Empire has entered into an agreement whereby it can earn a 65% interest in the Bursa copper-molybdenum-gold porphyry property located in western Turkey, within the Turkish sector of the Tethyan Belt.

The Bursa Property is situated 120 km south of Istanbul and is comprised of exploration licenses covering 429 km2, within a trend of demonstrated copper, molybdenum and gold porphyry systems in Bursa and Kutahya provinces.

The licenses forming the property cover a portion of a Palaeozoic sedimentary-metamorphic-intrusive complex inlier punctuated by Tertiary intrusions, mainly granodiorite, with associated porphyry-style hydrothermal alteration and mineralisation. The inlier is partially faulted and its northern margin is delineated by the major west-northwest trending Eskişihir Fault. The area is comparable in many ways with other porphyry-bearing areas within the Tethyan Belt.

Previous work conducted mostly by Rio Tinto included stream sediment geochemistry, geological mapping, prospecting, soil and rock chip sampling, ground magnetics and an IP/resistivity survey which outlined several areas with porphyry-style Cu-Mo mineralization. Limited drilling by Rio Tinto was concentrated in two of these areas, Karapinar and Gurculer. At Karapinar, drill holes K-1 and K-2, located 200 metres apart, intercepted long intervals of mineralized porphyry including 221 metres (from surface) grading 0.36% copper, 51ppm molybdenum, and 0.1ppm gold, and 54 metres (from 273 m) grading 0.31% copper, 152ppm molybdenum, and 0.07ppm gold in K-1. The porphyry body at Karapinar is open laterally and at depth. At Gurculer, drill hole G-2 intercepted 45 metres grading 0.43% copper, 47ppm molybdenum, and 0.14ppm gold in a porphyry body which is open laterally in all directions.

In 2008, Empire completed an initial drilling program at Bursa consisting of six diamond core holes totaling 1,601 metres. The program was designed to confirm and expand the zone of porphyry copper mineralization indicated in the three earlier holes by Rio Tinto at the Karapinar deposit. Five of the six holes, results of which are summarized below, intercepted thick intervals of copper mineralized porphyry with significant molybdenum and gold over a surface area approximately 400 metres x 400 metres.

Drill Hole KDH-006 intersected 99.7 metres averaging 0.50% copper, 0.007% molybdenum and 0.10 grams per tonne gold, from surface. Drill holes KDH-008 and KDH-011, located at the southwest margin of the drill pattern, intercepted zones of supergene enrichment in heavily fractured porphyry containing native copper and other secondary copper minerals from surface to depths up to 100 metres. The enriched section of the Karapinar deposit, containing higher grade intervals up to 25 metres averaging 1.01% copper in KDH-008, is being further evaluated for potential copper recovery by leaching. The mineralized porphyry is open in all directions laterally and at depth

Hole No.	Total Depth (m)	From (m)	To (m)	Intercept (m)	Cu (%)	Mo (%)	Au (g/t)
KDH-006	363.00	0.00	99.70	99.70	0.50	0.0071	0.10
		138.70	227.00	88.30	0.23	0.0022	0.06
KDH-007	380.50	5.50	133.20	127.70	0.31	0.0133	0.11
		363.00	380.50	17.50	0.49	0.0112	0.07
KDH-008	323.00	0.00	224.00	224.00	0.36	0.0110	0.08
Including		20.00	141.00	121.00	0.47	0.0153	0.12
Including		43.00	86.00	43.00	0.72	0.0114	0.18
Including		43.00	68.00	25.00	1.01	0.0118	0.21
Including		202.00	218.40	16.40	0.62	0.0056	NS
KDH-009	278.00	19.00	206.60	187.60	0.34	0.0110	NS
Including		75.00	113.60	38.60	0.57	0.0190	NS
Including		97.90	113.60	15.70	0.77	0.0333	NS
KDH-010	101.00	No Significant Results
KDH-011	155.50	0.00	155.5	155.6	0.25	0.0148	NS
Including		60.00	84.00	24.00	0.46	0.0314	NS
total	1601.00

NS = no significant values

Additional drilling is currently planned at Bursa to further define and expand the Karapinar porphyry copper deposit and test the Gurculer prospect, where past drilling by Rio Tinto intercepted mineralized porphyry in Hole G-002 containing 0.43% copper, 0.005% molybdenum and 0.14 grams per tonne gold along 45 metres. An initial drill test is also planned at the Oylat occurrence, and at the Demirtepe prospect which is located midway between Karapinar and Gurculer and contains a large area of mineralized skarn with coincident IP and copper-molybdenum-gold geochemical anomalies covering an area 1500 x 1000 metres.

 

 

Turkey is a Eurasian country straddling the southeastern Balkan region of Europe and the Anatolian peninsula in western Asia.

Turkey's government is a secular democracy that has become increasingly integrated with the West while maintaining relations with the East. The country is an associate member of the European Community and the government has made Turkey's acceptance into the European Union a top priority. It is a member of the United Nations and of NATO and has been a long-time, staunch, strategic ally of the United States. It is also a founding member of the OECD and the G20 industrial nations.

Turkey has a long mining history going back at least 9,000 years; copper, gold, iron, lead, mercury, silver, tin, and other metals have been mined since ancient times. Archaeologists believe bronze, an alloy of copper and tin, was first made in Turkey. The first iron was refined there. The fabled wealth of Croesus, the king of Lydia in 6th century, B.C., came from the placer mining of gold in western Turkey. The island of Cyprus, from which the word "cupros" or copper is derived, lies 32 km south of Turkey and was the source of copper for many Mediterranean cultures. The historic name of Turkey and the peninsula that forms the Asian part of Turkey is known as Anatolia, "Anadolu" in Turkish, which means several things including "the mother lode."

Today more than 50 different minerals are produced in Turkey including copper, gold, zinc, iron and chromite which is its most abundant metal product. It's a prolific producer of industrial minerals accounting for 2.5% of global production, and is one of the world's major producers of boron, barite, celestite, emery, feldspar, limestone, marble, magnesite, perlite and pumice. The country's iron and steel industries are the most integrated, focusing on an export market.

The continents of Africa, Asia and Europe all meet under Turkey. The African and Arabian plates join there. With two subduction zones and three crunching plates, Turkey is mineral-rich and the potential for new base and precious metals discoveries using modern exploration techniques is considerable, however, few of the mineralized areas of Turkey's mining districts have been adequately explored.

Strong commodity prices, favourable changes in the country's investment regime, and, new mining laws enacted in 2005, have resulted in an increase in mining and in mineral exploration activity in the country with a particular emphasis on copper, gold, nickel and zinc exploration. Regulations and procedures have been streamlined and laws governing the economics of mining joint ventures with foreigners have been improved. There are no limits on repatriation of profits in hard currency or gold, no import duty for new mining and processing equipment, nor any limits or tax on exported mineral products.

Infrastructure, communications, roads and electricity are well-developed throughout Turkey and capable of supporting major development in most regions.

Links:
- Turkey (CIA World Factbook)
- General Directorate of Mineral Research and Exploration
- General Directorate of Mining Affairs
- Turkish Mining Law