MEDIA ANNOUNCEMENT
Wednesday 2 April, 2008
Argent Minerals finds silver lining in
stock market cloud
Silver-focused explorer Argent Minerals Limited has defied
the current bleak market, successfully raising $4 million in an IPO to fund an
advanced exploration program for its tenements in the Lachlan Fold Belt in New South Wales.
Argent will list on the ASX tomorrow, Thursday 3 April under
the ASX code ARD.
Argent plans to immediately start an advanced exploration
program as part of its Farm-in and Joint Venture agreements with Golden Cross
Operations, involving an estimated expenditure of $2.7 million over the first
18 months.
Argent is farming in to three projects in the Lachlan Fold
Belt, a well mineralised region that hosts major gold and base metal mines
which include Cadia/Ridgeway, North Parkes and
Cowal.
According to Argent’s Executive Chairman Kerry McHugh,
the successful IPO is a tribute to the advanced state of their exploration
tenements, including JORC resources, and rekindled investor interest in silver.
“The silver price has been as high as US$20.50 per
ounce in recent weeks and is currently approaching US$17 per ounce. Three years
ago the price was only US$7 per ounce,” Mr McHugh said.
“The exploration program will include advancing
Argent’s Kempfield silver/lead/zinc/barite project that has JORC defined
resources of over 11 million ounces of silver (3.7 million tonnes at 93g/t) of
which 74% are measured or indicated.
“As part of our agreement with Golden Cross
Operations, Argent can earn a 70% interest in Kempfield, Sunny Corner and West Wyalong by spending $4.5 million in exploration over
the coming six years,” he said.
Sunny Corner was the site of the first major silver mine in Australia,
producing around three million ounces of silver at a grade in excess of
13ozs/tonne. Drilling by Golden Cross Resources Limited in 2004 produced
intersections including 28m at 1.32%Cu, 6.45% Pb, 12.86% Zn, 0.54g/t Au and
109g/t Ag.
“Argent will undertake a VTEM survey in the coming
months to identify extensions to the old mines in the area and any deeper
undiscovered deposits that may exist,” Mr McHugh said.
West Wyalong was mined
in the 1890s for high grade gold, with reefs typically running more than
2ozs/tonne. Recent drilling by Argent intersected 2m at 19.1
g/t gold from 106m in a previously undrilled part of the tenement and 4m at 6.11g/t at Mallee Vale, adjacent
to an old shaft.
“The Company will undertake follow-up drilling on
these targets,” Mr McHugh said.
“Our shareholders will receive exposure to potential
exploration success in the search for silver, lead, copper, and gold on
tenements that either have a history of significant mining activity, such as
Sunny Corner and West Wyalong – or, in
the case of Kempfield, have an existing JORC resource.
At Kempfield, Argent will also undertake additional
metallurgical tests to determine column leach recoveries of silver. This
test-work will form the basis of a study into a project to heap leach the
Kempfield oxide resources.
“In recent years the price of all of these metals has
risen appreciably,” he said.
Argent’s major shareholder is RAB Special Situations
(Master) Fund Limited which has a 17% interest in the Company.
www.argentminerals.com.au
For more information:
Kerry McHugh
Executive Chairman
Argent Minerals Limited
P: 0404 465 154
Caroline Thomson
Purple Communications
P: 08 9485 1254
M: 0410 479 489
E: cthomson@purplecom.com.au
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