Ibero Mining (IMC.V), a Canadian-based junior focused on the exploration and development of Portugal gold and copper projects, changed its nameplate from Europacific Metals to Ibero Mining in the middle of September to trade under the symbol “IMC”. Under the expert leadership of Karim Rayani, Ibero is actively enhancing its value proposition with a diverse project portfolio in Europe.
There are two major plays in Ibero’s books, The Barrancos Copper Gold Projects and the Borba 2 Copper Gold projects; each contain a series of interesting nuggets worthy of mention.
Barrancos copper-gold property
Barrancos was the result of a definitive agreement with private Portuguese Indice Crucial Lda for the exploration rights on several past-producing copper and gold projects as well as other advanced gold exploration projects in the country.
The Barrancos properties are in south Central Portugal, near the Spanish border, spanning some 74 square kilometres. The exploration license allows for the exploration work on Barrancos to be carried out including drilling for a period of up to five years.
The property package contains several past producing copper and gold mines, including two more advanced ready to drill copper and gold projects.
One of the mines is the Aparis Copper Mine, a past-producing copper and gold mine that produced up until 1975. The mine contains an extensive vein system which extends for over three kilometres along strike and remains open for exploration. Historical results included:
- 47 metres averaging 3.09% Cu
- 40 metres averaging 3.04% Cu
- 62 metres averaging 2.21% Cu
Aparis was only developed to a relatively shallow 150 metres, producing copper concentrate averaging up to 35% Cu. The surrounding area also included multiple other small-scale copper and gold showings that beg for further modern exploration.
Ibero intends to expand and better define the mineralization for wider copper zones within the Aparis shear zone which averages more than 10 metres in true thickness.
The Lirio Gold Project is a highly prospective and under-explored gold project which shows potential of an extensive volcanic breccia gold system based on historical drilling, detailed surface sampling and the regional geology.
Samples at Lirio returned results of:
- Up to 125 g/t gold from chip samples and up to 7.7 g/t gold from channel samples
- Drill hole KBL-01 intersected 7.19 g/t gold and 0.63% Cu over 5.52 metres, including 17.8 g/t gold and 0.25% Cu over 2.03 metres.
Minimal drilling in 2008 intersected the mineralized zone below the main zone of the shallow underground workings. Definitely a lot of exploration potential to look forward to.
The Bigorne and Vilarica gold exploration applications add even more appeal to Barrancos. Bigorne covers 24 square kilometres and shows bulk minable potential exhibited a series of 15 historical holes. Vilarica covers a total of 178 square kilometres approximately 450 kilometres northeast of Lisbon. With multiple veins and type showings and small diggings for gold, silver, lead and zinc, the area is adjacent to a gold mining district including the Latadas and Freixeda mine areas located only a few kilometres west of the permitted mine owned by the Minaport group. Location, location, location is the trick for these Portugal copper and gold projects.
The Barrancos concession has good access and infrastructure, with major industrial cities such as Lisbon and Seville located less than three hours away by road and the existing assay results are promising as illustrated below.
Figure 3 Barrancos Assay Results
Borba 2 Gold Copper Application
The Borba 2 Gold Copper Application covers approximately 230 square kilometres in the Alentejo region in Southern Portugal. The exploration application is in the home stretch of being finalized with the Portugal government and it should be noted that since the exploration application is yet to be granted, there are no guarantees that it will be granted as expected.
However, Borba remains exciting as an exploration target, covering separate projects including three past-producing mines.
Miguel Vacas, one of the past-producing mines, last operated in 1986, producing at an average grade of 1.2-1.4% Cu. Historical near surface drilling intercepted 1.79% Cu over 10.54 metres including 2.29% Cu over 7.30 metres.
A historical non-compliant in-house resource estimate completed by Rio Narcea in 2007 based on 20 historical drill holes resulted in:
- Oxide ore (from 0 to 80 metres): 1.2 Mt @ 1.23% Cu
- Sulfide ore (from 80 to 250 metres): 4.4 Mt @ 1.24% Cu
Miguel Vacas remains open for exploration. Yes, historical estimates are just that and Ibero needs to produce a modern 43-101 resource estimate that agrees with this 2007 report before those numbers should stick, but it does seem to illustrate a worthwhile exploratory pursuit.
Mostardeira Copper Gold Mine is located approximately two kilometres south of the town of Estremoz, representing a wide shear that runs for at least 700 metres along strike and open for exploration to both the east and west.
Channel samples gathered by Rio Narcea in 2006 intercepted 2.60 metres grading 4.15 g/t Au, 0.40% Cu including 0.60 metres grading 11.20 g/t Au and 0.65% Cu with another 3.60 metres interval grading 2.40 g/t Au, 0.82% Cu and 80 g/t Ag. Average grade for all 34 samples was 1.54 g/t Au, 22 g/t Ag and 0.25% Cu with a maximum of 11.20 g/t Au and a minimum of 0.10 g/t Au.
Bugalho Copper Gold Mine is open for exploration and produced dump samples of silicified and sheared acid tuffs assay up to 10.97 g/t Au, 5.36% Cu and 20 g/t Ag. Mineralization can be mapped about five kilometres along strike and includes three main veins up to 1.3 metres thick within a several metre-wide shear zone.
The Almagreira Gold Prospect was drilled and identified by Rio Tinto in the early eighties. Limited trenching and drilling indicated the presence of gold mineralization. Historic drilling intercepted an interval of 5.45 metres grading 1.53 g/t Au, including 2.47 metres grading 2.44 g/t Au from hole PAM-01 with the highest individual value grading 5.77 g/t Au. The project is open for exploration.
What’s coming?
On September 2, 2024, the junior explorer still operating as Europacific Metals announced that it had completed the final tranche of an oversubscribed private placement from total gross proceeds of $323,000 CAD.
All proceeds from the raise are earmarked for further advancing the Ibero’s drill program at Miguel Vacas where results from the first hole came back with 22.8 metres grading 2.76% Cu, including 9.0 metres grading 7.49%. The newfound equity will facilitate Ibero’s planned expansion with an additional hole down 350 metres targeting the high-grade zone below the fourth hole with Ibero where the junior intersected a mineralized section approximately 80 metres north of its first hole.
CEO, Karim Rayani stated: “We are very excited with the progress made to date. Most of the holes drilled have confirmed the continuity of the deposit which is open in all directions. We are looking forward to receiving the assays pending – confirming the first good impressions from core observations, at the same time gather information from the depth extensions of the mineralized system with the undercut hole targeting 350 meters.”
The company already has completed 10 holes at the Miguel Vacas copper deposit totaling 1,060 meters. Most of the holes intercepted a wide quartz-breccia zone varying from approximately 5 meters up to more than 25 meters thick. This newly planned undercut > 350m hole could really add to the property’s prospectivity. This initial activity bodes well for Ibero’s Portugal copper and gold projects.
Leadership
For the last 20 years, Karim Rayani has established himself as a visionary leader in mining exploration who sees value early on and through operating multiple companies has exposed investors to tremendous value building opportunities. Equity Guru founder Chris Parry did a deep dive on the man and the myth in this article back in July.
Where is it at?
As of August 27, 2024, Ibero had 73.82 million issued and outstanding shares with 6.8 million stock options and 21 million outstanding warrants. A relatively tight share count for a mining junior. At approximately $0.035 CAD per share, Ibero has a $2.58 million market cap. As of May 2024, company insiders held close to 10% of Ibero with retail, brokers and high net-worth individuals splitting the rest of the pie.
Tight share count and a bargain market cap may make you worry about share liquidity, but there is healthy movement with Ibero with the average volume for the past 10 days amounting to 93.66k per day.
With low capital requirements, Ibero is firming up historical numbers while adding new resource figures to the mix at their Portugal copper and gold projects. As such, it won’t take much to move this stock up the boards, potentially resulting in value multiples for shareholders. That said, this is early stage and the prospectivity is still conceptual so the risk is commensurate with the endeavor, but you may want to keep this one on your radar as Ibero could very well hit this nail on the head. Remember as always, do your due diligence and speak with an investment professional before making any portfolio decisions.
Full disclosure: Ibero Mining is an Equity.Guru marketing client.