Lundin shares jump on Portugal copper-zinc find

TORONTO (Reuters) - Lundin Mining Corp LUN.TO said on Thursday that a high-grade copper-zinc discovery at its Neves-Corvo mine in southern Portugal puts the mine in the same league as some of the world's top copper-zinc mines.

Lundin shares rose almost 8 percent on the Toronto Stock Exchange after the company's announcement.

Lundin said the find, which it named the Lombador East deposit, contains the thickest, highest-grade zinc intersections encountered at the mine, including a grade of 8.43 zinc.

The company also said that there are indications from the thickness of the zinc zone, combined with the massive sulphide and copper mineralization found in some drill holes, that the deposit could also host some high-grade copper mineralization.

News of the find pushed Lundin shares up 39 Canadian cents, or 7.2 percent to C$5.66, as the company compared the mine to the big Kidd Creek copper-zinc mine in Ontario and the Red Dog mine in Alaska.

"Neves-Corvo remains underexplored and Lombador East is a truly significant base metal discovery that puts Neves-Corvo into a similar class with the likes of Kidd Creek and Red Dog," Neil O'Brien, Lundin's senior vice-president of exploration, said in a release.

"The timing of this discovery couldn't be better with respect to our current options study on the Lombador project."

($1=$1.00 Canadian)

(Reporting by Scott Anderson; Editing by Peter Galloway)