Carube Copper Corp. announced that its joint venture partner, OZ Minerals Limited, has completed exploration expenditures of $5.4 million to fulfill its obligations for Phase 4 of the Farm-In Joint Venture at the Bellas Gate Project (BGP) in Jamaica. The total exploration expenditures to date for all four phases total over $8.3 million.

OZ Minerals has also paid Carube Copper a total of $475,000 in staged payments. By completing Phase 4, OZ Minerals has earned a 70% interest (Carube Copper maintains 30% interest) in the BGP. It has until the end of January to advise the company of its intention to increase its interest a further 10% by sole-funding Phase 5, which requires the completion of a feasibility study.

Highlights: Connors Prospect: Results include significant intersections of copper and gold porphyry mineralization within a quartz-poor porphyry intrusion with biotite rich potassic alteration and substantial hydrothermal magnetite content. A typical mineralized intersection at Connors returned 294m of 0.56% CuEq; including 96m of 1.00% CuEq, in diamond drill hole DDH-CON-14-005. Hendley Prospect: New mineralization was discovered where scout drilling intersected 261 m of 0.26% CuEq, including 24 m of 0.45% CuEq and 30 m of 0.36% CuEq, in DDH-HEN-15-003.

Here, porphyritic dykes and intrusion are in contact with andesitic rock and show magnetite and biotite alteration. Geo Hill Prospect: DDH-GOH-15-004 intersected 61m of 0.31% CuEq, including 7m of 0.64% CuEq and also 21m of 0.43% CuEq, including 1m of 5.7 g/t Au. The drilling revealed mineralization associated with sodic-calcic alteration and actinolite-epidote-magnetite veining.

Mab Hill Prospect: The single DDH-MAB-15-001 intersected 45m of 0.27% CuEq in monzonite porphyry and andesite breccia with potassic alteration and magnetite veinlets. Charing Cross Prospect: DDH-CRC-15-001 intersected 24m of 0.26% CuEq, including 4m of 0.44% CuEq, in brecciated and veined volcanics. The target here was a surface alteration zone that coincided with the old workings and shaft at the Charing Cross Mine.

The mine was developed in the 1850s with over 2,134 m of workings on six levels. The high-grade vein developed at that time was 1.2 to 2.4 m in width, and contained massive chalcopyrite, bornite, covellite, chalcocite and numerous oxides of copper. Congo Hill Prospect: A single DDH-CGO-15-001 intersected 12m of 1.28% CuEq, including 5m of 2.51% CuEq.

Mineralization was found in carbonate veining with bornite, chalcocite and malachite. Congo Hill was the site of a colonial mine with the last mention of working around the start of the 20th century; over 380 meters of underground workings are reported to have been developed. Kola Prospect: DDH-KOL-15-001 intersected 25m of 0.14% CuEq in volcanic rick with monzonite porphyry.