Havilah Resources Limited plans to sequentially develop its portfolio of gold, copper, iron, cobalt, tin and other mineral resources in South Australia. Our vision is to become a new mining force, delivering value to our shareholders, partners and the community.
169 million Ordinary Shares -- 36 million Listed Options -- 8 million Unlisted Options
ASX and Media Release: 2 August 2016 ASX Code: HAV
Gold mineralised veining and replacement in bedrock exposed in Portia open pit floor
LONGER TERM POTENTIAL INDICATED FOR PORTIA GOLD MINE
HIGHLIGHTS
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High grade bedrock* gold drilling intersections from southern extensions, including 6 metres of 53.6 g/t.
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Base of Tertiary gold mineralisation averaging 12.2 g/t over 2 metres thickness in southern extensions.
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Primary vein/replacement style bedrock gold mineralisation system confirmed in pit floor.
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Revisions to the mining plan will transform the Portia Gold Mine into a long life mining operation.
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Potential for long term sustained cash flow from the Portia Gold Mine beyond its current life of six months.
Havilah Resources Limited ("Havilah" or "Company") is pleased to report that recent drilling results and sampling of bedrock exposures in the floor of the Portia open pit confirm a primary gold mineralised system with excellent prospects for expansion of the current operation into a large, long life mining operation. This will require reworking of the current mine design and the longer term mine plans going forward to ensure the full potential of the Portia gold deposit is unlocked. It will also require securing the appropriate approvals from the Department for State Development for expansion of the mining operation.
* Bedrock as used here refers to mostly weathered and oxidised free digging metamorphic rocks of Broken Hill age.
www.havilah-resources.com.au HAVILAH RESOURCES LIMITED
ABN 39 077 435 520
MAIL: 31 Flemington Street, Glenside, SA 5065 Australia EMAIL: [email protected]
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High grade bedrock gold intersections from recent drilling of the Portia open pit southern extensions include:
PTAC 228: 6 metres of 53.6 g/t Au from 68 - 74 metres
PTAC 231: 13 metres of 8.4 g/t Au from 79 - 92 metres
These results corroborate earlier high grade bedrock intersections in this vicinity, that were reported during initial resource drilling almost ten years ago (refer ASX announcements of 31 August 2006 and 8 February 2007 - note that all the assumptions underpinning the information continue to apply and have not materially changed) including:
PTAC 177: 8 metres of 10.0 g/t Au from 96 -104 metres
PTAC 191: 26 metres of 15.4 g/t Au from 75 -101 metres
PTAC 193: 13 metres of 33.5 g/t Au from 84 - 97 metres
PTAC 197: 25 metres of 14.5 g/t Au from 74 - 99 metres
PTAC 205: 26 metres of 9.0 g/t Au from 76 - 98 metres
Base of Tertiary gold mineralisation, which has been the primary mining objective at Portia to date, was intersected in all southern extension drillholes and averages 12.2 g/t over approximately 2 metres thickness in nine drillholes. The grades and consistency of this gold mineralisation alone is expected to justify an initial cut back of the southern pit wall by at least 50 metres, without taking into account the underlying bedrock mineralisation (refer to sections attached).
All of the new drilling results reported here have been verified by hand washing of the drill samples as there are often large disparities between conventional laboratory gold fire assays and the larger and more reliable washed samples due to the ubiquitous coarse gold nugget effect (refer to JORC Code Table 1 attached). Other high grade (>30 g/t) conventional gold assays received are supported by abundant visible gold in panned concentrates, and will be reported when results from the more reliable washing and concentration method become available.
Observation of bedrock exposures in the pit floor confirms that the gold mineralisation is a primary feature related to a vein/replacement mineralisation system similar to that at Kalkaroo and in the same regional "prospective sequence" stratigraphic package of rocks. As such the gold mineralisation is likely to be developed over several tens of metres width and have considerable strike and depth extent. A pervasive carbonate - sulphide cross cutting vein system is observed over the 30 metres width of the current pit floor, and the full width will only be evident as further exposures are created by mining (see attached photographs). Sampling and panning of the oxidised vein material accessible in the pit walls shows abundant visible fine-grained gold, similar to that observed in the drill samples. Precise tonnage and grade parameters will only be determined by systematic drilling from the pit floor. With this objective in mind, nine drillholes have already been completed in the current pit floor.
Commenting on recent developments Havilah Managing Director, Dr Chris Giles, said: "While we have always suspected on geological grounds that Portia harboured something much larger at depth, it is satisfying to now have the indicative physical evidence before our eyes.
"We are very familiar with the vein/replacement style of mineralisation we are now seeing exposed at Portia, from Kalkaroo and many other prospects we have drilled in the region.
"Experience tells us that such mineralised systems tend to be wide and strike and depth persistent.
"Our target objective is therefore a large gold deposit where the high grade gold zones are surrounded by a background of lower grade gold mineralisation that overall presents a likely economic bedrock mining proposition. "Given we now have a much clearer picture from mine exposures, our forward drill targeting can be more precisely directed. We plan to do a lot more Diamond drilling, that do date we have not had the opportunity of undertaking due to financial constraints.
"Even at this early stage, it is now clear that our modest Portia resource and initial short mine life open pit will require extensive revision as we endeavour to transition Portia towards a long life gold mining operation.
"We have removed the bulk of the overburden, have a proven operational gold plant and will soon be debt free, so any incremental increase in gold recovered will materially affect our cash flow in a positive way" he said.
Going forward, Havilah's focus at Portia will now be on the following key tasks:
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Drill-testing the extent of the gold mineralisation from south of Portia (including the Lorenzo prospect) all the way through to North Portia and beyond - a distance of more than 2 km within the current mining lease.
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Revising mine plans and mine designs to incorporate new bedrock resources as they are defined by drilling.
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Permitting work to ensure timely delivery of permits to allow expanded mining plans to proceed in an orderly manner.
About the Portia gold deposit:
Portia has a JORC Inferred Resource of 720,000 tonnes @ 2.9 g/t for 67,000 ounces of contained gravity recoverable gold (refer to ASX announcement dated 26 June 2009 - note that all the assumptions underpinning the information continue to apply and have not materially changed). The gold occurs as free grains, mostly within a 2-3 metre thick distinctive light grey silty horizon that lies beneath approximately 75 metres of free-digging Tertiary clay and sand overburden. The current mining plan is based on an optimised open pit design that aims to recover at least 80% of this resource. Considerable upside potential exists in the immediately underlying ancient Broken Hill age bedrock that is known to host a major gold mineralised replacement/vein system, and which is considered to be the source of the gold resource currently being mined. Recovery of the gold is by low cost gravity methods that does not require the use of chemicals.
Cautionary Statement
This announcement contains certain statements which may constitute "forward-looking statements". Such statements are only predictions and are subject to inherent risks and uncertainties which could cause actual values, performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed, implied or projected in any forward looking statements. Investors are cautioned that forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and investors are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements due to the inherent uncertainty therein.
Competent Persons Statement
The information in this announcement that relates to Exploration Targets, Exploration Results, Mineral Resources or Ore Reserves is based on data and information compiled by geologist, Dr Chris Giles, a Competent Person who is a member of The Australian Institute of Geoscientists. Dr. Giles is Managing Director of the Company and is employed by the Company on a consulting contract. Dr. Giles has sufficient experience, which is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the activities being undertaken to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2012 Edition of 'Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves'. Dr. Giles consents to the inclusion in the announcement of the matters based on his information in the form and context in which it appears. This information was prepared and first disclosed under the JORC Code 2004. It has not been updated since to comply with the JORC Code 2012 on the basis that the information has not materially changed since it was last reported.
For further information visit www.havilah-resources.com.au
Contact: Dr Chris Giles, Managing Director, on (08) 8338-9292 or email:[email protected]
Geology and gold mineralised zones exposed in Portia pit walls.