Cleveland drilling scores all round iron ore hits

THE DRILL SERGEANT: Cleveland Mining Company (ASX: CDG) has drilled the first six holes into the CDG / BC Iron (ASX: BCI) Alliance Minas Novas iron ore project in Minas Gerais State, Brazil.

The company said all six holes intersected down-hole lengths of between 42 metres and 135m of itabirite style iron mineralisation within 5m from the surface.

The six holes were drilled over approximately 14 kilometres of strike and are the first to be drilled into a series of very large magnetic anomalies, in an area Cleveland described as having not been historically recognised to host iron ore.

The company considers the potential strike of the mineralisation, defined by the magnetic survey, of between 60 and 100km, could provide sufficient potential to create a new jurisdiction for iron ore should metallurgical properties of the material prove favourable.

 

Project location map. Source: Company announcement

 

“This is an excellent outcome,” Cleveland Mining managing director David Mendelawitz said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“The geophysical signature associated with these first holes looks the same as the rest of the geophysical anomalies that have been identified across the project area.

“Clearly six holes without assays and met test work is not enough to confirm the economic potential of mining within the area, and we do expect to see variation in the grade across the unit, however the discovery of as much 100 kilometres of strike of a thick unit of what appears to be friable itabirite under our control provides a lot of potential to work with.”

Mendelawitz said the company’s management experience in Brazil and the global iron ore industry gives it confidence to recognise such discoveries are not only rare but are also potentially significant.

“To have large scale potential in a state that has a steel manufacturing industry and is only around 300 kilometres from the coast, in a region that has a supportive Government planning to build an open access railway line to a new port, creates a great starting point to develop a new iron ore province,” he said.

“Overlay this with Brazil’s profile as a low cost mining centre with an extensive labour pool of skilled mining professionals, particularly within the iron ore sector, and we may have the ingredients for a significant new iron ore business.”

Mendelawitz said Cleveland was not overly concerned with the recent musings over the iron ore price by analysts saying the company had deliberately established itself in a low cost jurisdiction.

“History shows that prices will always fluctuate, though those producers in the lowest quartile cost bracket will remain profitable,” he explained.

“Brazilian iron ore projects have a long history of demonstrating their potential to operate in this bracket.”

Email: investors@clevelandmining.com.au

Website: www.clevelandmining.com.au