The Copper Warrior project is a sediment-hosted copper deposit located 40km NE of Monticello, San Juan Co, Utah. The Paradox Basin, along with Lisbon Valley, hosts multiple commercially developed deposits of copper, as well as uranium, potash and natural gas. The Project lies approximately 12 kilometers northwest of the Lisbon Valley mine. Copper was first discovered in the area during the 1890’s, with mining beginning in 1903 at the Big Indian mine, located approximately one kilometer northwest of the Project. The Lisbon Valley Mine, which started small scale production in the 1960’s, was recapitalized between 1999 and 2004 with the first cathode copper being produced in 2006 from a new SX/EW plant. The mine has produced yearly cathode since that time, with a brief interruption due to the Covid pandemic.
Mineralization at Lisbon Valley is hosted by reactive and chemically prepared sedimentary rocks within a doubly plunging, salt cored anticline that has been dissected by faults related to salt collapse during erosion. Copper-bearing, basin-related fluids ascended these structures and mineralized reactive units and earlier-formed sulfides, as well as the structures themselves. The Jurassic-Cretaceous age Burro Canyon and Dakota sandstone units, key mineralization host rocks at both the Lisbon Valley and Big Indian mines, outcrop across the property and are cut by the Lisbon-Valley fault, a major mineralization controlling structure on the west side of the property. Multiple copper-oxide occurrences are seen throughout the property and are interpreted to be post weathering residual evidence of copper mineralization, leached from the surface, but likely preserved at depth. These exposures represent potentially shallow mineralization that are the primary exploration targets. Secondary exploration targets exist beneath the Burro Canyon unit at Copper Warrior, with copper occurrences known throughout the stratigraphic section from Pennsylvanian to Cretaceous age rocks in the district. These rocks are present on the west side of the property in the footwall of the Lisbon Valley fault. All of the targets on the Project remain untested by drilling.
In April 2021 EMX entered into an option agreement with Warrior Metals Inc. (“Warrior Metals”), a Utah corporation and wholly-owned subsidiary of American West Metals Limited, a privately held Australian corporation. The Agreement provides EMX with cash and share payments, as well as work commitments during Warrior Metals’ earn-in period. Upon earn-in, EMX will retain a 2% NSR royalty and receive increasing annual advance royalty payments. EMX and Warrior Metals will commence an initial field program in the spring of 2021 consisting of geological mapping, geochemical sampling, and drill targeting.
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