Location & Infrastructure
Zafranal is located 90 km NW of the city of Arequipa (pop. ~ 1,000,000) in Southern Peru. Access to the property is excellent on both a 41.5km gravel road from the town of Corire (pop. ~3000) and a 57 km gravel road from the town of Pedregal. Zafrana's road access has been upgraded and drill roads have been completed for the upcoming drilling campaign.
Pedregal lies along the Panamerican Highway. Corire is accessible from the Panamerican Highway along a paved road and is the closest population center to the project site. The Project is located 80km from tidewater.
EGASA is the power generator for the Arequipa Department, relying primarily on hydroelectric generation. They have two large hydroelectric projects scheduled for development near Zafranal as soon as financing can be re-established. The projects' electrical grid passes within 45 km of Zafranal's potential plant site and will provide a combined output of 1000 MW.
The port of Matarani is located 218 km from Zafranal. It currently handles approximately 3Mt of cargo a year, with the capacity to handle 13Mt with some investment. Matarani is a modern facility with good environmental controls and no unionized workforce. It operates 24 hours per day, 365 days per year, and has its own backup power generation to ensure continuous operation. Few days are lost due to weather and they have never had a labor strike.
The Zafranal mining concession block totals 24,499.6 hectares (ha). Property elevation ranges from 2,300 m to 2,900 m with moderate to steep relief and scarce vegetation. In addition to the Zafranal porphyry, several other prospective porphyry copper prospects have been recognized within the property boundary, including the Sicera Sur, Sicera Norte, Campanero and Ganchos targets.
Zafranal is located in the vicinity of several known mega-deposits, including:
| Cuajone | 1.2Bt @ 0.64% Cu, 61Mt @ 0.49% Cu in oxides |
| Cerro Verde | 1.0Bt @ 0.51% Cu |
| Toquepala | 770Mt @ 0.74% Cu |
| Quellaveco | Secondary Sulphides: 213Mt @ 0.94% Cu, 0.014% Mo, 1.74g/t Ag Primary Sulphides: 761Mt @ 0.57% Cu, 0.23% Mo, 2.32g/t Ag |
