News: Chinalco Yunnan Copper Resources steps on the gas at Native Companion

Chinalco Yunnan Copper Resources (ASX:CYU) has high hopes to make a copper discovery at its Native Companion project, northwest of Cloncurry in north western Queensland with exploration underway.

CYU is looking to find a 1 million tonne (plus) copper/copper equivalent deposit.

Located in the Roseby Trend mineralised corridor that unearthed Altona Mining’s (ASX:AOH) Cloncurry Project with a resource base of 286.6 million tonnes grading 0.57% copper and 0.04g/t gold for 1,647,000 tonnes and 409,000 ounces of gold, CYU is ticking all the boxes.

The Native Companion prospect presents as likely the best opportunity for CYU to make a discovery that is economic.

So all eyes will be on CYU which could be drilling at the project as soon as 6-10 weeks if geophysical results are positive.

A review conducted by former Xstrata and MIM geologists has pointed the way at Native Companion, a part of its Mount Isa portfolio.

That isn't the only string to CYU's bow.

CYU is also looking at making a major project acquisition, from a number under review and negotiation both locally and abroad - in its pursuit to become a mid tier mining house.

CYU has the enviable support of major shareholder China Yunnan Copper (Australia) Investment & Development, itself a wholly owned subsidiary of Kunming-based Yunnan Copper Industry (Group) Co Ltd, the third largest producer of smelted copper product in China.

Yunnan Copper Group itself is a subsidiary of Aluminium Corporation of China (Chinalco) which is the largest producer of aluminium product in China and the second largest world-wide.

So if that doesn't bring access to substantial funding and project finance support and a gateway into potential and future projects, then we aren't sure what would.

Back to Native Companion.  Exploration at Native Companion actually dates back to the 1950s, but previous efforts seem to have been focused on shallow mineralization and gold was generally not analysed.

Historically, a 2.3 kilometre zone of historic workings and rock chip results up to 30.0% copper and 1.12g/t gold was uncovered.

The next few weeks should prove interesting with results of the geophysical survey – an induced polarisation available within a month to pinpoint drill targets.

As you would expect, its tightly held with the top 10 shareholders accounting for 72% of the company and leveraged to any exploration success.

One thing is for sure, with Kunming-based Yunnan Copper Industry (Group) Co Ltd, the third largest producer of smelted copper product in China involved, the quest for copper - either by exploration or by acquisition - is on the cards.