THE DRILL SERGEANT: Tawana Resources (ASX: TAW) has received an Environmental Permit for the exploration phase of the company’s 100 per cent-owned Mofe Creek iron ore project in Liberia.

“This marks an important step forward in the company’s ongoing efforts to evaluate the Mofe Creek iron ore project in an environmentally sustainable manner commensurate with the Laws of Liberia,” Tawana Resources managing director Len Kolff said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“The EPA approval allows us to now commence exploration drilling at Mofe Creek.

“Drill access is now underway and a rig will be mobilised in the next few weeks.

“The upcoming program is designed to deliver a maiden JORC resource at Mofe Creek and also to test the exciting new Zaway discovery for potential blind DSO; similar to the historic Bomi Hills mine 20 kilometres along strike to the east.”

Tawana is in process of securing the same multipurpose reverse circulation (RC) and diamond core (DD) drill rig for drilling at site it used to carry out its maiden 2,500m RC drill program.
 

The company expects the drill rig to arrive on site within the next few weeks, from when it will commence exploration diamond drilling at Zaway followed by resource/metallurgical DD and RC drilling at the Gofolo and Koehnko prospects.

 

Prospect areas showing drilling completed to date at Gofolo and
Koehnko, access roads and tracks (in white) and Zaway target area.
Source: Company announcement

 

The diamond and RC drilling planned for this program is designed to deliver a maiden JORC-compliant resource at the Gofolo and Koehnko prospects in addition to exploration drilling at Zaway.

Pending initial results at Zaway, it too may be included within the resource model for the Mofe Creek project.

“Drilling is expected to be completed within three months and although we will be drilling through the rainy season, we are confident of achieving the drilling timeline given the good all-year-round access the project affords and previous drilling experience by the drill contractor on the project site,” Kolff said.

THE DRILL SERGEANT: Caravel Minerals (ASX: CVV) has claimed discovery of a zone of high-grade outcropping manganese mineralisation the new Landor prospect, located within the company’s Bryah project in Western Australia.

The new discovery extends over 1.5 kilometres of strike at Caravel’s 92.5 per cent-owned exploration licence E51/1290, located 80 kilometres north of Meekatharra.

Caravel said it recorded surface samples grading up to 50 per cent manganese with average manganese mineralisation grading 30 per cent manganese from a total of 63 rock chip samples taken over the 1.5km of inferred strike length.

Caravel’s joint venture partner and Cazaly Resources (ASX: CAZ) subsidiary company, Sammy Resources holds the remaining 7.5 per cent interest.

The outcropping manganese mineralisation was confirmed during the company’s 2013 mapping campaign undertaken at the Bryah project.

 

 Landor manganese surface sample (rock chip) localities with results
over manganese surface (soil) geochemistry. Source: Company announcement

 

“While our focus remains on our flagship Calingiri and Wynberg projects in Western Australia and Queensland respectively, these results demonstrate the outstanding potential of the Bryah project to host economic manganese mineralisation,” Caravel Resources chief executive officer Marcel Hilmer said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“The sampling to date has returned consistent high grades and the mineralisation remains open in all directions.

“The Bryah project, which is located in the same region which has delivered the world-class DeGrussa copper-gold deposit, also remains prospective for additional base and precious metal mineralisation.

“While it does not have quite the same profile as some of the other base and precious metals, manganese is the world’s fourth most traded metal.

“It is a crucial component in the manufacture of steel, used in a variety of alloys and, importantly, is the major component in the creation of lithium ion batteries.

“Australia has three world-class manganese mines at Woodie Woodie in Western Australia and at Groote Eylandt and Bootu Creek in the Northern Territory.

“The strong demand for manganese in conjunction with these outstanding results at Landor has significantly upgraded the prospectivity of the Bryah project.”

THE DRILL SERGEANT: Metals X (ASX: MLX) has announced an upgrade to the company’s 50 per cent-owned Renison tin mine in Tasmania.

The Total Mineral Resource of tin metal at the Renison mine has been expanded by 31 per cent to 11.57 million tonnes at 1.76 per cent tin, containing approximately 204,000 tonnes of tin metal.

The company explained the result has been achieved by the recent delineation and advancement of the Central Federal Bassett Zone, which has continued to produce positive drilling results from both exploration and resource definition phases of work.

The new revised resource model provides Metals X the first opportunity for the Central Federal Bassett mineralisation to be available for mine planning consideration.

Metals X said it anticipates this will provide opportunities for substantial improvements in production scheduling.

 

Area subject to Mineral Resource upgrade. Source: Company announcement

 

With the inclusion of the Central Federal Bassett ore, the current total Mineral Resource within the southern part of the mine now sits at 6.018 million tonnes at 1.87 per cent tine containing 113,000 tonnes tin, representing a 73 per cent increase on a contained tin basis when compared to the previous reported Southern Area Mineral Resource of 4.509 million tonnes at 1.44 per cent tin for 65,000 tonnes tin.

“This is a great result and comes on the back of a large Ore Reserve increase announced on July 17, 2013,” Metals X chief executive officer Peter Cook said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“It demonstrates Metals X’s commitment to grow its globally significant tin business.

“Today’s announcement is important not only in regards to the quantum of increase in the Mineral Resource, but also as it represents a major step change in our ability to quantify and evaluate the world class Rension tin system.

“We are now focused on converting the increases to this substantial Mineral
Resource to Ore Reserve and reaping the benefits of the improved schedule flexibility that the additional ore will bring to the mine.

“Most significantly, the Total Mineral Resource at Renison is now equivalent to over sixteen years of current annual plant capacity.”

Metals X indicated its resource growth focus at the mine will now switch to the North Rension mine area where it expects to realise similar growth in the size of the mine’s known tin inventory.

Renison is Australia’s only operating tin mine and Metals X claims to be Australia’s only significant tin producer.

The company considers the size and quality of its tin inventory including the Rentails expansion project, together with the amount of in-place, operational capital infrastructure places it atop the Western World publicly listed tin company pile.

THE DRILL SERGEANT: Papillon Resources (ASX: PIR) has announced an update to the Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) for the company’s Fekola project, located in south western Mali, adjacent to the border with Senegal.

The updated MRE has been estimated at 68.29 million tonnes averaging 2.35 grams per tonne gold for a contained 5.15 million ounces of gold at a lower cut-off grade of 1g/t gold, representing an increase of 22 per cent from the previous MRE of 4.21 million ounces gold released in January 2013.

The MRE comprises 60.01 million tonnes averaging 2.4g/t gold for a contained 4.64 million ounces of gold classified into the Measured and Indicated Resource categories, which represents approximately 90 per cent of the MRE.

The Inferred Resource consists of 8.3 million tonnes averaging 1.9g/t gold for a contained 0.5 million ounces of gold.

 

Source: Company announcement

 

“The updated Mineral Resource Estimate is another significant milestone for the Fekola project,” Papillon Resources managing director Mark Connelly said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“The rapid growth of this deposit to over 5.15 million ounces of contained gold in less than 30 months highlights the world class potential of the deposit.

“The recent results from the PFS demonstrate its ability to support a large scale, long life, low cost operation.

“We believe that these fundamentals provide an excellent platform for future company growth as well as greatly enhancing Papillon’s ability to fulfil its strategic objective of becoming a West African gold producer in the near term.”

In June Papillon Resources released the results of its Pre-Feasibility Study for the project, the results of which determined average annual production in excess of 300,000 ounces over the Life of Mine, and operating costs (C1 cash costs) less than US$600 per ounce.

Papillon said the study had re-confirmed the technical viability of the project, and its ability to produce robust cash flows.

The updated MRE has resulted in a 33 per cent increase in the contained gold in the M&I Resource categories from what had previously been released in January 2013, which formed the basis of the PFS.

Papillon indicated the updated MRE will now be incorporated into a Definitive Feasibility Study, which the company expects to complete during 2014.

THE DRILL SERGEANT: Orion Gold (ASX: ORN) has travelled to outer space in order to identify new exploration targets at the company’s Connors Arc epithermal project in Central Queensland.

The company has had ASTER (Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer) data interpreted by consultants Global Ore Discovery.

ASTER is an imaging instrument on-board NASA’s Terra satellite.

“ASTER images are used in mineral exploration to interpret alteration mineralogy, illite-sericite-kaolinite crystallinity, and illite composition/chlorite composition,” Orion Gold explained in its ASX announcement.

“An understanding of zonation of these facets of hydrothermal alteration minerals can assist in developing vectors to epithermal and porphyry gold mineralisation.”

Through the interpretation of the ASTER data, Orion Gold has identified five areas of interest based on coincident ASTER alteration, geological and geophysical features.

 

ASTER interpretation overview – Connors Arc project. (Note:
pick/shovel symbols represent known gold or copper prospects). Source:
Company announcement

 

Target 1 is situated near the intersection of interpreted major north-west and north-east trending structures, in an area immediately north-west of the known Aurora Flats and Powerline epithermal gold prospects.

Previous drilling conducted by Orion has outlined a geochemical signature at these prospects consistent with a shallow level in an epithermal gold system.

Orion considers this to indicate potential for high-grade gold mineralisation at deeper levels.

The company described its second target – Target 2 – to be made up of a “broad zone of interpreted illite-aolinite alteration, with local indications of higher temperature clays”.

The geology of this target and its proximity to the Mt. Mackenzie high-sulphidation epithermal gold system, have motivated Orion to carry out immediate on-ground follow-up, once an exploration permit is granted.

The remaining three target areas – Targets 3, 4 and 5 – have been defined in the north of the company’s tenement application package, much further away from the other epithermal gold prospects in the district (Mt Mackenzie, Aurora Flats).

Orion said the ASTER alteration features in these areas include interpreted occurrences of high temperature clays which are known to be associated with high-sulphidation epithermal gold systems, such as examples of which within the district include Mt Mackenzie and Evolution Mining’s (ASX: EVN) Mt Carlton gold-copper-silver deposit.

“The results of the ASTER interpretation further reinforce the broad geological similarities between Orion’s project area and productive epithermal gold systems in the wider region, and suggest potential for multiple hydrothermal alteration systems with characteristics consistent with epithermal and/or porphyry gold-copper systems,” Orion Gold said.

The company indicated the targets identified by the ASTER data interpretation will become the focus for ground-based exploration activities upon the grant of tenure.

Initial follow-up exploration is expected to comprise: reconnaissance mapping; possible follow-up of key ASTER alteration points with surface spectral alteration (ASD) traverses, to confirm alteration mineralogy; and surface geochemical sampling.