Perth, June 28, 2006 (ABN Newswire) - Barra Resources Ltd (ASX:BAR) is pleased to announce the results of an independent in-situ resource estimation of the along strike and down dip extensions of the Tailor Shoot and associated lodes at its Burbanks Gold Project, located 8 kilometres south west of Coolgardie, Western Australia.
This new resource includes ounces added from the four high grade diamond holes recently drilled into the newly discovered Wahloo Shoot to the south. The Wahloo Shoot and associated lode structures will be the focus of an aggressive underground diamond drilling program commencing first week of July 2006.
This drilling program is designed to significantly expand the known extensions of the Wahloo Shoot and to upgrade existing resources to the indicated category.
Independent mining and geological consulting firm Golder Associates Pty Ltd has estimated an indicated and inferred resource of 517,000 tonnes at 4.5 grams per tonne gold for a total of 74,000 ounces compiled in accordance with the JORC1 guidelines.
The indicated and inferred resource incorporates the complex interplay of four main ore zones namely the Tailor Shoot, Wahloo Shoot, Eastern Reef and Jesson Reef projected no deeper than 100 metres vertically below surface. The resource covers a strike length of 320 metres lying directly beneath the Lady Robinson open pit.
Resource Summary
This new resource estimation incorporates the recent underground diamond drilling including the recently announced southern underground drilling which yielded spectacular results along with previous shallow Reverse Circulation (RC) drilling undertaken by the Company over the past fourteen months. However it does not include any of the deep diamond holes drilled beneath the historical mine workings. The classification of the near surface resource is shown in the following tables at varying cut-off grades with a summary of the estimation methodology utilized included at the end of this announcement.
Table 1: Burbanks Gold Resource at varying gold cut-offs.
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Resource at Indicated Inferred Total
Varied cut-offs Resource Resource Resource
Category Category
Tonnage Avg/G Tonnage Avg/G Tonnage Avg/G Ounces
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1 g/t cut-off 237,000 4.22 280,000 4.64 517,000 4.45 74,000
2 g/t cut-off 214,000 4.49 233,000 5.29 447,000 4.91 70,500
2.5 g/t cut-off 189,000 4.79 205,000 5.69 394,000 5.26 66,600
3 g/t cut-off 158,000 5.19 176,000 6.18 334,000 5.71 61,200
4 g/t cut-off 101,000 6.20 118,000 7.45 219,000 6.87 48,500
5 g/t cut-off 60,000 7.33 86,000 8.66 146,000 8.11 38,100
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Note: Table above show rounded tonnages. This may cause some apparent
computational discrepancies.
(1)The Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources
and Ore Reserves prepared by the Joint Ore Resources Committee, The Australian
Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, Australian Institute of Geoscientists and
Mineral Council of Australia as at 9 March 2005.
Further Potential
Potential to expand the resource further south along strike is considered excellent with historical RC hole BRC07 intersecting 20 metres grading 11.5 grams per tonne gold located 40m south of Barra's recent underground drilling at the extreme southern end of the newly calculated resource. The new southern decline, which is currently being developed off the southern drill cuddy, will provide access for underground drilling designed to test the strike continuation and down dip potential of the new Wahloo Shoot. Drilling is scheduled to commence in the first week of July 2006 (see Figure 2).
At Tailor Shoot, the structures hosting mineralisation remain open along strike, down dip and down plunge as indicated from structural data collected from the recently completed underground diamond drilling program and from previous shallow RC and deeper diamond drilling. Northern decline development is currently on track to provide access for further drill testing of the Tailor Shoot commencing mid to late July 2006 (see Figure 2).
The newly expanded resource enables the establishment of a medium term underground mining operation at Burbanks with the southern strike and down plunge potential of the new Wahloo Shoot providing the company with a longer term operation.
Resource Estimation Summary
The Burbanks resource is based on RC and diamond core drillhole data provided to Golder Associates Pty Ltd.
Mineralisation and geological interpretations were carried out by Barra Resources Limited, in conjunction with Golder Associates Pty Ltd, on 10 metre spaced sections. These were digitized and wireframed in 3D using Vulcan software. The lodes modeled include Tailor, Tailor East, Eastern Reef, Jesson Reef, Western Reef, New Lode, Dory, Nemo, Wahloo East, Wahloo West, Pilcher, Dreamer and Goldfish.
Stopes, internal waste and in-pit fill were also interpreted and wireframed. Domain codes were assigned to each wireframe. The wireframes were used to capture the 1 metre drill hole assays within each domain code. The domain codes were also assigned to a geological block model built using the wireframes.
The block model utilized a block size of 2 metres wide by 5 metres long by 2.5 metres high. Smaller blocks with dimensions 0.5 metres wide by 1 metre long by 1.25 metres high were also used when required.
Domain statistics were generated and the following upper cuts applied to the domains:
Lode Name Upper Cut (g/t) Lode Name Upper Cut (g/t)
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Tailor 45 Wahloo East 30
Jesson Reef 30 Pilcher Not required
Eastern Reef 30 Dreamer 30
Western Reef Not req. Wahloo West 45
Dory Not req. Tailor East Not required
New Lode 30 Goldfish Not required
Nemo 30
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An average bulk density of 2.9 was assigned to all lode domains.
The Burbanks resource was produced using the ordinary kriging estimation method.
The resource estimate has been classified based on data quality, data density, geological continuity and confidence in the estimation.
Source:
Kevin Skinner
Senior Consultant
FIELD PUBLIC RELATIONS
231 South Road
MILE END SA 5031
Tel: (08) 8234 9555
Fax: (08) 8234 9566
Mob: 0414 822 631
kevin@fieldpr.com.au
