Carpentaria releases Hawsons maiden Resource

THE DRILL SERGEANT: Carpentaria Exploration (ASX: CAP) has released a maiden Indicated Resource and a 20 per cent increase in contained premium quality magnetite concentrate for the company’s Hawsons iron project located near Broken Hill, New South Wales.

The Hawsons project is a Joint Venture between Carpentaria Exploration (60 per cent) and private resources investor Pure Metals (40 per cent).

The maiden Indicated Resource comprises 215 million tonnes at 16.2 per cent mass recovery, containing 35 million tonnes of premium quality magnetite concentrate.

The total Inferred plus Indicated Resource estimate has been expanded to 1.77 billion tonnes at a magnetite mass recovery grade of 14.9 per cent, representing a 26 per cent tonnage increase on the company’s December 2010 estimate.

 

Hawsons magnetite iron ore project – Comparison of December 2010
and Upgraded March 2014 Resource estimates. Source: Company
announcement

 

Total contained iron concentrate has risen by 20 per cent to 263 million tonnes compared to the previous estimate of 220 million tonnes while maintaining a premium grade of 69.7 per cent iron and low silicon levels of 2.9 per cent.

“This upgrade has relied upon a significant geological interpretation and additional data gathering effort that has provided higher confidence in the continuity of the resource than was known at the time of the earlier estimate in December 2010,” Carpentaria Exploration managing director Quentin Hill said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“Not only have we achieved a 20 per cent increase in total contained magnetite concentrate, but the conversion from Inferred Resource to a maiden Indicated Resource in the area of greatest drilling was essentially 100 per cent, providing great confidence in subsequent conversion of other Inferred Resources.”

This resource upgrade follows the announcement by Carpentaria earlier this year of a positive outcome from a detailed start-up study for Hawsons, which showed that matching the project’s size to the existing 10 million tonnes per annum capacity of the existing rail, power and port infrastructure has the potential for robust returns on investment.

The company considers the total resource upgrade – and inclusion of an indicated category, when combined with the results of the recent study – provides the joint venture confidence to continue development.

“The outstanding conversion from inferred to indicated is very positive and demonstrates, as we have consistently stated, that the Hawsons mineralisation has exceptional homogeneity and spatial continuity with very simple geometry,” Hill said.

“The increase in the total resource and contained magnetite concentrate will greatly assist with current feasibility study design and optimisation.

“The newly recognised stratigraphic correlation has led to a higher degree of confidence in the technical understanding of the Inferred to Indicated Resource conversion process which should result in a significant reduction in future drilling requirements for the project.”

Email: info@capex.net.au

Website: www.capex.net.au