Enterprise hits visible nickel and copper at Plato

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THE DRILL SERGEANT: Enterprise Metals (ASX: ENT) is making encouraging progress on a maiden drilling program being carried out at the Plato target, is located at the company’s Fraser Range project in Western Australia.

The company has, so far, focused the program on Plato, with six RC pre-collar holes already drilled, two of which having intersected visible disseminated nickel and copper sulphide mineralisation.

Earlier this month Enterprise reported RC drill hole PLRC003 had intersected disseminated sulphide mineralisation including chalcopyrite and pyrrhotite from 204m to 270m downhole (inc. 3m at 0.4 per cent nickel and 0.1 per cent copper).

One metre samples from this intersection, together with four metre composite samples from the remainder of the hole were submitted for geochemical analysis.

 

Summary RC Hole PLRC003 – 1 metre sample assay results. Source: Company announcement

 

Enterprise conducted a preliminary examination of the geochemistry of hole PLRC003, which demonstrated a strong sulphide control on the nickel values.

The company explained the nickel does not correlate well with the manganese oxide, suggesting a very poor control of silicate minerals on nickel content.

The baseline nickel in silicate appears to be around 0.1 per cent nickel in silicate at low percentages of sulphur, while the remainder nickel grading above 0.1 per cent nickel is strongly sulphide controlled.

According to Enterprise the calculated nickel tenor (the theoretical nickel content for 100 per cent volume of sulphide, using only those values with greater than 0.5 per cent sulphur and 0.2 per cent nickel to calculate) is very consistent across the range of sulphur values, between 8 per cent and 10 per cent nickel in 100 per cent sulphide.

The company suggested it could be reasonable to expect a linear increase of nickel grade with increased sulphide content, saying this is quite high nickel tenor for this type of mineral, which it hopes bodes well for good nickel grades in massive sulphide.

“Whilst PLRCD003 has not intersected massive sulphide mineralisation, we are highly encouraged by the intersection of blebby nickel and copper sulphide mineralisation,” Enterprise Metals managing director Dermot Ryan said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“This is an exceptional result for the first deep hole we’ve drilled at our ground in the Fraser Range.

“We think this is a major step forward and gives us the confidence to undertake a substantial program of DHEM, ground EM and further drilling programs.

“Enterprise’s ground has just taken a quantum leap forward in terms of prospectivity.

“Similar RC drill programs were originally planned for the other key targets at the project, being Heart, Highway and McPhersons.

“Given the promising nature of early Plato results, the company will delay work at these other targets to focus on Plato.”

Email: admin@enterprisemetals.com.au

Website: www.enterprisemetals.com.au

Syndicated Metals scores big copper hits at Barbara

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THE DRILL SERGEANT: Syndicated Metals (ASX: SMD) has commenced work underway on a Mineral Resource upgrade for the company’s Barbara copper-gold joint venture project in northern Queensland.

The calculations started after Syndicated received the final batch of assays from recent in-fill and metallurgical drilling.

Results from the final eight diamond holes of the program included a thick, near-surface intersection in the Southern Shoot of 29 metres at 3.24 per cent copper from 22 metres down-hole including a high-grade, hangingwall intersection of 19m at 4.07 per cent copper.

In addition, a second thick intersection of 25.9m at 4.24 per cent copper from 125.7m down-hole including a high-grade, hangingwall intersection of 7.5m at 10.76 per cent copper.

Other results from near surface in the Southern Shoot included 13m at 1.53 per cent copper from surface and 17m at 2.11 per cent copper from 13m down-hole, which the company said had confirmed the tenor, grade and predictable nature of the mineralisation in the Barbara deposit.

Syndicated said the new results build on those it reported previously, which included a thick intersection in the Southern Shoot of 31.2m at 3.38 per cent copper including a significant high-grade, hangingwall intersection of 11.7m at 7.92 per cent copper, and other Southern Shoot intersections of 22m at 2.27 per cent copper and 26m at 2.13 per cent copper.

Sierra Mining drills further encouragement at Malibo

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THE DRILL SERGEANT: Sierra Mining (ASX: SRM) has received encouraging results from an on-going drilling program being carried out on the company’s Mabilo project in the Philippines.

Recent highlights from the ongoing diamond drilling program have included drill holes extending both the down dip and SE strike extension of the South Body and drill holes extending known mineralisation along strike to both the north and south of the North Body magnetic model.

 

Revised magnetic model (blue frame), RTP ground magnetic image and
completed and current drill holes on the South Body. Source: Company
announcement

 

Holes MDH-53 and MDH-57, respectively drilled 50 and 100 metres to the SE of MDH-40, intersected magnetite-chalcopyrite mineralisation, which the company said had extended the known strike of the large South Body over 100m.

Drilling is continuing at MDH-57 and neither hole has been assayed as yet however, Sierra indicated mineralisation is visually similar that encountered in holes MDH-16 and MDH-40.

Sierra said hole MDH-46 confirmed the down dip extension of the South Body to the SE, intersecting two zones of magnetite-chalcopyrite mineralisation, returning intersections of:

40.45m at 1.81 grams per tonne gold, 1.38 per cent copper, 25g/t silver and 41.26 per cent iron; and

4.20m at 2.13g/t gold, 1.96 per cent copper, 16.5g/t silver and 50.55 per cent iron.

Hole MDH-48 intersected magnetite skarn and mineralised silica pyrite breccia extending the known magnetite skarn mineralisation 50m south of the southern boundary of the North Body.

The hole intersected:

166.2m at 1.29g/t gold, 1.27 per cent copper, 8.3g/t silver and 32.46 per cent iron.

MDH-41 drilled sub-parallel and approximately 40 metres north of the north boundary of the modelled North Body intersected:

54.8m at 1.01g/t gold, 2.4 per cent copper, 14.3g/t silver and 19.99 per cent iron.

“Sierra is exploring three zones of blind massive magnetite skarn containing copper, gold and silver mineralisation termed the North, South and East bodies,” the company said in its ASX announcement.

“A fourth magnetic anomaly at Venida South lies along strike from a former small-scale mining operation but has yet to be drill tested.

Drilling is currently focused on defining the SE strike and SW down dip extent of the large South Body and testing the strike extension of mineralisation to the north and south of the North Body.

“There are currently three drilling rigs on site and 55 holes have been completed to date.”

Website: www.sierramining.com.au

Robust updates Romang manganese Resource

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THE DRILL SERGEANT: Robust Resources (ASX: ROL) has announced an updated JORC Code 2012-compliant mineral resource for its manganese project at the company’s Romang Island project in Indonesia.

The updated Resource includes additional drilling and analyses which were not available at the time of an estimate the company released in November 2013.

Robust said the new information has allowed its consultants to classify 56 per cent of the resource tonnage as Indicated Mineral Resource and 44 per cent as Inferred Mineral Resource.

 

Manganese project Mineral Resource Table (lower cut-off grade 30 per cent manganese). Source: Company announcement

 

Robust explained that when compared to the previous estimate, there is a 30 per cent increase in the tonnage and a 28 per cent increase in the manganese metal content.

There is also a minor decrease in the average global grade from 42.1 per cent to 41.1 per cent manganese.

A Scoping Study that was based on the original resource estimate is now being updated to include the new information.

The company anticipates the revised Scoping Study results will be published later this month.

Robust has already commenced a Feasibility Study based on the results of the original Scoping Study, which is due for completion later in 2014.

Robust said it is confident the revised Scoping Study will reinforce its plans to develop a small-scale manganese ore mining and processing operation on Romang Island.

“The Romang Island manganese project has been enhanced by this new mineral resource estimate completed to JORC 2102 standards, as it shows both an increase in size and in quality,” Robust Resources managing director Gary Lewis said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“We are advancing the Feasibility Study for the manganese project and the enhanced quality and size of the resource demonstrates that this stand-alone project is likely to be a very important component of the development of Romang Island into a multi-commodity project.

“We are now in the process of finalising the new Scoping Study for the manganese project using an Indicated mineral resource which will be released shortly.

“While we progress the development phase of the manganese project on Romang Island, drilling is also continuing and we are confident of further increasing the size of the resource beyond current levels.”

Website: www.robustresources.com.au

Northern Star buys Jundee gold mine from Newmont

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THE DRILL SERGEANT: Northern Star Resources (ASX: NST) has entered into a binding purchase agreement to acquire 100 per cent of the Jundee gold mine in Western Australia from Newmont Yandal Operations, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Newmont Mining Corporation, for $82.5 million in cash.

The acquisition will increase Northern Star’s annual production from around 350,000 ounces to around 550,000 ounces, which the company pointed out will make it the second-largest ASX-listed gold producer.

The deal comes on the back of Northern Star’s recent purchase of the Plutonic, Kanowna Belle and Kundana gold mines for a total of $100 million.

The company said the completion of the Jundee acquisition will mean it will increase its production profile from approximately 100,000 ounces poer annum to approximately 550,000 ounces per annum in less than six months for a total investment of less than $200 million.

Northern Star said Jundee would immediately increase the company’s free cashflow and has potential to increase Reserves and Resources via exploration at and around the mine.

“Jundee is a tier-one asset in the Australian gold mining industry by any measure,” Northern Star Resources managing director Bill Beament said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“It has a highly enviable record, whether it be exploration success, production or cashflow.

“I am highly confident that we will grow the inventory and extend the mine life at Jundee while reaping the benefits it will bring to our production and cashflow.”

Beament went on to say that with five operating mines generating 550,000 ounces per annum the company would meet the key criteria of global investors.

“The international funds have made it abundantly clear that they want to invest in gold mining companies with a diversified production base and economies of scale that enable costs to be kept as low as possible,” he said.

“The Jundee acquisition means Northern Star will tick all these boxes while still enjoying a conservative balance sheet and outstanding potential for growth through exploration at each of our five operating mines.”

Email: info@nsrltd.com

Website: www.nsrltd.com

Citigold hits further high gold grades

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THE DRILL SERGEANT: Citigold Corporation (ASX: CTO) has encountered further gold intersections from a drilling campaign currently underway at the company’s Charters Towers gold project in Queensland.

Drill hole CT9004 returned an intercept of 84.01 metre grams per tonne gold from the C03W Queen West structure.

Citigold said the drilling has confirmed its interpretation of a new, high-grade structure (C38) that is not currently included in the project’s Mineral Resource.

Another intercept was encountered on the C38 structure, which returned a grade of 51.81 metre grams per tonne.

All four drill holes Citigold has drilled in the current program have intercepted the target structure C03W.

 

Map showing the location of the drill holes and intercepts relative
to the planned decline (dashed blue line) and the Inferred and Indicated
C03 Resources and how close the current drilling is to the proposed
decline in the Central area. Source: Company announcement

 

“The drilling has confirmed the interpretation of a new north-dipping structure located parallel to, but to the north of the Queen West and Brilliant structures,” Citigold said in its announcement to the ASX.

“This is a new structure not currently included in the Mineral Resource yet already demonstrated to contain high-grade mineralisation.”

Citigold indicated further drilling will be carried out, which is required to constrain the extent of the structure.

The company claimed the recent drilling has also confirmed the presence a cross reef, referred to as C36, which had been targeted after Citigold had carried out a comprehensive review of historical documentation, previous drilling and a re-interpretation of the structural geometry of the Central area.

“The C36 structure is parallel with the Victory reef that historically produced 216,360 ounces of gold at an average recovered gold grade of 68.11 grams per tonne,” Gitigold explained.

“An intercept in drill hole CT9000 of 11.92 meter grams per tonne suggests that the C36 structure might be an equally high-grade gold producing fracture.”

Website: www.citigold.com

Impact identifies new drill priorities at Commonwealth project

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THE DRILL SERGEANT: Impact Minerals (ASX:IPT) has defined two new priority areas for follow up drilling at the company’s 100 per cent-owned Commonwealth project in New South Wales.

These two areas have been defined from gold-and silver-in-soil anomalies and assays from rock chip samples and lie within a 2.5 kilometre long mineralised structure Impact recently identified.

 

Geology and Soil and Rock Chip results from the Commonwealth-Silica Hill area. Source: Company announcement

 

Impact explained that known high-grade mineralisation discovered in previous drilling between the Commonwealth Mine (Main Shaft) and Commonwealth South Shaft has now been clearly defined by a north-west trending zone of anomalous gold, silver and arsenic-in-soil results.

“This trend extends for a further 300 metres north of Main Shaft and contains several previously unknown old mine shafts identified by Impact which are up to 35 metres deep,’ the company said in its ASX announcement.

A grab sample of weathered material from one of the shafts 75 m north of Main Shaft returned an assay of 102 g/t gold (3.5 ounces) and 591g/t silver (19 ounces), which Impact claims confirms the presence of high-grade gold and silver along this part of the trend.

The second anomaly at Silica Hill also returned assay results for molybdenum, antimony, mercury, selenium and the rare metal thallium (with no base metals).

“This metal assemblage may be characteristic of epithermal gold-silver mineralisation, which has not been previously recognised in this area,” Impact said.

Within this trend is a stronger gold and silver-in-soil anomaly with up to 0.5g/t gold and 23g/t silver.
Impact said the silver results in particular are important as they indicate this to be another priority area for drilling.

 In recent months Impact has completed a small Induced polarisation Survey and SAM-ground magnetic survey over the Commonwealth-Silica Hill area.

“The results of these surveys have recently been received and are being interpreted,” the company said.

“In addition the results of a further soil geochemistry survey completed by Impact over the area between Commonwealth and north of Coronation have also been received and are being interpreted.

“The results of all this work will be integrated to identify drill targets for a program of RC and diamond drilling due to start in June, subject to statutory approvals and weather conditions.”

Email: info@impactminerals.com.au

Website: www.impactminerals.com.au

Apollo Minerals pinpoints IOCG target at Mars Aurora Tank

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THE DRILL SERGEANT: Apollo Minerals (ASX: AON) has claimed to have identified a large-scale, high priority iron-oxide-copper-gold (IOCG) target at the Mars Aurora Tank prospect at the company’s Titan base-precious metals project, in South Australia.

Apollo identified the new target from a combination of recent ground gravity survey and historic high-resolution airborne magnetic and radiometric data.

 

Residual gravity contours on radiometrics at Mars Aurora Tank. Source: Company announcement

 

The company considers the target represents a potential Prominent Hill-type IOCG drill target.

The Mars Aurora Tank prospect is located in the north-western corner of the Titan project area, and the IOCG target is situated immediately west of shallow, historic drilling which returned a large number of anomalous IOCG intersections, within and along strike of a discrete magnetic body.

Results of this shallow drilling include grades of up to 52 per cent iron (oxide), 700 ppm copper, 2 grams per tonne gold, and 4g/t silver over four-metre down-hole composite widths.

The company said the recently acquired high resolution airborne magnetic and radiometric and gravity data have also highlight a distinct zone of uranium enrichment along the high priority IOCG target area.

“Apollo is highly encouraged by the results delivered from its review of geophysical data and exploration at the Mars Aurora Tank prospect,” the company said in its ASX announcement.

“A near-surface RAB drilling and geochemical sampling program across the area has been recently completed and the company is looking forward to receipt of the drilling geochem assays.

“A reconnaissance Induced Polarisation (IP) program has also been completed and the processing and analysis of the IP survey data, in conjunction with the new geochemical data and the gravity and magnetic results, is expected to define compelling IOCG drill targets.”

Email: info@apollominerals.com.au

Website: www.apollominerals.com.au

Blackham drills best results yet at Galaxy

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THE DRILL SERGEANT: Blackham Resources (ASX: BLK) has received results from a 23 hole RC drill program, which has delivered the best results to date from the Galaxy deposit.

The Galaxy deposit is the most advanced of a number of quartz reef prospects located in the northern portion of the company’s recently-acquired Matilda gold project.

 

Source: Company announcement

 

Blackham said the program was designed to further test a number of lode positions within a likely minable open pit and builds on the results returned from the company’s maiden 16 hole program completed at Galaxy in February.

The company considers the results of these two programs to provide it with confidence the Galaxy deposit will be well suited feed for re-starting the Wiluna gold project mill.

Results from the latest drilling include:

GARC0027
9 metres at 13.4 grams per tonne gold from 73m;

GARC0024
2m at 28.9g/t gold from 23m;

GARC0030
4m at 8.68g/t gold from 4m; and

GARC0037
6m at 8.82g/t gold from 13m.

“Our drilling at Galaxy is consistent with Blackham’s strategy of converting a critical mass of our 4.3 million ounce resource into reserves with a view to building a sufficiently robust mine plan to allow us to restart the WGP mill,” Blackham Resources managing director Bryan Dixon said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“The Galaxy deposit is a shallow high-grade quartz reef that looks attractive from an open pit mining viewpoint.

“Now we have better understanding of the orientation of the high-grade shoots and we are excited about testing the deeper extensions to Galaxy.”

Website: www.blackhamresources.com.au

Transport Minister says YES for Esperance port expansion

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THE DRILL SERGEANT: The Yilgarn Esperance Solution (YES) consortium has been anointed by Western Australia Transport Minister Dean Nalder to design, build and operate the new Esperance Port Multi-User Iron Ore Export Facility (MUIOF).

The expansion is set to double the port’s iron ore export capacity, taking it from around 11 million tonnes per annum to 20 million tonnes per annum.

Yilgarn Esperance Solution Limited includes Asciano Ltd and includes other industry heavyweights Japan’s Marubeni Corp. and McConnell Dowell.

The consortium was one of two shortlisted bidders requested to submit a proposal to develop the facility.
 
“After an extensive bid process, I am pleased to announce YES has been chosen to design, build and operate the facility as well as provide all project funding and associated costs,” Nalder said in a government announcement.
 
“The companies which make up YES have a proven track record in developing and operating ports in Australia and internationally.”
 
The Minister said his approval for the YES consortium to win the government’s approval was based on a recommendation from the board of the Esperance Port Authority following an extensive procurement process undertaken by the MUIOF project team, independent expert engineering, commercial and legal advisers and an independent evaluation panel.
 
The consortium will now enter into contract negotiations with both the Esperance Port and potential users of the MUIOF and will be required to comply with all current environmental licences under which the port operates.
 
Nalder said a major upgrade of the Esperance Port Access Corridor would further improve access and efficiency at the port.  
 
The $120million Esperance Port Access Project includes a series of road and rail upgrades south of the Harbour Road/Pink Lake Road intersection to increase access into the port and improve safety and efficiency for local commuter and tourist traffic.

Esperance Port has been exporting iron ore since 1995. It is the deepest port in southern Australia and is capable of handling the iron ore sector-preferred cape sized vessels.

New facilities can be built relatively cheaply and quickly at Esperance Port compared to building a new port.

The Port already has infrastructure links to mining regions by the Leonora-Kalgoorlie-Esperance standard gauge railway line and transcontinental railway line to Kalgoorlie.

Mining tenements in the Yilgarn Region can, therefore, be linked to the existing rail network making the cost of transporting their product to Port much less than it would be if a new rail network had to be built.