Manas receives Shambesai results
THE DRILL SERGEANT: Perth‐based gold exploration and development company Manas Resources has received the results from a recently completed 12,535 metre drilling campaign at its 100%‐owned Shambesai gold project in the Kyrgyz Republic.
The company said the highlights for it from the final round of results are the numerous continuous wide, high‐grade intersections it encountered outside the current Shambesai Mineral Resource.
These include:
– 21 metres at 9.71 grams per tonne gold from 134 metres and 18.3 metres at 4.50 grams per tonne gold from 19 metres in sulphide zones; and
Shallow oxide infill intersections of:
– 15.3m at 3.75g/t gold from 15m and 5m at 7.75g/t gold from 21m.
Other notable results from the drilling included:
– 16.2m at 4.11g/t gold from 244.9m;
– 24m at 1.62g/t gold from 242m; and
– 7.75m at 3.54g/t gold from 217.25m.
Manas said these results come from a combination of oxide and sulphide mineralisation at depth and demonstrate that the wide zones of high‐grade mineralisation extend at depth.
The company said they also demonstrate continuity of the mineralisation on the contact between the limestone and siltstone.
“The continuing discovery of wide high-grade gold mineralisation along this structural zone, together with recent structural reinterpretation of the deposit, has the potential to significantly improve the already robust project economics,” Manas Resources said in its ASX announcement.
“It is expected that the higher grade zones identified in the drilling program will potentially result in a significant increase in open pit ore and will also substantially increase the underground potential of the project and the associated viability of a sulphide treatment route which Manas is currently evaluating.”
Manas is now working on a Resource update for Shambesai, which it is confident will increase the current 645,000 ounce gold Mineral Resource.
The company intends using the new Mineral Resource in an updated pit optimisation using updated costs and gold price from the Feasibility Study work.
This will concentrate on the high‐grade oxide resource the company’s November 2010 study which estimated could return cash flows of US$118 million at a US$1,000 per ounce gold price.
Drilling of 12,535m has now been completed at Shambesai and all significant results have been reported.
Manas currently has three drill rigs undertaking 2,000m of drilling to the extensions of the 485,000 ounce Obdilla project, located seven kilometres from Shambesai.
Another two drill rigs are also drilling 1,000m at the Ulugtau prospect on Djilginsai while two additional drill rigs are being sent to Tashbulak on the Karabulak licence.