Brisbane, Oct 29, 2007 (ABN Newswire) - Cloncurry Metals Limited (ASX: CLU) announce that drilling continues and further assay results are expected in the near term. The Pegmont Project is located some 25km west of Cannington Mine, and some 125km south of Cloncurry; results reported here pertain to drilling on Mining Leases 2620, 2621, 2623, and EPM15106.(Table 1)
The drilling program at Pegmont, commencing in late August, has been carried out in accordance with the agreed plan and 4,100m of RC drilling has been completed in 40 holes.
Cloncurry Metals Limited (CLU) has received assays from 4 holes with the best intersection being in hole PMR 072 with 8m of transitional oxide-sulphide material encountered assaying 8.8% Pb, 4.1% Zn and 13.6ppm Ag, from 39m depth. This hole also hit oxide mineralisation from 23-30m. All results are detailed in Table 2.
Parts of the initial phases of the drilling program were designed to allow oxide samples to be taken to provide Pegmont Mines Limited (PML) with sufficient samples to carry out testwork to allow further development of a proprietary hydrometallurgical technology to treat both oxide and sulphide ore. Cloncurry Metals has an option to access this technology, if it is successfully developed, as a possible alternative to conventional metallurgical processing. Cloncurry Metals will offer all reasonable assistance to PML as the development of this technology could underpin the development of the existing oxide resource.
CLU/PML now plan to complete further drilling to increase the current program to in excess of 5,000m for calendar 2007,(including a program of 400m of diamond drilling tails). The diamond drilling will focus more on some step outs to test structural concepts as preliminary steps aimed at significantly increasing resource tonnage.
Drilling and Sampling Methods
In the program to date, holes were drilled with a percussion RC rig using a face sampling hammer, with the deepest hole reaching 204m depth. Samples were collected at 1 metre intervals from the drill rig. Mineralised samples as reported here were dry and showed good drill recoveries, with each metre interval sub-sampled using a riffle splitter to yield an assay sample of 3-4 kg weight. Duplicates of the riffle splits, and standards of known metal content were inserted in the field sample stream. All drillholes have been qualitatively geologically logged, and magnetic susceptibility measurements have been taken on each metre interval. Drilling and sampling techniques have been reviewed by independent resource consultants Hellman and Schofield Pty Ltd., resulting in only minor changes to the drilling and field sampling protocols which have been implemented.
Locations of the current holes where assay results are available, and location of holes drilled prior to 2007, are shown in Figure 2. All holes are located on a local grid, with grid north at 038 degrees magnetic. Hole positions were located by hand held GPS, with an accuracy of +/- 5m.
Samples were analysed by ALS - Chemex Laboratories in Townsville and Brisbane. Analytical schemes are given in Tables 1a and 1b.
The true thickness of these intersections cannot be estimated due to the nature of the drilling technique and the preliminary nature of current geological interpretation.
Of the 36 holes not reported here, 28 intersected mineralisation. Thickness of the intersections to date is within the range of previous results, however no estimate of the grades is possible.
Pegmont Geology
Mineralisation occurs in the form of a stratiform Pb-Zn base metal deposit, having similarities to the Cannington and Broken Hill styles of mineralisation. Despite a large amount of previous drilling, the geometry and extent of the deposit are still poorly defined and the recent drilling confirms generally there is one main lode and the deposit is structurally complex.
Magnetic susceptibility measurements from the recent drilling show only the lode material is strongly magnetic and a detailed ground magnetic survey is currently underway. Interpretation of the newly acquired ground magnetic data should greatly assist planning of future drillholes.
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