Horizonte
Minerals plc / Index: AIM / Epic: HMZ / Sector: Mining
3 April 2007
Horizonte Minerals plc (‘Horizonte’ or ‘the Company’)
Acquisition of New Highly Prospective Nickel Project
Horizonte
Minerals plc, the AIM listed
exploration and development company focused on Brazil
and Peru,
is pleased to announce the acquisition of new ground highly prospective for
nickel. The Lontra Ni Project is situated in the Araguaia mobile belt which flanks
the eastern margin of the Carajas Mineral Province
of northern Brazil.
Highlights
- 25,556 hectare land package located 80 km south
of a major nickel deposit owned by Xstrata
- Stream sediment sampling identified seven large
Ni targets with coincident cobalt and copper in land package
- Rock sample returns 1.6% Ni emphasizes
nickel potential
The 256 sq km
Lontra Project consists of five exploration claims, situated 65 km southeast of
Horizonte’s Tangara gold project. The claims are flanked by Xstrata to
the north and Teck Cominco claims to the south and southeast. This region is a
major new lateritic Ni province with a number of large deposits scheduled to
enter into production. These include a major grassroots laterite nickel
discovery by Xstrata, which lies 80 km to the north of the Lontra Project and
has reported a resource of 73.3Mt at 1.5% Ni and 0.06% Co.
Other laterite nickel deposits in the area include:
Deposit
|
Company
|
Est. Resource*
|
Ni (%)
|
Est. Start-up
|
Source
|
Niquel Vermelho
|
CVRD
|
290Mt
|
0.8
|
2008
|
www.cvrd.com.br
|
Onca Puma
|
CVRD
|
110Mt
|
1.72
|
2008
|
www.cvrd.com.br
|
Jacare
|
Anglo American
|
430Mt
|
1.33
|
-
|
www.angloamerican.co.uk
|
* Resources are only
indicative and may have been prepared under different reporting standards.
|
The claims
cover the Araguaia mobile belt, which is a
north-south trending province of Proterozoic clastic sediments hosting a series
of ophiolite zones. Over such zones, intense tropical weathering often results
in economic concentrations of nickel such as the case of the deposits listed
above.
Horizonte
initially identified a number of priority nickel targets at the Lontra Project
following a regional stream sediment sampling programme in the last quarter of
2006. Based upon these results Horizonte applied for and was
awarded three exploration licences, which are 100% owned by the company.
The company subsequently negotiated two contiguous licence areas from a private
Brazilian company where by Horizonte controls 50% of the licences for a payment
of US$320,000 to be paid over three years. Horizonte has the first right
of refusal to acquire the remaining 50% interest from its Brazilian partners.
Under the terms of the agreement exploration costs on the partnered area will
be funded 50/50 pro rata with the Brazilian partner. Horizonte will manage the
project.
A follow-up
soil sampling programme covering the priority nickel targets is now underway
and, subject to satisfactory results, auger drilling will be used to test for
nickel laterite resource potential.
Horizonte CEO Jeremy
Martin said, “The Lontra Project is located in a very exciting new nickel belt
that has not been extensively explored. The new discovery of Serra da
Tapa by Xstrata in the north of the belt demonstrates its potential to host
world class Ni deposits. Naturally, the Lontra Project is early stage but
the initial results from our stream sediment sampling programme at the end of
2006 demonstrate that we have a series of highly anomalous nickel target areas
supported by high Ni values in rock samples”
Sampling, assaying, and QA/QC
Procedures
adopted by Horizonte in the collection, preparation and storage of samples from
the auger drilling programme, conform to industry-wide best practice and with
chain of custody being observed for all samples. Analysis is undertaken by ACME
Labs at its laboratories in Vancouver,
Canada, and the
Company maintains QA/QC on all analytical work via the inclusion of certified
reference materials and field duplicates and blanks, in addition to monitoring
of the laboratory’s own internal check-analyses.
The above
information has been reviewed and verified by Mr. Jeremy Martin, a Director and
Chief Executive of Horizonte, for the purposes of the Guidance Note for Mining,
Oil and Gas Companies issued by the London Stock Exchange in March 2006.
Mr. Martin, with six years of mining and management experience, graduated with
a degree in geology from the Camborne School of Mines, and an MSc in mineral
exploration from the University of Leicester and is a member in good standing with the
Society of Economic Geologists and the Institute of Mining
Analysts.
* * ENDS * *
For further
information visit www.horizonteminerals.com
or contact:
Jeremy Martin/David Hall
Horizonte Minerals
plc
Tel: 020 7495 5446
David Paxton
Hichens Harrison
Tel: 020 7382 7785
Hugo de
Salis
St Brides Media &
Finance Ltd Tel:
020 7242 4477
John Frain/Fergal Meegan
Davy
Tel: +353 1 679 6363
Notes to Editors:
Horizonte
Minerals Plc is an AIM listed mineral resources exploration group focused on
the discovery, appraisal and development of gold and base metal deposits in Brazil and Peru. The Company has two
gold exploration projects in Brazil,
and one silver-zinc-lead project in Peru. The two Brazilian gold
projects, Tangara and Falcao, are located to the south of the highly
prospective Carajas
Mineral Province.
Both projects cover an area of approximately 300 sq km and are centred over
greenstone belts, with known gold mineralisation. The scale of these project
areas, the overall aerial extent of the mineralised system and the high density
and magnitude of related gold anomalies (identified in river sediments, surface
soils and rocks), indicate the potential for multiple deposit discoveries.
The
silver-zinc-lead project is located in the historic mining district of Cerro de
Pasco in Central Peru. Sampling and limited
historic drilling on this project has demonstrated the high grade potential of
this project. The Company has a joint venture with Australian gold producer
Troy Resources NL’s 70% owned local subsidiary Sertao Mineracao Ltda to advance
its Goias Velho gold exploration project in Brazil.
Felicity
Edwards
St Brides Media &
Finance Ltd
Aldermary House, 10-15 Queen Street
London EC4N 1TX
Tel: 020 7242 4477
Fax: 020 7651 8689
Email:
felicity@sbmf.co.uk