i.e. western australia) where weathering has been active for a much longer period of time. For that reason, it looks more like SW1-A and SW1-B represent copper-anomalous accumulation of magnetite (the geochemistry is intimately associated with the magnetics), and i wouldn't expect the grades to be at the same levels as the Salobo 3A mine.

Its a similar situation as seen at Serra Misteriosa, where a nice gold anomaly of +100ppb Au was present (which would be outstanding in the West Australian goldfields), however initial drilling only reproduced the grades seen in the soils as there was no leaching of gold in the soil (on the contrary, there could have been laterite enrichment). Serra Misteriosa is not yet a write-off, as the trend could still host higher-grade shoots, but the large, bulk-tonnage deposit model is probably off the table.

And then came Serendipidade..........

From the limited research i have done on Salobo 3A deposit, it would appear that soil values directly above the ore-body were  1000-3000ppm Cu (which substantiates the graphs shown in the CTM announcement), with grades in the saprolite averaging 7700ppm (with higher-grade zones also present). The saprolite is between 20 and 70m thick.

There are only two soil traverses over Serenipidade spaced 1km apart, with each showing strong Cu enrichment in the soils close to the levels seen at Salobo 3A.

I wait with anticipation for the infill soil survey results.................

See below for a few links to articles and papers on Salobo 3A:

http://www.iaea.org/inis/collection/NCLCollectionStore/_Public/21/074/21074590.pdf
http://www.academia.edu/26863335/Go...e_surficial_environment_Carajas_region_Brazil
https://www.researchgate.net/public...t_the_Salobo_copper_deposit_Serra_dos_Carajas