Columbus Copper Corporation ("Columbus Copper") (CCU: TSX-V) (formerly Empire Mining Corporation, EPC: TSX-V) is a copper and precious metals exploration and development company active in Turkey and the Balkan region of Europe. Columbus Copper holds a 100% interest in two projects in Turkey and four in Serbia, and in chromite projects in Albania.

In Turkey, First Quantum Minerals Ltd., is funding $8.5 million in exploration spending at Columbus Copper's Karapinar copper-porphyry and Demirtepe high-grade copper-gold-silver-molybdenum skarn projects. Follow-up drilling is currently underway at Karapinar where 2011 drilling intersected long and shallow intersections of secondary enrichment beneath a wide zone of oxide mineralization. Geological mapping and an IP/Resistivity survey has revealed significant expansion potential. Drilling by Columbus Copper at Demirtepe encountered 47.53 metres of 2.02% copper, 0.96 gpt gold and 21.64 gpt silver. Follow up sampling has identified a new copper-gold anomalous zone currently about 1.8 km long and up to 800 metres wide. Read more...

In Serbia, Columbus Copper is advancing four copper and gold projects with significant exploration upside, with the aim of defining drill targets for future drilling campaigns. Geophysical surveys undertaken at the Nevlje Project have identified what is believed to be the most intense magnetic anomaly in Serbia, interpreted as a possible buried porphyry system. This view was strengthened by Reservoir Minerals Inc.'s announcement where drilling was reported to encounter a 160 metre thick intersection at 10.16% copper equivalent (average 6.92% copper and 5.40 grams per tonne gold) at their Timok Project located 120 kilometres to the northwest of Columbus Copper's Nevlje Project along the same mineralized belt. Read more...

In Albania, Columbus Copper controls chromite licences covering the most prospective and productive chromite terrain in the country, which was once one of the primary chromite producers in the world due to its high grade and quality. Chromite is essential in the production of stainless steel and demand is fed principally by China which produces some 40% of the world's stainless steel but imports almost all of its chromite supply. In 2011, as a result of irregularities with the renewal of its licences, Columbus Copper placed the chromite projects on care and maintenance and launched a lawsuit against the Albanian government, which it won in 2012 at trial and on a subsequent appeal, thereby recovering its full legal rights to its licences. Read more...