Release #21 - 2011
Vancouver, B.C. Monument Mining Limited (TSX-V: MMY and FSE: D7Q1) �Monument� or the �Company�today is pleased to announce that the Company, through its wholly owned subsidiary Monument Mengapur Sdn. Bhd. (�MMSB�), has received historic iron rich soil production information from the Mengapur Polymetallic Project property, located in the Pahang State in Malaysia approximately 17 km north of Seri Jaya. This information is provided to demonstrate the potential for commercial production of iron from the soil overburden on the Mengapur Project in addition to the the mineral potential in the underlying skarn. As previously disclosed, the Company has entered into an agreement to acquire a 70% interest in the Project, subject to, among other things, shareholder approval of the acquisition and related financing. Further details regarding this acquisition and financing can be found in the Company�s Information Circular disseminated in connection with the upcoming Annual and Special General Meeting at which these matters will be considered.
The Company recently completed and on December 2, 2011 filed the Snowden Mining Industry Consultants NI 43-101 report on the Mengapur Property. That report referred extensively to the historic information obtained from a Definitive Feasibility Study (�DFS�)completed in 1993 by the former owner of the Project. In the course of its review of the DFS and conducting its due diligence on the Project the Company identified from records of Malaco that the.Project has also recently yielded important quantities of iron production from the iron rich soil overburden on the property.
From October 2010 to October 2011 during the Malaco ownershipof the Property, iron rich soil production totalling approximately 2,556,479 tonnes has been realised from the oxidized soils overlying the sulphide ore that consists of skarn rock. Rights to extract iron ore from these oxidized iron rich soils covering specific areas of the property are presently held by a Malaco appointed operator. This operation is extracting this material at a rate of up to 400,000 tonnes per month for beneficiation and shipment to China under a sales contract. Removal of some of these soils, which are overburden to the skarn rock sulfide ore, is necessary before the skarn can be accessed.
In the month of November, 2011 an additional 214,052 tonnes was extracted and removed for shipping from Malaysia under a third party sales contract. The records of Malaco revealed to MMSB confirm the above tonnage has been removed from a selected and agreed portion of the Mengapur property.
A significant resource of Cu, Au, and Ag resides in the oxidized soils throughout the Mengapur deposit as presented in the NI 43-101 report and shown below in Table 1. The spatial distribution of the iron ores and the Cu-Au-Ag resource hosted within the oxidized soils is unknown at the present time as iron was not analyzed in the historic
Diamond drill holes completed by Malaysian Mining Corporationwhen it was preparing the DFS.
Table 1. Historical Oxide Resource at a 0.336 Cu equivalent Cutoff grade (Snowden NI 43-101, December 2, 2011)
|
Tonnes (Mt) |
EQV Cu (%) |
Cu (%) |
Au (g/t) |
Ag (g/t) |
Measured |
4.866 |
0.419 |
0.47 |
0.05 |
27.82 |
Indicated |
16.406 |
0.557 |
0.64 |
0.12 |
26.45 |
Subtotal |
21.272 |
0.525 |
0.60 |
0.10 |
26.70 |
Notes: (1) Sulfur analyses are rare in the oxidized soils (2) Historical oxide resource conducted by Malaysian Mining Corporation and verified by James Askew Associates (1990) |
A qualified person has not done sufficient work to classify the historical estimate as current mineral resources, the issuer is not treating the historical estimate as current mineral resources and the historical estimate should not be relied upon.
Additional iron ore production has been produced from the sulfide skarn ore from June 2010 to May 2011 as stated in the recently completed NI 43-101 report. According to Malaco records, the crusher plant at the Mengapur site processed 209,328 tonnes of skarn bedrock during this time period to produce 24,966 tonnes of iron ore lumps with a reported average grade of 42% Fe. Theoperator realized an average sales price of $37.00 per tonne for this material (based on a 2010 Fe price). The iron is produced from a copper processing plant that was originally on the property which was converted over to an iron plant in June. A total of 26,693 tonnes of iron ore was processed to produced 3,168 tonnes of Fe fines averaging 63% Fe over the period from November 2010 to July 2011.
The Company believes the results from the operation of the conversion plant provide a useful demonstration of the potential for commercial production of iron from the overburden on the Mengapur Project, providing additional support for the Company�s decision to pursue the acquisition of a majority interest in the Project.
Todd Johnson, P.E., M.Sc. Geological Engineering and M.Sc. Geology, is the qualified person as defined under National Instrument (NI) 43-101 who has, on behalf of the Company, reviewed and approved the technical informationsummarized in this news release.
Please visit our website at www.monumentmining.com for more information.
Robert F. Baldock, President and CEO
Monument Mining Limited
Suite 910- 688 West Hastings Street
Vancouver B.C. Canada V6B 1P1