Centaurus Metals increases Brazilian iron Resources
THE DRILL SERGEANT: Centaurus Metals (ASX: CTM) has strengthened its position in south‐eastern Brazil with the release of a maiden JORC Mineral Resource estimate of 11.9 million tonnes at 43 per cent iron for the company’s 100 per cent‐owned Candonga project.
The Candonga project is a satellite deposit to Centaurus’ main Jambreiro iron ore project.
Centaurus said the new resource comprises 9.1 million tonnes of friable itabirite mineralisation at 43.8 per cent iron, which the company explained is similar to the material underpinning the Jambreiro project.
The Candonga resource also includes 0.88 million tonnes of high‐grade itabirite mineralisation at 58.6 per cent iron.
Centaurus anticipates this could be a potential source of coarse grained high‐grade direct ship material that would blend well with the Jambreiro sinter concentrate.
The maiden resource follows six months of RC drilling at Candonga and boosts Centaurus’ resource inventory in the Guanhães Region to over 167 million tonnes and takes the company‐wide resources in south‐eastern Brazil to over 216 million tonnes.
The new Candonga Resource follows the recently updated JORC Mineral Resource update for the Jambreiro project of 128 million tonnes at grading 27.2 per cent iron and the maiden JORC Mineral Resource estimate of 27.6 million tonnes at 30.5 per cent iron for the Canavial project, Centaurus announced in May.
The addition of the Candonga friable itabirite Resource to Jambreiro and Canavial projects, lifts the friable component of the company’s Guanhães Regional footprint to 89.2 million tonnes at 30.8 per cent iron (including the high ‐ grade itabirite resource), with 75 per cent of this resource base in the Measured and Indicated categories.
The new resource estimates for Candonga and Canavial have resulted in a 22 per cent increase Centaurus’ resource inventory in south‐eastern Brazil to over 216 million tonnes, with the friable component of its regional resource now standing at over 89 million tonnes.
“This represents a tremendous return on the funds invested in exploration drilling at these two prospects over the past six months and demonstrates the significant exploration upside of the region,” Centaurus Metals managing director Darren Gordon said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.
“With Jambreiro moving rapidly towards development, we have now clearly demonstrated that we can add significantly to either the mine life or potentially the future production profile of Jambreiro from these satellite production areas.
“While there is a lot more work to do including metallurgical testwork and feasibility studies, we are confident based on what we already know that Candonga and Canavial will become part of our future growth plans at Jambreiro, further strengthening our footprint in the Guanhães region.”