Focus Minerals Ltd (ASX: FML)
FURTHER
RESOURCE UPGRADE FOR HIGH-GRADE PERSEVERANCE GOLD DEPOSIT, COOLGARDIE
KEY
POINTS
·
28% Increase in Indicated Resource
to 490,700t @ 7.5g/t for 118,500oz.
·
Indicated Resource for combined
Tindals Mining Centre increases to 312,900oz
·
Updated Perseverance model based on
13,974m of Diamond and RC drilling over 5 defined ore zones.
·
Grade control drilling
significantly enhances understanding of Perseverance geological model with
the deposit remaining open to the north and south.
·
Maiden gold production due to
commence at Perseverance in April 2008.
|
Australian-based
gold and nickel company Focus
Minerals Ltd (ASX: FML), through
its Redemption Joint Venture (RJV) with Canadian-based Committee Bay Resources
(TSX: CBR), is pleased to announce a further substantial increase in Indicated
Resources at the Company’s advanced Perseverance
Gold Project, located within the Tindals Mining Centre at the
Coolgardie Gold Project, Western Australia.
Recently completed
grade control drilling has resulted in a 28%
increase in the Indicated Resource from 448,000t @ 6.4g/t for 92,100
contained ounces to 490,700t @ 7.5g/t
for 118,500 ounces, as a result of
the conversion of additional ounces to the Indicated category. The updated
Inferred Resource is 195,800t @ 3.4g/t
for 21,200 ounces, compared with
406,000t @ 2.7g/t for 35,300 contained ounces previously (released to the
market on 10 October 2007).
The updated
resource – which incorporates the recently released grade control results
(released to the market on 12 December 2007), has further reinforced the
potential of the Perseverance Project, where Focus is preparing to commence
initial gold production in April after completing a positive Feasibility Study
in December 2007. This represents the first step towards achieving the
Company’s objective of becoming a 100,000
ounce per annum producer at Coolgardie within the next three years.
The updated Perseverance Resource model (Table 1) is
based on 13,974m of drilling in 49 Diamond Core and 23 Reverse Circulation (RC)
drill holes. The Resource comprises five distinct zones – the
quartz-sulphide east zone, quartz-sulphide west zone, footwall west zone, upper
diorite zone and the lower diorite zone.
The Perseverance Resource upgrade has increased the
current combined Tindals Mining Centre
resource inventory to over 0.5 million ounces (Table 2), comprising an Indicated Resource of 3.5 million tonnes at 2.8g/t Au for 312,900 ounces
and an Inferred Resource of 2.3 million tonnes at 3.0g/t Au for 220,100 ounces.
Historically the deposits comprising this centre have produced a total of
500,000 ounces from both open pit and underground operations.
The recent grade control drilling has had a
significant impact on the new geological model, confirming the presence of the
footwall lode, which is now more extensive than initially thought. The
understanding of the main lode has also been enhanced, with the new information
highlighting the fact that the main lode is actually two lodes that merge
together near the centre of the deposit.
The deposit remains open to the north and south and
the Company plans to conduct further step-out drilling in order to increase the
resource.
Commenting on the
announcement, Focus Minerals’ Managing Director, Mr Peter Williams, said:
“This is a significant upgrade to our resource base and comes at an
opportune time for Focus as we gear up for our maiden gold production, which is
scheduled to commence in April this year.
“Given the
zones are still open at strike to the north and south, there is still plenty of
potential for further upgrades and we will continue with our program of
exploration drilling at Perseverance itself and to evaluate the Tindals Mining
Centre as a whole,” he added.
Table
1 -
Perseverance Resource
Zone
|
Category
|
Tonnes
|
Au g/t
|
Ounces
|
Quartz-Sulphide East
|
Inferred
|
92,700
|
3.1
|
9,100
|
|
Indicated
|
265,000
|
9.9
|
84,600
|
|
|
|
|
|
Quartz-Sulphide West
|
Inferred
|
20,700
|
3.6
|
2,400
|
|
Indicated
|
103,600
|
5.9
|
19,500
|
|
|
|
|
|
Footwall West
|
Inferred
|
51,700
|
3.7
|
6,200
|
|
Indicated
|
95,900
|
4.2
|
13,000
|
|
|
|
|
|
Upper Diorite
|
Inferred
|
13,300
|
2.6
|
1,100
|
|
Indicated
|
26,200
|
1.6
|
1,400
|
|
|
|
|
|
Lower Diorite
|
Inferred
|
17,400
|
4.3
|
2,400
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total Inferred
|
|
195,800
|
3.4
|
21,200
|
Total Indicated
|
|
490,700
|
7.5
|
118,500
|
Resource
reported at 0g/t lower cut-off grade
Upper
cut of 52g/t used for Quartz-Sulphide East zone, Upper cut of 30g/t used for Quartz-Sulphide
West zone, Upper cut of 28g/t used for Footwall West zone, Upper cut of 10g/t
used for Diorite Lower zone, and no Upper cut was applied to the Diorite Upper
zone as all grades were below 10g/t
Table
2 - Tindals Mining Centre Resources
Indicated
|
|
|
|
Prospect
|
Tonnes
|
Grade
(g/t)
|
Ounces
|
Dreadnought
|
3,024,000
|
2.0
|
194,400
|
Perseverance Quartz-Sulphide East
|
265,000
|
9.9
|
84,600
|
Perseverance Quartz-Sulphide West
|
103,600
|
5.9
|
19,500
|
Perseverance Footwall West
|
96,000
|
4.2
|
13,000
|
Perseverance Upper Diorite
|
26,200
|
1.6
|
1,400
|
Total Indicated
|
3,514,800
|
2.8
|
312,900
|
|
|
|
|
Inferred
|
|
|
|
Dreadnought
|
434,500
|
1.8
|
24,600
|
Perseverance Quartz-Sulphide East
|
92,700
|
3.0
|
8,900
|
Perseverance Quartz-Sulphide West
|
20,700
|
3.6
|
2,400
|
Perseverance Footwall West
|
51,700
|
3.7
|
6,200
|
Perseverance Upper Diorite
|
13,300
|
2.6
|
1,100
|
Perseverance Lower Diorite
|
17,400
|
4.3
|
2,400
|
Cyanide - Underground
|
367,000
|
5.5
|
65,400
|
Empress - Underground
|
129,500
|
4.7
|
19,500
|
Countess Underground
|
246,000
|
4.3
|
33,700
|
Big Blow Surface
|
180,000
|
1.6
|
9,300
|
Big Blow UG
|
88,000
|
5.0
|
14,100
|
Empress/Alicia
|
550,000
|
1.5
|
27,300
|
Happy Jack
|
107,000
|
1.5
|
5,200
|
Total Inferred
|
2,297,800
|
3.0
|
220,100
|
Coolgardie
Project – Exclusivity Agreement
As previously
announced (see ASX release 30 January 2008), Focus Minerals has entered into an Exclusivity Agreement
to negotiate the terms of the proposed sale of Committee Bay’s 50%
interest in the Redemption Joint Venture Project.
A key element of the Exclusivity Agreement is to
effectively suspend the Redemption Joint Venture between January 1st
2008 and March 31st 2008. During this period, Focus Minerals will
assume full control over the Coolgardie Project. This will enable development
for the commencement of mining at Perseverance to continue, unaffected by the
negotiations that will occur with Committee
Bay to purchase the
remaining 50% of the project. If subsequent commercial terms for the purchase
of Committee Bay’s 50% of the RJV cannot be concluded, Committee Bay will
resume its active role in the management of the RJV and will reimburse Focus
Minerals for 50% of expenditures incurred on the Coolgardie Project between
January 1st 2008 and March 31st 2008 (which is the date
when the Exclusivity Agreement expires), excluding any expenditures made in
January, being part of an earlier RJV cash call.
The Redemption
Joint Venture has the mineral rights to more than 210 km2 of
under-explored greenstone tenements, located in one of the world’s most
significant gold and nickel mining regions. These tenements contain
Measured Resources of 31,014 ounces gold (0.55 million tonnes at 1.77 g/t
gold), Indicated Resources of 591,065 ounces
gold (8.58 million tonnes at 2.14 g/t gold), and Inferred Resources
of 1,024,417 ounces gold (11.31
million tonnes at 2.82 g/t gold). The RJV also has a 100% interest in the
fully permitted, 1.2mtpa, Three Mile Hill Mill processing plant.
ENDS
Released
by:
|
On
behalf of:
|
Nicholas Read/Jason
Cunningham
|
Don
Taig, Chairman
Peter
Williams, Managing Director
|
Read Corporate
|
Focus Minerals Ltd
|
Telephone: (+61-8) 9388-1474
|
Telephone:
(+61-8) 9215-7888
|
www.readcorporate.com.au
|
Web: www.focusminerals.com.au
|
COMPETENT PERSON’S STATEMENT
The
information in this report relating to Resources and Reserves are based on work
supervised by Mr Chuck McCormick who is a Fellow of the Australasian Institute
of Mining and Metallurgy (AusIMM). Mr McCormick has the relevant experience as
a “Competent Person” as defined in the 2004 edition of the
Australasian Code for Reporting of Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves in relation to the
mineralisation reported on. Mr McCormick is Exploration Manager of Focus
Minerals Ltd and consents to the inclusion of the material in the form and
content in which it appears.
BACKGROUND
INFORMATION – FOCUS MINERALS LTD
Focus Minerals Ltd (ASX: FML) is an Australian-based exploration and
development group whose focus is to become a significant gold and nickel
producer in the Coolgardie-Kalgoorlie-Widgiemooltha region of Western Australia.
Focus Minerals is the
largest landholder in the Coolgardie Gold Belt located in Western Australia,
560km east of Perth and 35km west of the ‘Super Pit’ in
Kalgoorlie-Boulder. More than 2.6 million ounces of gold has been produced from
the Coolgardie gold belt alone since 1892. Focus holds the mineral rights to
more than 210sq km of tenements including Measured, Indicated and Inferred
Resources exceeding 1.65 million ounces of gold as well as the 1.2mtpa Three
Mile Hill processing plant.
Focus Minerals is also
fast tracking development of its wholly-owned Nepean Nickel Project (current
estimated resource totalling 591,300t @ 2.2% Ni) located 25km south of
Coolgardie. Focus has a view of recommencing mining operations from the
historic production centre in 2008.
READ CORPORATE
Public
Relations Corporate Communications
T: (+61-8) 9388-1474 | F: (+61-8) 9388-1472 | E: info@readcorporate.com.au | Web: www.readcorporate.com.au
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