Metals X upgrades Renison tin Resource

THE DRILL SERGEANT: Metals X (ASX: MLX) has announced an upgrade to the company’s 50 per cent-owned Renison tin mine in Tasmania.

The Total Mineral Resource of tin metal at the Renison mine has been expanded by 31 per cent to 11.57 million tonnes at 1.76 per cent tin, containing approximately 204,000 tonnes of tin metal.

The company explained the result has been achieved by the recent delineation and advancement of the Central Federal Bassett Zone, which has continued to produce positive drilling results from both exploration and resource definition phases of work.

The new revised resource model provides Metals X the first opportunity for the Central Federal Bassett mineralisation to be available for mine planning consideration.

Metals X said it anticipates this will provide opportunities for substantial improvements in production scheduling.

 

Area subject to Mineral Resource upgrade. Source: Company announcement

 

With the inclusion of the Central Federal Bassett ore, the current total Mineral Resource within the southern part of the mine now sits at 6.018 million tonnes at 1.87 per cent tine containing 113,000 tonnes tin, representing a 73 per cent increase on a contained tin basis when compared to the previous reported Southern Area Mineral Resource of 4.509 million tonnes at 1.44 per cent tin for 65,000 tonnes tin.

“This is a great result and comes on the back of a large Ore Reserve increase announced on July 17, 2013,” Metals X chief executive officer Peter Cook said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“It demonstrates Metals X’s commitment to grow its globally significant tin business.

“Today’s announcement is important not only in regards to the quantum of increase in the Mineral Resource, but also as it represents a major step change in our ability to quantify and evaluate the world class Rension tin system.

“We are now focused on converting the increases to this substantial Mineral
Resource to Ore Reserve and reaping the benefits of the improved schedule flexibility that the additional ore will bring to the mine.

“Most significantly, the Total Mineral Resource at Renison is now equivalent to over sixteen years of current annual plant capacity.”

Metals X indicated its resource growth focus at the mine will now switch to the North Rension mine area where it expects to realise similar growth in the size of the mine’s known tin inventory.

Renison is Australia’s only operating tin mine and Metals X claims to be Australia’s only significant tin producer.

The company considers the size and quality of its tin inventory including the Rentails expansion project, together with the amount of in-place, operational capital infrastructure places it atop the Western World publicly listed tin company pile.