Tungsten Mining releases maiden Kilba project Resource

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THE DRILL SERGEANT: Tungsten Mining (ASX: TGN) has announced a maiden JORC Mineral Resource estimate at the company’s 100 per cent-owned Mining Lease 08/314 within its Kilba project, located in the Gascoyne Region Western Australia.

The new resource has been calculated at 1.3 million tonnes at 0.57 per cent tungsten trioxide (WO3), which the company said is located within a much larger resource of 5.0 million tonnes at 0.27 per cent WO3 from Zone 8 and Zone 11 of the Kilba project.

 

Location of Zone 8 and Zone 11 at the Kilba project. Source: Company announcement

 

Tungsten Mining kicked off drilling in November 2012, since when it has drilled 24 diamond holes and 42 reverse circulation (“RC”) holes over 1200 metres of mineralised strike at Zone 11.

“The release of a maiden JORC Mineral Resource represents a major step towards the company achieving its objective of the rapid evaluation and development of the Kilba project,” Tungsten Mining managing director Paul Berndt said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“This milestone result provides us with confidence as we move to the feasibility study phase of the Kilba project.

“The higher-grade section of 1.3 million tonnes at 0.57 per cent tungsten trioxide identified in this initial estimate is a figure that meets our expectations, and importantly it is contained within a much larger resource of five million tonnes at 0.27 per cent tungsten trioxide, which provides us with significant upside potential.

“These results keep Tungsten Mining on target to fast-track Kilba into development in 2014.”

Tungsten Mining’s recent activities have focused on Zone 11 where previous drilling by Union Carbide Corporation intersected high-grade tungsten mineralisation in the 1970s/1980s.

The company explained that Union Carbide’s work also defined mineralisation at Zone 8 and results from this historic drilling had been used in the Mineral Resource estimate.

Union Carbide drilled diamond holes targeting high-grade tungsten mineralisation associated with skarns at Zone 8.

A number of these holes have been used to estimate an Inferred Resource of 230,000 tonnes at 0.56 per cent WO3.

Tungsten Mining has completed surface mapping, which it said has identified numerous skarn units at Zone 8 that have not been adequately drill tested.

Future exploration will focus on evaluating these targets.