Cordoba Minerals Corp. is a publicly traded copper-gold explorer and developer with a demonstrated track record of acquiring, exploring, and developing mineral projects in the Americas and around the world. The company’s current project is in a world-class porphyry copper belt in Arizona.
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Click image to enlarge Perseverance Project
Arizona, USA
Exploring for large-scale copper porphyry in a
Tier 1 jurisdiction with multi-billion-dollar copper depositsThe Perseverance Project is a large-scale copper project in Arizona’s Copper Triangle, a Tier 1 jurisdiction with multi-billion-dollar copper deposits. The Project is in proximity to Freeport McMoRan’s Bagdad Copper Mine, Origin Mining’s Mineral Park Mine, and Rio Tinto’s Resolution Copper Project, one the largest and highest-grade copper deposits in the world. The Perseverance Project is located approximately 19 miles southeast of Kingman and 150 miles northwest of Phoenix, with a land package comprising more than 13,000 acres.
Cordoba has a 51% interest in the project.
In January 2024, hole K-23 was drilled approximately 1,000 meters southeast of hole K-22 and 1,000 meters east-northeast of hole K-20 — both holes returned evidence to support the existence of a nearby porphyry system from previous drilling. Hole K-23 targeted an undrilled area that could potentially host the core of a porphyry system, and returned with the appearance of true volcanic rocks in the Laramide porphyry system in a leached cap, which may indicate the top of a porphyry copper system at Perseverance. Learn more
Arizona has produced 10% of the world’s copper but, despite its mineral-rich mining history, has been underexplored for more than 30 years. The region is covered by recent gravels which make it challenging to conduct geophysical surveys in the area. Modern exploration technologies, including iPulse’s Typhoon™ technology, work in benefit to explore this kind of geological regions.
Arizona has produced 10% of the world’s copper and was the leading copper-producing State in 2019, accounting for an estimated 68% of US domestic output. Despite its rich mining history, Arizona has been underexplored for more than 30 years, with post-mineral cover concealing undiscovered deposits.
Ten kilometres southwest of the Perseverance Project is a 15 km2 surface exposure of a Laramide-age porphyry system called Wheeler Wash. Discovered in the 1950s, Wheeler Wash was identified as a likely “failed” porphyry copper system at the top of a mountain with exposed root of a porphyry system. Since that time, the Wheeler Wash system has been explored by many companies and many geologists thought the porphyry copper system had eroded.
In the late 1990s, Bell Copper Corporation’s Dr. Tim Marsh (former Chief Geologist at Resolution Copper and an authority on copper porphyry exploration) recognized the site as the root zone of a giant porphyry copper system being carried into the valley, covered and preserved by recent gravels and preserved.
In 2018, Cordoba entered into an agreement with Bell Copper to acquire 25% of the Project, with an option to earn up to an 80% interest by completing certain phased financial commitments and project expenditures over a 7.5-year period. Learn more about the agreement here.
In 2024, the latest drill results returned from hole K-23 showed appearance of true volcanic rocks in the Laramide porphyry system in a leached cap, which may indicate the top of a porphyry copper system at Perseverance.
Perseverance lies on the Arizona Volcanic Arc, a trend that hosts:
- Freeport McMoRan’s Bagdad Copper Mine (200+M lbs Cu/year)
- Origin Mining’s Mineral Park Mine (~380M lbs of Cu produced (2000-2016))
- Rio Tinto’s Resolution Copper Project, one the largest and highest-grade copper deposits in the world (delineated indicated and inferred resources from drilling totalling 1.97 Bt at 1.53% Cu and 0.036%)
Ten kilometres southwest of the project is the Wheeler Wash surface exposure of a Laramide-age porphyry system, which has been the site of significant exploration since its discovery in the 1950s, which revealed intense alteration, quartz veining, and highly anomalous molybdenum and copper contents, typical of major porphyry copper deposits.
Hole K-20 and K-22 drilled in 2018 and 2019 returned evidence to support the existence of a nearby porphyry system. Hole K-22 tested a large low resistivity anomaly generated by a Magneto Telluric (“MT”) survey that shares the characteristic features of the giant, high-grade Resolution porphyry copper deposit in Arizona owned by Rio Tinto. The hole encountered clay-filled breccia zones with minor occurrences of pyrite, chalcopyrite in quartz veins and stringers representing distal alteration and mineralization to a porphyry copper system. Hole K-20, intersected 321 meters of anomalous copper assaying 541 ppm copper, within a low MT resistivity anomaly that was interpreted as being on the outer margin of a porphyry copper deposit.
Hole K-23 was drilled in 2024, which was approximately 1,000 meters southeast of hole K-22 and 1,000 meters east-northeast of hole K-20. The hole drilled through a thick series of gravel followed by a sequence of volcanic basalt that blankets the valley floor before being covered over by the recent gravel fill. Underlying the basalt, Laramide-age porphyry volcanic and tuffaceous units were intersected at 516 meters, which are intensely oxidized with hematite and limonite representing weathered pyrite and chalcopyrite that has formed as a gossan on the surface exposure of potential porphyry copper mineralization long before the basalt was extruded onto the land surface. Hematite, limonite impregnated and fracture-filled Laramide porphyry and tuffaceous rocks that were strongly sericite altered and acid leached to a depth of 571 meters. This style of alteration and leaching is commonly referred to as a “leached cap” situated at the top of a porphyry copper deposit. Learn more
In 2021, Cordoba completed the Phase 2 earn-in requirement and vested a 51% interest in the project.
