Highlands Pacific completes Resource definition drilling
THE DRILL SERGEANT: Port Moresby-based junior gold company Highlands Pacific has reported the results of completed in‐fill drilling on its Frieda copper gold project in Papua New Guinea.
The drilling was carried out by Highlands Pacific’s Joint Venture partner Xstrata Copper.
The company is now awaiting an updated resource estimate that is due in August prior to the formal delivery of a Bankable Feasibility Study in January 2012.
The diamond resource drilling, which was undertaken between November 2010 and May this year, hit multiple one per cent copper intersections.
Intersections that recorded results at a 0.5% copper lower cut off include:
– 110 metres at 1.00% copper and 0.60 grams per tonne gold from 8 metres down hole
– 97 metres at 1.05% copper and 0.32 g/t gold from 12 metres down hole
– 140 metres at 1.11% copper and 1.04 g/t gold from 60 metres down hole
– 108 metres at 1.10% copper and 0.20 g/t gold from 82 metres down hole
– 126 metres at 0.81% copper and 0.65 g/t gold from 120 metres down hole
A number of other intersections at a 0.2% copper lower cut off include:
– 456 metres at 0.60% copper and 0.43 g/t gold from 8 metres down hole
– 442 metres at 0.67% copper and 0.58 g/t gold from 168 metres down hole
– 512 metres at 0.62% copper and 0.34 g/t gold from 16 metres down hole
– 270 metres at 0.68% copper and 0.84 g/t gold from 2 metres down hole
Highlands Pacific managing director John Gooding said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange the completion of resource in‐fill drilling lifted the total number of holes drilled into the Frieda copper district to well over 1,300 holes and 270 kilometres at a cost of more than US$250 million.
“These drilling results again highlight the fabulous Frieda deposit as a special copper porphyry giant,” Gooding said.
“Past drilling from surface to 1,000 metres has also highlighted the depths of the deposit.
“The feature of this more recent in‐fill drilling is the quality of grade for the early year starter pits.
“We look forward to receiving an updated mineral resource estimate for Frieda (the Horse‐Ivaal‐Trukai deposits) in August 2011 which is expected to push even more of the current 8.6 million tonnes of contained copper inventory into the higher confidence Measured and Indicated categories.”
The current total economic pit constrained resource of Frieda’s Horse‐Ivaal‐Trukai deposit stands at 1,900 million tonnes at 0.45% copper and 0.22 grams per tonne gold.
Directly adjacent to the Horse‐Ivaal‐Trukai deposits is a further 300Mt of resources at the Nena and Koki deposits which are not in the current mine plan.
Including Nena and Koki, the Frieda district contains 11Mt of insitu copper and 18 million ounces of gold.
A Pre‐Feasibility Study released by Pacific Highlands in November 2010 indicated a 60 million tonnes per annum throughput for the first eight years with output averaging 246,000 tonnes per annum of copper and 379,000 ounces per annuma of gold as part of a multi‐decade operation with cash costs in the lowest 30th percentile of world copper mines.
Highlands has a free‐carried interest through to completion of a Bankable Feasibility Study that is required by January 2012.
At that stage Xstrata will have maintained its joint venture interest of 81.82%. Xstrata Copper has budgeted US$122 million to complete the BFS.