The Troy Ranch property is located near the northern margin of Arizona's Basin and Range province within the Dripping Spring Mountains, Pinal and Gila Counties, Arizona. The Troy Ranch property consists of 152 unpatented lode mining claims and 4 Arizona Mineral Exploration Permits that cover a total area of approximately 4,406 acres (1,783 hectares) in the Dripping Springs (Troy) mining district. The property is subject to a joint venture agreement entered in November 2005 between Big Bar and Phelps Dodge Exploration Corporation, a subsidiary of Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc.

The Troy Ranch property is located about four miles east-southeast of the Ray mine where ASARCO is currently mining the giant Ray copper deposit cluster, with reserves and production totaling nearly 1.4 billion tons of ore at 0.75% copper. The Troy Ranch area is located on the eastern flank of the Dripping Spring Mountains, a small but rugged range extending N45°W between the Christmas and Ray copper deposits. Major mining districts and copper deposits within a 25-mile (7.6-kilometer) radius include Miami-Inspiration, Superior, Ray and Christmas. Numerous smaller deposits include those at Copper Butte, Chilito, Copper Hills, and Monitor.

The primary exploration target at the Troy Ranch property is commercial grade copper hosted by Precambrian diabase associated wholly or in part with the granodiorite/diabase intrusive contact. The Troy Ranch exploration model is analogous to the Ray Deposit and there may also be targets on the property analogous to the Christmas deposit. Diabase hosts most of copper mineralization at the Ray copper mine, with lower grade copper mineralization hosted by the adjacent granodiorite intrusions.

Previous work by American Metals Climax (AMAX), including detailed mapping and geochemical sampling by Stan Keith identified a potential copper deposit at depth. Nearby, a small copper resource was drilled by Inspiration Copper Co. that appears to be a part of the same mineral system. Historical detailed geologic mapping by Stan Keith for AMAX also identified a swarm of dikes with a favorable copper-related composition that intrudes various rock types, but the source intrusion is covered by pre-mineral country rocks. The country rocks include the same Precambrian diabase unit that hosts the giant Ray Diabase orebody. These rocks are largely covered by Paleozoic sedimentary rocks. All of the pre-mineral rocks exhibit an alteration pattern (expressed by biotitically altered, locally magnetite stable diabase) that points to the presence of a significant copper mineral system in diabase beneath the Paleozoic cover. Rock sampling in the past revealed a geochemical anomaly that is about 8,000 feet long and 2,500 feet wide characterized by elevated copper and molybdenum values.

Highlights of Big Bar’s current exploration program at Troy Ranch include the following:

• Analysis of in-house historic geologic mapping, pluton petrochemistry, and mineral and metal assemblage data indicate that a Stage 3 MCA14C Morenci/Chuquicamata model is present. Grade-tonnage for analog deposits indicates excellent potential of a giant to supergiant size porphyry copper-silver-molybdenum accumulation.

• A diabase hosted target analogous to the diabase orebody (1,383,000,000 tonnes at 0.75% copper of which a significant component is hosted in diabase) at the nearby Ray ore deposit has been identified based on detailed geologic mapping and preliminary pluton vectoring.

• A high resolution photographic image was obtained which was subsequently interpreted for fracture orientation and density.

• A high resolution aeromagnetic survey by an ultralight aircraft was conducted by Pearson, deRidder and Johnson, Inc. in late November 2005 to support the pluton vectoring and metal dispersion study.

• Whole rock and mineralized samples were collected in January 2006 for pluton vectoring and metal dispersion analysis to define drill targets for a Stage 3 MCA14C Morenci-Chuquicamata type porphyry copper molybdenum silver deposit type.

• An AMT (audio magneto-telluric) Geophysical Survey was conducted by Durango Geophysical Operations in January 2006 to support the pluton vectoring and the metal dispersion study.

• Three preliminary targets are emerging from the above work. The largest target (target area 1) is about 2 miles long and ½ mile wide, and is centered on the north and eastern contact of the Troy pluton (see Photos 2 and 3). A smaller target (target area 2) is about 2/3 mile long and 1/3 mile wide, and it occurs in the southwestern portion of the Troy pluton and in the adjacent diabase. A third emerging target of unknown size occurs north of a separate granodiorite exposure in Dripping Springs wash. All three targets coincide with AMT anomalies, magnetic low features and preliminary pluton vectoring and metal dispersion data that indicate the AMT anomalies coincide with Stage 3 geochemistry and a potentially significant tonnage of diabase hosted copper mineralization.

• The above combined data will be refined into drill target designs. Drilling is expected to commence in 2006.

TECHNICAL REPORT

February 3 2006: NI 43-101 Technical Report for the Troy Ranch Property (10.7MB File Download)