May 28, 2008
Cardero Receives Drill Permit for Pampa de Pongo Project;
43-101 Inferred Resource 953Mt @ 44.7% Iron
Metallurgical Test Work Commences at US Laboratory
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA-- Cardero Resource Corp. is pleased to announce that a drill permit has been received for its Pampa de Pongo project, Marcona Iron District, southern coastal Peru.
The Company is in discussions with diamond drilling contractors and will begin drilling at the earliest opportunity. The drill program will focus, initially, on testing the very significant, high priority, newly identified magnetic anomaly with the aim of considerably increasing the present 953Mt inferred resource (NR08-10). The southern edge of the anomaly was previously tested by Rio Tinto drillhole PPD004, which intersected 282 metres @ 31.3% iron, including 191 metres of massive magnetite, where composite grades range from 43.57% to 48.52% iron.
The Company is also pleased to provide an update on the planned commercial-scale metallurgical test work (see NR08-13). A 560 kilogram sample has been collected and delivered to Natural Resources Research Institute of the University of Minnesota at Duluth, Minnesota (NRRI), one of the world's leading iron ore metallurgical testing facilities. Testing is expected to be completed within 6-8 weeks.
Drill Permit
Cardero has received a drill permit for 20 drillholes at the Pampa de Pongo project. The drill program is planned to assess the project's considerable exploration potential in addition to resource definition drilling for the current mining prefeasibility study underway by SRK Consulting Engineers and Scientists (SRK). In tandem with this, the Company is also initiating a significant environmental monitoring program to ensure a smooth transition to the next phase of drill permitting.
Planned Exploration Drilling
Cardero is planning to test the new magnetic anomaly (East Zone) following completion of the interpretation of ground magnetic data collected in March 2008 (NR08-10).
Previous drilling of 3D geophysical models in 2004 resulted in an excellent correlation between the dimensions of the model and ore-grade mineralization. It is anticipated that similar positive results will be achieved during the forthcoming drill program.
The new magnetic anomaly has previously been tested by drillhole PPD-004, which intersected 191 metres of massive magnetite mineralization on the southern edge of the anomaly (Figure 2). The Company believes that this considerably decreases the technical risk and increases confidence that the high priority anomaly represents a significant body of massive magnetite mineralization.
Planned Definition Drilling
The current NI 43-101 compliant inferred resource for the Pampa de Pongo deposit is 953Mt @ 44.7% iron and 0.12% copper. Moving forward from the current SRK scoping study, the Company is proposing to undertake 30,000 metres of definition drilling with the intent of upgrading the current inferred resources to indicated and measured status.
Metallurgical Testing
Cardero is moving quickly to complete pilot-scale metallurgical test work (which is commercially scalable) for inclusion in the SRK Mine Scoping Study currently underway.
A 560 kilogram sample has been delivered to NRRI, one of the world's leading iron ore metallurgical testing facilities. NRRI were selected because their personnel bring previous experience beneficiating similar iron ore from the Marcona Mine, located approximately 35 kilometres to the northwest of Pampa de Pongo, and they have vast experience beneficiating and pelletizing iron ores throughout the world, including the magnetic taconites in Michigan and Minnesota in the United States and in Canada. Details of the proposed metallurgical testing were previously outlined in NR08-13. The Company anticipates that full test results should be available in 6-8 weeks.
The inclusion of positive, commercial-scale metallurgical work into the SRK Mine Scoping Study is expected to add significant value to the Pampa de Pongo project.
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