By: Tomas Ronolski - AllPennyStocks.com News

Wednesday, July 31, 2013

According to a report from UNCTAD’s Multi-Year Expert Meeting on Commodities and Development in Geneva in March, with about 3,000 million metric tonnes, there were more copper reserves in the world in 2011 than at any other time in history. With 28 percent of the reserves, Chile has more copper than any other country, followed by Peru with 13 percent and Australia with 12 percent. The remaining 47 percent is split amongst the rest of the world. Portugal is essentially a blip on the map of copper reserves, but company’s like Lundin Mining Corp. (TSX:LUN) and Avrupa Minerals Ltd. (TSX-Venture:AVU) are looking to change that…and perhaps prosper from an area that many other miners have overlooked.

Lundin has its Neves-Corvo underground copper and zinc mine located in the western part of the Iberian Pyrite Belt. The mine, which has been producing since 1989, is owned and operated by Lundin’s Portuguese subsidiary Somincor. In the first quarter, operating earnings from the mine totaled $47.9 million, down from $86.8 million in the year prior quarter due to lower copper sales, falling metal prices and a $12.6-million price adjustment from the prior period sales.

Through its wholly-owned subsidiary, MAEPA Lda, Avrupa Minerals holds 10 exploration licenses in Portugal, spanning 2,277 square kilometers across the country. Avrupa operates three joint ventures in Portugal, covering five of the licenses. Further, five of Avrupa’s licenses are in the Iberian Pyrite Belt, historically one of the world’s largest and most prolific copper-zinc-iron massive sulfide belts and the area that Lundin is currently mining.

On Wednesday, the company disclosed that it has now added to its Portuguese portfolio by acquiring a new license in the northern Pyrite Belt. The Mining Bureau of Portugal issued the Marateca license, which covers 742 square kilometer in southern Portugal, to Avrupa on July 26. The property is located only 40 kilometers north of Alrupa’s Alvalade joint venture project with Antofagasta Minerals, SA and is adjacent to Avrupa’s Alvito license.

Phase II drilling on the Alvalade project was comprised of 16 holes for 6,757 meters and unearthed visible copper mineralization in five of the holes. Phase III drilling began in March and is slated to total between 4,500 and 5,000 meters of exploration. The Alvito project hosts several copper and precious metal targets.

The Marateca license covers part of the Pyrite Belt that has been little explored, but the geological settings are similar, lending to the idea of strong copper and zinc reserves. Geological mapping has identified five areas with exposed rock units that have historically hosted large sulfide deposits in the Pyrite Belt.

Avrupa said it now will look to form additional joint ventures in Portugal, either to explore Marateca, Alvito, or both.

Much like many other developmental miners, shares of Avrupa have bounced in July, moving from 3.5 cent lows to as high as 6.5 cents. In Wednesday action the stock is down 9 percent with the news, slipping back to 5 cents from Tuesday’s 5.5-cent close. Additional exploration is necessary to prove-up the potential of the Portuguese projects (as well as the company’s other projects in Kosovo and Germany), but the portfolio is certainly getting full of land. Time to prove what’s under it. Proper due diligence is, as always, encouraged.

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