Perth, May 8, 2008 (ABN Newswire) - Image Resources (ASX:IMA)(PINK:IMREF) Announce 6.4 Million Tonnes Of Heavy Minerals with Indicated and Inferred Resources in an initial 7 deposits total 260Mt @ 2.4%HM (heavy minerals), containing 6.4Mt of HM.
The resources defined so far contain a total of:
- 340,000 tonnes of leucoxene and rutile
- 4,500,000 tonnes of ilmenite
- 545,000 tonnes of zircon
- 390,000 tonnes of garnet
A high valuable heavy mineral content of 87%.
The resources outlined to date are contained within 60km of ground magnetic targets, comprising only 20% of the 300km of magnetic targets defined so far. The remaining 247 km of targets have yet to be drilled and some 68% of the project area remains to be surveyed, indicating a high probability of further significant discoveries increasing the resource base.
25% of the contained heavy minerals occur in shallow high grade deposits amenable to dry mining with the balance occurring in deeper, lower grade deposits which appear to be suitable for low cost dredging.
Most of the ilmenite is the high Ti variety and likely to be suitable for chloride-route processing and synthetic rutile production.
The heavy mineral assemblage is low in radioactive minerals and well below normal transport limits.
RESOURCE SUMMARY
The initial global heavy mineral resource estimate for Image Resources' North Perth Basin project currently stand at 260 million tonnes @ 2.4% HM containing 6.4 million tonnes of heavy minerals. The resources comprise Indicated and Inferred Resources (JORC standard), which are divided into two groups as shown in Table 1: those shallow deposits amenable to dry mining and those more suited to dredging. Heavy mineral dredging operations typically apply a cut off grade of less than 1% HM, reflecting the bulk mining and lower unit operating costs compared to dry mining. The estimates use a 1% HM cut off grade for the dredge resources and a 2.5% HM cut off for the shallow (dry mining) resources.
Table 1
North Perth Basin Resource Summary - May 2008
Shallow Indicated Resources - 2.5% HM Cut off
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Resource Tonnes % HM HM Tonnes Overburden
Ratio
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Atlas 1,900,000 4.7 90,000 3.4
Telesto 1,900,000 5.8 110,000 0.6
Helene 11,500,000 4.5 520,000 2.2
Hyperion 3,700,000 7.8 290,000 1.5
Sub - Total 19,000,000 5.3 1,010,000
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Shallow Inferred Resources - 2.5% HM Cut off
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Atlas 9,700,000 5.8 560,000 3.4
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Total Dry 28,700,000 5.5 1,570,000
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Dredge Indicated Resources - 1% HM Cut off
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Titan 21,200,000 1.8 380,000 1.2
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Dredge Inferred Resources - 1% HM Cut off
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Bidaminna 44,600,000 3.0 1,350,000 1.5
Titan 115,400,000 1.9 2,210,000 1.0
Calypso 51,500,000 1.7 850,000 1.2
Sub - Total 211,500,000 2.1 4,410,000
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Total Dredge 232,700,000 2.1 4,790,000
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Grand Total 261,400,000 2.4 6,360,000
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