Lumina snatches Regalito copper property

Vancouver-based Lumina Copper (TSX-V: LUM) has penned a 100% acquisition agreement for the 4,160ha Regalito copper property in northern Chile's Region III, the company announced Monday. Under the agreement with Minera Caserones and Minera California Una de la Sierra de Pena Negra, Lumina must make Cdn$900,000 (US$680,000) in payments over eight years. Based on the price of copper, Lumina will pay Cdn$200,000 annually after the eighth year until production starts, after which it will pay a net smelter royalty of between 1% and 3%, the company said. Sixty-five diamond and reverse circulation holes totaling 6,700m have been drilled on the property since copper mineralization was discovered in the early 1980s, Lumina said. Melbourne and London-based BHP Billiton (NYSE: BHP) performed a resource estimate on the property in 1995, returning results of 0.50% copper over 200Mt at a 0.3% copper cutoff.